Descriptive Research and its types with special reference to Developmental research, and finally steps in Descriptive research

1. DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH
Dandu Harish

2. INTRODUCTION
• Descriptive research studies are designed to obtain permanent
(Appropriate to a particular situation) and precise information
concerning the current status of phenomena and, when ever possible to
draw valid general conclusions from the facts discovered.
• They are restricted not only to fact finding but may often result in the
formation of important principles of knowledge and solutions of
significant problems.

3. DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH IN EDUCATION
• It helps to explain educational phenomena in terms of the conditions or
relationships that exist, opinions that are held by the students, teachers,
parents and experts, processes that are going on, effects that are evident, or
trends that are developing.
• At times, descriptive survey is the only means through which opinions,
attitudes, suggestions for improvement of educational practice and
instruction, and other data can be obtained.

4. CONTINUE
• The descriptive investigations are of immense value in solving problems
about children, school, organization, supervision, and administration,
curriculum, teaching methods and evaluation.
1.One may wanted to know how many of the teachers in a district
posses a Bachelor degree in Education?
2. What kind of a curriculum do people really want their chidren to
have at the secondary level?

5. TYPE OF DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH
• Descriptive studies have been classified variously by various writers.
Some have classified them on the basis of the purpose they achieve: some
on the basis of the geographical areas they cover: and some on the basis of
techniques they employ.
• For the sake of convenience descriptive studies may be classified in the
following three categories.
1. Survey studies,
2. Interrelation studies,
3. Developmental studies.

6. SURVEY STUDIES
• Survey studies are conducted to collect detailed descriptions of existing
phenomena with the intent of employing data to justify current
conditions to practice or make them more intelligent plans for improving
them.
• Three types of information they gather
1. Existing status
2. Existing status with established standards
3. Improving the existing status

7. CONTINUE
• Survey studies describe and specify the properties of educational
phenomena. They include
1. school survey
2. Job analysis
3. Public opinion surveys

8. INTERRELATIONSHIP STUDIES
• Some researchers in the field of education do not merely gather facts to obtain an
accurate description of existing phenomena: they attempt to trace relationships
between facts that will provide deeper insight into the phenomena.
• That studies endear to discover relationships between various facts of the existing
phenomena are called interrelationship studies. These include:
1. Case study
2. Ex-post facto study
3. Correlation and prediction studies
4. cross cultural and comparative studies. Postpone

9. CONTINUE

10. DEVELOPMENTAL STUDIES
• It is important for the educators and teachers to have reliable information about
physiological, intellectual, and emotional growth of children at various ages, how
they differ from one another within certain age levels, and how they change as result
of certain treatments.
• Such types of information are useful in taking decisions about the type of
curriculum, textbooks and teaching methods.

11. TYPES OF DEVELOPMENTAL
STUDIES
• Developmental studies are used for investigating the characteristics of
children and the way in which these characteristics change with growth
and development.
• Developmental studies may take different forms:
1. Growth studies
2. Follow-up studies
3. Trend studies.

12. GROWTH STUDIES
• Teacher must have knowledge of the nature and rate of changes that take
place in the children in order to teach them effectively.
• He much have an understanding of the interrelated factors that affect the
growth of children at various stages of development and how the
duration, intensity and timing of such factors in the development period
affect growth.
• Growth studies can be either longitudinal or cross-sectional.
• Cross-sectional studies

13. FOLLOW-UP STUDIES
• Follow up studies use the method which somewhat resembles the
longitudinal method.
• Such studies aim at investigating the subsequent development of
individual or individuals after a specified treatment or condition.
• The studies by Terman and his associates (1947) are good examples of
follow-up studies.

14. TREND STUDIES
• Trend studies are used to obtain and analyze social, economical or
political data of identify trends and to predict what is likely to take place
in the future.
• Trend studies are undertaken through documentary analysis or survey at
repeated interwels.
• Some times trend study may combined historical, documentary and
survey techniques.
•

15. STEPS IN DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH
• The process of descriptive studies is not different from other forms of
research.
• Since such studies describe and interpret what conditions or relationships
exist at present, the researcher may adopt the following steps

16. SELECTION OF THE PROBLEM
• A researcher may concerned with conditions or relationships that exist,
practices that prevail, beliefs, point of views or attitudes that are held,
process that are going on, effects that are being felt or trends are
developing, and may select the problem accordingly from the area or
field in which he is interested.

17. DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM
• The researcher must state the problems clearly as it is done in case of
other types of research.
• The statement must identify the variables involved in the study
• It should specify clearly whether the study is merely srrking to determine
the present status of these variables or whether it will also explore
relationships between the variables.

18. IDENTIFICATION OF DATA
• In this step researcher is to list the data to be collected for the study.
• He has to specify whether the data are of qualitative or a quantitative in
nature and whether the data will be collected in the form of counts, test
scores, responses to questionnaires, interviews, and so on

19. TOOL CONSTRUCTION OR SELECTION
• The nature of the data to be collected helps the researcher to select the
appropriate tools for the study.
• If researcher use ready-made tools, he should satisfy himself about their
reliability, validity, and suitability for sample chosen for the study.
• If researcher develops his own tools, he should try them out within a small
group in order to evaluate them and make modifications if necessary.

20. SELECTION OF THE SAMPLE
• The researcher must select the sample about which he wishes to seek
information using appropriate sampling techniques.
• The sample selected should adequately represent the population.

21. COLLECTION OF DATA
• The researcher should specify the practical schedule for gathering the
data from the sample selected for the study with the help of appropriate
tools

22. ANALYSIS OF DATA
• The data collected are recorded and tabulated in the form of counts, test
scores, responses to questionnaires, symbols, field notes etc.
• These are analyzed and interpreted with the help of appropriate
parametric or non-parametric statistical tests and quantitative techniques.

23. WRITING OF RESEARCH REPORT
• It is the last stage in the descriptive research as in any other form of
research.
• The researcher should exercise extreme caution in generalizing
conclusions and reporting them with all the limitations of the study.