1) The document discusses the key elements of a research design including the research approach, conceptual framework, population and sampling, data collection sources and methods, and data analysis methods. 2) It explains that a research design provides a framework and plan for conducting a study, including what will be done, how it will be done, and how the data will be analyzed. 3) The major elements of a research design are the approach, conceptual framework, population and sampling technique, sources and time of data collection, tools and methods of data collection, and methods of data analysis.

1. Research Approach & Design
By Salman khan
Lecturer

2. Introduction
• Research approach and research design are
two terms that are frequently used
interchangeably, however research design is a
broader plan to conduct a study.
• Research approach is an important element of
the research design, which governs it.

3. Continued…
• A research design is a framework or guide
used for:
⮚Planning,
⮚Implementation and
⮚Analysis of a study.

4. Continued…
• It is a systematic plan:
⮚What is to be done,
⮚How it will be done and
⮚How the data will be analyzed.
• Research design basically provides an outline
of how the research will be carried out and
the methods that will be used.

5. Continued…
• Research design is also known as blueprint
that researchers select to carry out their
research study; sometimes research design is
used interchangeably with the term
methodology.

6. Definitions
• The research design is the master plan
specifying the methods and procedures for
collecting and analyzing the needed
information in a research study.
• Research design is a plan of how, when and
where data are to be collected and analyzed.

7. Elements of Research Design
• Research design includes the six major
elements:
1. The Approach
2. Conceptual framework
3. Population, sample, sampling technique
4. The Time, Place & Sources of data collection
5. Tools & Methods of data collection
6. Methods of data analysis

8. The Approach
• It involves the description of the plan to
investigate the phenomenon under study in a
structured (quantitative), unstructured
(qualitative), or a combination of the two
methods (quantitative-qualitative approach).
• Therefore, the approach helps to decide
about the presence or absence as well as
manipulation and control over variables.

9. Continued…
• In addition it also helps to identify the
presence or absence of and comparison
between groups.
• The approach of research study depends on
several factors, but primarily on the nature of
phenomenon under study.
• At this stage of the research study, conceptual
framework may or may not be incorporated.

10. Conceptual Framework
• Interrelated concepts or abstractions that are
assembled together in some rational scheme
by virtue of their relevance to a common
theme; sometimes referred to as a conceptual
theoretical framework if based on the
concepts of an existing theory or theories.

11. Population, Sample & Sampling
Technique
• Research design also provides the researcher
with directions about population, sample and
sampling technique that will be used for the
research study.
• Eg. In an ethnographic qualitative research
design, a researcher gets the directive that the
population will be a specific cultural group and
the study will include a small sample selected
through a nonprobability sampling technique.

12. The Time, Place & Sources of Data
Collection
• Time(specifying days, months and years of the
study), location (study setting), and the
sources of the requisite data are the other
important constituents essential to ensure
effective planning to conduct a research
study.

13. Tools & Methods of Data
Collection
• This element of research design involves the
description of different tools & methods of
data collection.
• Eg- questionnaires, interviews, direct
observation or any other methods that suit
the particular approach of the research as
well as nature of the phenomenon of the
study.

14. Methods of Data Analysis
• A research design must also include the
description of methods of data analysis- either
qualitative or quantitative data analysis
techniques – that helps the researcher to
collect the relevant data, which later can be
analyzed as per the research design plan.
• Without a formal plan of data analysis, a
researcher may collect irrelevant data which
can later become difficult to analyze.