The document discusses research design and the types of inquiries and data that different designs can analyze. There are various types of research designs that can generate primary data through methods like surveys, experiments, and case studies, or analyze existing secondary data sources. The design must reflect the purpose of the inquiry, which can be exploratory, descriptive, explanatory, predictive, or evaluative. It also discusses forms of reasoning like deduction, inductive generalization, and retroduction that can ensure logical thesis adherence. The research design articulates what data is needed, which methods will collect and analyze this data, and how this will answer the research question in the most effective way.

1. RESEARCH
DESIGN
RESEARCH DESIGN AND THE
INQUIRY
The research design also reflects the
purpose of the inquiry, which can be
characterised as one or more of the
following:
Exploration
Description
Explanation
Prediction
Evaluation
History
TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGN
There are different types of design, such as
those:
Generating primary data
E.g. surveys, experiments, case studies,
programme evaluation, ethnographic
studies
Analysing existing data
E.g. text data (discourse analysis, content
analysis, textual criticism, historical studies)
or numeric data (secondary data analysis,
statistical modelling)
RESEARCH DESIGN AND
REASONING
To ensure that your thesis adheres to basic logic,
it is important to consider the form of reasoning
on which it will be based. There are basically
three forms of scientific reasoning that you can
employ when writing your thesis:
Deduction
Inductive generalisation
Retroduction
WHAT IS RESEARCH
DESIGN?
The research design articulates what
data is required, what methods are
going to be used to collect and analyse
this data, and how all of this is going to
answer your research question. Both
data and methods, and the way in which
these will be configured in the research
project, need to be the most effective in
producing the answers to the research
question (taking into account practical
and other constraints of the study).
Source: Dr Brian van Wyk: Research design and methods Part I Presentation