This document provides an overview of different research designs. It begins with defining key terms like research, research design, and research process. It then outlines both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. For qualitative approaches, it describes narrative research, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study designs. For quantitative approaches, it explains experimental, correlational, survey, and action research designs. It provides details on the purpose, processes, and conclusions that can be drawn from these different research methodologies.

1. Research Designs
Sajal Karjee
State Aided College Teacher
Baneswar Sarathibala
Mahavidyalaya
1

2.  The purpose of research is to discover answers to
questions through the application of scientific
procedures.
 Redman and Mory has explained research as
‘’systematized effort to gain new knowledge’
2
Introduction

3. 3
The Research Process Cycle

4. 4
•Functions
•Essential elements
•Key characteristics
•Steps in Research Design
RESEARCH
DESIGN - Theory
•Grounded theory
•Ethnographies
• Narrative research
• Case Study
RESEARCH DESIGNS–
Qualitative Approach
•Experimental Research design
•Action Research design
•Survey Research design
•Correlational Research design
RESEARCH DESIGNS -
Quantitative Approach
OUTLINE

5. 5

6. What is research design?
 Overall plan or programme of research
 Research Design can be defined as a framework of research methods and techniques
applied by a researcher to incorporate different elements & components of research in a
systematic manner with a view to operate the Research Problem efficiently.
 Most significantly, research design provides insights about “How to Conduct a Research
using a particular research methodology.
 The main aim of Research Design - To find out answers to research questions.
6

7. Key points need to split the
parts of the overall research
design
7

8. Functions of Research Design
1. The research design provides a blueprint to the researcher.
 For example- what the research is about?
 What kind of data requires to resolve research questions?
 Where to collect the required data and information? Study area, time, and so on.
8

9. Functions of Research Design
2.Research design determines an outline of research work that’s the researcher can concentrate fully on
the study.
 That is, the precise objectives of the study are the most important in this regard.
 The reason is pointless research becomes an endless practice so far.
3.The research design helps the researcher to resolve many shortcomings before the study starts.
 This is possible through the proper Review of Literature.
 The researcher in this review can decide some possible alternative ways to solve the research problem.
9

10. Essential elements of the research designs
 1. Accurate purpose statement
 2. Techniques to be implemented for collecting and analyzing research
 3. The method applied for analyzing collected details
 4. Type of research methodology
 5. Probable objections for research
 6. Settings for the research study
 7. Timeline
10

11. How do we Create a Research Design?
Creating a research design means making DECISIONS about:
Overall aims and approach
The type of research design you’ll use
How you’ll select participants or subjects
Data collection methods
The procedures you’ll follow to collect data
Data analysis strategies
11

12. KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF
RESEARCH DESIGN
12

13. Steps in Research Design
Step 1: Consider - aims and approach
Step 2: Choose a type of research design
Step 3: Identify - population and sampling method
Step 4: Choose - data collection methods
Step 5: Plan - data collection procedures
Step 6: Decide on - data analysis strategies
13

14. Step 1: Consider your aims and
approach
 Before you can start designing your research, you should already have a
clear idea of the research question you want to investigate.
• Research ideas can come from a variety of sources, including
• Informal observations,
• Practical problems,
• Previous research.
• It is important to evaluate how interesting a research question is before designing a
study and collecting data to answer it.
• It is also important to evaluate how feasible a research question will be to answer.
• Factors that affect feasibility include time, money, technical knowledge and skill,
and access to special equipment and research participants
14

15. Exercises:
Practice: Generate five research ideas based on each of the following:
 Informal observations
 Practical problems
 Topics discussed in recent issues of professional journals.
15

16. It broadly can categorize into the following three types.
1. Exploratory research is usually conducted when a researcher has just
begun an investigation and wishes to understand the topic generally.
2. Descriptive research aims to describe or define the topic at hand.
3. Explanatory research is aims to explain why particular phenomena work
in the way that they do..
16

17. TYPES OF RESEARCH
DESIGNS
 Descriptive Research
As the name implies, this is an in-depth sort of research design that answers
what
17

18. TYPES OF RESEARCH
DESIGNS
 Exploratory Research
This sort of research explores the subject matter and answers what and how.
( Feasibility study )
 Explanatory Research
This sort of research design explains the subject of the research and thereby answers what,
why, and how. (Causes and effect)
18

19. TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGNS
Evaluation research designs are classified into three broad categories, & several
subtypes.
1. Quantitative research design
2. Qualitative research design
3. Mixed method research design
19

20. 20

21. Population vs Sample
Population Sample
Advertisements for IT jobs in the India The top 50 search results for advertisements for
IT jobs in the India on May 1, 2020
Songs from the K-POP Song Contest Winning songs from the K-POP Song Contest
that were performed in Korean (BTS -Group)
Undergraduate students in the Netherlands 300 undergraduate students from three Dutch
universities who volunteer for your psychology
research study
All countries of the world Countries with published data available on birth
rates since 2000
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22. Sampling Method
22
Probability sampling Non-probability sampling
Probability sampling is the most statistically valid option, but it’s often difficult to achieve
unless you’re dealing with a very small and accessible population.
The key benefit of probability sampling methods is that they guarantee that the sample chosen
is representative of the population.
This ensures that the statistical conclusions will be valid.
For practical reasons, many studies use non-probability sampling, but it’s important to be aware
of the limitations and carefully consider potential biases.

23. Probability Sampling Method
The main types of probability sampling methods are
1. Simple random sampling,
2. Stratified sampling,
3. Cluster sampling,
4. Multistage sampling, and
5. Systematic random sampling.
Non-probability samples
 Voluntary samples
 Convenience samples
23

24. Step 4: Data collection methods
.
 Data collection methods are ways of directly measuring variables and
gathering information
24

25. METHOD ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Surveys • Anonymous completion
possible
• Can administer to
groups ofpeople at the
same time
• Can be efficient and cost
effective
• Forced choices may miss
certainresponses from
participants
• Wording may bias responses
• Impersonal
Intervie
ws
(individu
al/in-
depth)
• Can build rapport
withparticipant
• Can prove to get
additionalinformation
• Can get breadth or
depth ofinformation
• Time consuming
• Expensive
• Interviewing styles and
wording mayaffect responses
Focus Groups • Can get common
impressionsquickly
• Can be an efficient way to
get breadth and depth of
informationin a short time
frame
• Need experienced facilitator
• Can be difficult and costly to
schedulea group of 6–8 people
• Time consuming to analyze
responses
Observation • Can view program
operations asthey occur
• Difficult to interpret observed
behaviors
• May influence behaviors of
programparticipants
• May be expensive and time
consumingto record each
individual event
Docume
nt
Review
• Can document historical
information about your
program
• Does not interrupt
programroutine
• Information already exists
• May be time consuming
• Available information
may beincomplete
• Gathering information is
dependent onquality of records
kept
25

26. Other methods of data collection
26
Field Examples of data collection methods
Media & communication
Collecting a sample of texts (e.g. speeches, articles, or social
media posts) for data on cultural norms and narratives
Psychology
Using technologies like neuroimaging, eye-tracking, or computer-
based tasks to collect data on things like attention, emotional
response, or reaction time
Education Using tests or assignments to collect data on knowledge and skills
Physical sciences
Using scientific instruments to collect data on things like weight,
blood pressure, or chemical composition

27. Data Collection Plan
 1) Identify the questions that you want to answer
 2) Determine the kind of data that is available
 3) Determine how much data is needed
 4) Determine how to measure the data
 5) Decide who is going to collect the data
 6) Determine where the data will be collected from
 7) Decide whether to measure a sample or the whole population
 8) Determine in what format the data will be displayed
27

28. 28

29. Step 5: Plan - data collection procedures
 Planning systematic procedures is especially important in quantitative research,
where we need to precisely define the variables and ensure our measurements are
reliable and valid.
Reliability and validity
Reliability means your results can be consistently reproduced.
Validity means that you’re actually measuring the concept you’re interested in.
29

30. Step 5: Plan - data collection procedures
30
Reliability Validity
Does your measure capture the
same concept consistently over
time?
Does it produce the same
results in different contexts?
Do all questions measure the
exact same concept?
Do your measurement materials
test all aspects of the concept?
Does it correlate with different
measures of the same concept?

31. Step 5: Plan - data collection procedures
Operationalization
 Operationalization means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.
 When planning how you will collect data, you need to translate the conceptual definition of what you want to
study into the operational definition of what you will actually measure.
 Some variables, like height or age, are easily measured. But often you’ll be dealing with more abstract
concepts, like satisfaction, anxiety, or competence.
 If you’re using observations, which events or actions will you count?
 Example: To measure teachers’ satisfaction with online learning tools, you could create a questionnaire with a
5-point rating scale.
31

32. Step 6: Decide on data analysis
strategies
On its own, raw data can’t answer your research question.
The last step of designing your research is planning how you’ll analyze the
data.
32

33. Step 6: Decide on your data analysis
strategies
Quantitative data analysis
 The variability of the data (e.g. the standard deviation to describe how spread out the
scores are)
 The specific calculations you can do depend on the level of measurement of your
variables.
 Make estimates about the population based on your sample data.
 Test hypotheses about a relationship between variables.
 Regression and correlation tests look for associations between two or more
variables, while comparison tests (such as t-tests and ANOVAs) look for differences
in the outcomes of different groups.
 Your choice of statistical test depends on various aspects of your research design,
including the types of variables you’re dealing with and the distribution of your data.
33

34. Step 6: Decide on your data analysis
strategies
Qualitative data analysis
In qualitative research, the data will usually be very dense with information and ideas.
Two of the most common approaches to doing this are
1. Thematic analysis
2. Discourse analysis.
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35. Thematic analysis-Example
35

36. Discourse analysis
36

37. 37

38. Descriptive Analytics: What Is
Happening?
38

39. Diagnostic Analytics: Why Is It
Happening?
39

40. Predictive Analytics: What Is Likely
To Happen?
40

41. Prescriptive Analytics: What Do I Need
To Do?

41

42. 42

43. Purpose of Qualitative approach and
Quantitative approach
Qualitative approach Quantitative approach
 Understand subjective
experiences, beliefs, and concepts
 Gain in-depth knowledge of a
specific context or culture
 Explore under-researched
problems and generate new ideas
 Measure variables and describe
frequencies, averages, and
correlations
 Test hypotheses about
relationships between variables
 Test the effectiveness of a new
treatment, program or product
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44. RESEARCH DESIGNS
Quantitative Qualitative Mixed Method
Experimental design Grounded theory Survey Research Design
Correlational Design Ethnographies Action Research Design
Narrative research
Case Study
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Eight different research design :

45. Research Designs- Qualitative
approach
45

46. Qualitative Research Design
Qualitative Research Design having 4 subtypes:
1. Narrative research
2. Grounded theory
3. Ethnographies
4. Case study
46

47. Qualitative Research Design
1.NARRATIVE RESEARCH
Narrative research is a design of inquiry from the humanities in which
the researcher studies the lives of individuals and asks one or more
individuals to provide stories about their lives.
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48. Qualitative Research Design
3.Grounded theory
 Grounded theory is a design of inquiry from sociology in which the researcher derives a
general, abstract theory of a process, action, or interaction grounded in the views of participants.
 This process involves using multiple stages of data collection and the refinement and
interrelationship of categories of information
4. Ethnography
 Ethnography is a design of investigation coming from anthropology and sociology in
which the researcher studies the shared patterns of behaviors, language, and actions of an
intact cultural group in a natural setting over a prolonged period of time.
 Data collection often involves observations and interviews.
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49. Qualitative Research
Design
5.Case study
Case studies are a design of inquiry found in many fields, especially evaluation, in
which the researcher develops an in-depth analysis of a case, often a program, event,
activity, process, or one or more individuals.
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50. 50
Research Designs- Quantitative
approach

51. 51

52. 1.Experimental design
 It seeks to determine if a specific treatment
influences an outcome.
 The researcher assesses this by providing a specific
treatment to one group and withholding it from
another and then determining how both groups
scored on an outcome. ( Control and Sample)
52

53. Experimental Designs
 Experimental researchers test an idea (or practice or procedure) to determine
its effect on an outcome.
 Experimental research is usually undertaken when the goal of the research is
to trace cause-and-effect relationships between defined variables.
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54. Conclusion- Experimental Research
Design
What do these studies tell you?
1. Experimental research allows the researcher to control the situation. In so doing, it allows
researchers to answer the question, “what causes something to occur?”
2. Permits the researcher to identify cause and effect relationships between variables and to
distinguish placebo effects from treatment effects.
3. Experimental research designs support the ability to limit alternative explanations.
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55. Conclusion- Experimental Research
Design
What do these studies don't tell you?
 The design is artificial, and results may not generalize well to the real world.
 The artificial settings of experiments may alter subject behaviors or responses.
 Experimental designs can be costly if special equipment or facilities are needed.
 Some research problems cannot be studied using an experiment because of ethical or
technical reasons.
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56. 56

57. Action Research
57

58. Purpose of Action Research Design
 The purpose of action research is to improve the practice of education, with
researchers studying their own problems or issues in a school or
educational setting.
 Educators engage in reflection about these problems, collect and analyze
data, and implement changes or a plan of action based on their findings.
 In some cases, the research solves a local, practical problem, such as a
classroom issue for a teacher.
 In other situations, the research seeks ideological aims, such as to
empower, transform, and liberate individuals and communities.
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59. Types of Action Research Design 59

60. Conclusion- Action Research
What do these studies tell you?
 1. A collaborative and adaptive research design that lends itself to use in work or community
situations.
 2. Design focuses on pragmatic and solution-driven research rather than testing theories.
 3. When practitioners use action research it has the potential to increase the amount they learn
consciously from their experience. The action research cycle can also be regarded as a learning
cycle.
 4. Action search studies often have direct and obvious relevance to practice.
 5.There are no hidden controls or preemption of direction by the researcher.
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61. Conclusion- Action Research
What these studies don't tell you?
1.It is harder to do than conducting conventional studies because the researcher takes
on responsibilities for encouraging change as well as for research.
2. Action research is much harder to write up because you probably can’t use a standard
format to report your findings effectively.
3. Personal over-involvement of the researcher may bias research results.
4. The cyclic nature of action research to achieve its twin outcomes of action (e.g.
change) and research (e.g. understanding) is time-consuming and complex to conduct.
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62. Examples in Action Research
 When Do we Use Action Research?
 We use action research when we have a specific educational problem to solve.
 Action research provides an opportunity for educators to reflect on their own practices.
 Within the scope of a school, action research offers a means for staff development, for teachers’
development as professionals, and for addressing schoolwide problems (Allen & Calhoun, 1998).
 In fact, the scope of action research provides a means for teachers or educators in the schools to
improve their practices of taking action and to do so by participating in research
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63. 63

64. Survey Research 64

65. Survey Research
 It provides a quantitative or numeric description of trends, attitudes, or opinions
of a population by studying a sample of that population.
 It includes cross-sectional and longitudinal studies using questionnaires or
structured interviews for data collection—with the intent of generalizing from a
sample to a population.
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66. The main difference is that cross-sectional studies interview a fresh sample of people each time
they are carried out, (Summative results for two different academic years)
whereas longitudinal studies follow the same sample of people over time.( Formative results with
in a year)
66

67. Types of Survey Research
Design
67

68. Conclusion- Survey Research Design
 What do these studies tell you?
 1.Cross-sectional studies provide a 'snapshot' of the outcome and the characteristics associated with it, at a
specific point in time.
 2.Unlike the experimental design where there is an active intervention by the researcher to produce and
measure change or to create differences, cross-sectional designs focus on studying and drawing inferences
from existing differences between people, subjects, or phenomena.
 3.Involves collecting data at and concerning one point in time. While longitudinal studies involve taking
multiple measures over an extended period of time, cross-sectional research is focused on finding
relationships between variables at one moment in time.
 4.Groups identified for study are purposely selected based upon existing differences in the sample rather than
seeking random sampling.
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69. Conclusion- Survey Research Design
What these studies don't tell you?
1. Finding people, subjects, or phenomena to study that are very similar except in one
specific variable can be difficult.
2. Results are static and time bound and, therefore, give no indication of a sequence of
events or reveal historical contexts.
3. Studies cannot be utilized to establish cause and effect relationships.
4. Provide only a snapshot of analysis so there is always the possibility that a study could
have differing results if another time-frame had been chosen.
5. There is no follow up to the findings.
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70. 70

71. Correlational Research
 Correlational designs provide an opportunity for you to predict scores and explain the
relationship among variables.
 In correlational research designs, investigators use the correlation statistical test to
describe and measure the degree of association (or relationship) between two or more
variables or sets of scores.
In this design, the researchers do not attempt to control or manipulate the variables as in an
experiment; instead, they relate, using the correlation statistic, two or more scores for each
person .
 (e.g., a student motivation and a student achievement score for each individual).
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72. Correlational Research 72

73. Correlational Research
What do these studies tell you?
 Identify whether you plan to examine the association between or among
variables or use correlational research to make predictions about an
outcome.
 Plot on a graph the association between your variables so that you can
determine the direction, form, and strength of the association.
 Use appropriate correlational statistics in your design based on whether the
data are continuous or categorical and whether the form of the data is linear
or nonlinear.
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74. Correlational Research
 Recognize that a correlation study is not as rigorous as an experiment because the
researcher can only control statistically for variables rather than physically manipulate
variables.
 Correlational studies do not “prove” relationships; rather, they indicate an association
between or among variables or sets of scores.
 Realize that all correlational studies, no matter how advanced the statistics, use a
correlation coefficient as their base for analysis.
 Understanding the intent of this coefficient helps you determine the results in a
correlational study.
74

75. Examples of
Correlational Research
Maria chooses a quantitative correlational design for her graduate school research project.
This is her research question: “Is the use of alcohol by students related to suspensions for weapon possession?”
In other words, does use of alcohol predict whether a person will receive suspension for possessing weapons in the school?
Maria accesses school records for individuals cited for possession of alcohol and the records for weapon possession.
She relates these two variables using the correlation statistic.
She finds that the two variables are positively related:
If a person has been cited for alcohol, he or she is likely to be suspended for weapon possession as well.
Maria conducts a correlation research study.
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76. RESEARCH DESIGNS-
SUMMARY
Grounded Theory
Designs
To generate a
theory because
one is not
available or
suitable.-
Ethnography design
Ethnography is a
design of
investigation
coming from
anthropology and
sociology
• Experimental Designs :To trace cause-and-
effect relationships between defined variables.
• Action Research :To develop an action plan to
solve a specific practical/ educational problem
• To describe trends, determine attitudes or
opinions, describe characteristics of a
population, identify practices, evaluate
programs, or follow up on individuals over
time – Survey Design
• To relate two or more variables to see if they
influence each other- Correlational Research
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77. Thank you