1. The document discusses various research study designs including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. 2. It provides details on specific designs like case studies, case control studies, action research, cohort studies, descriptive studies, cross-sectional studies, exploratory studies, experimental studies, and longitudinal studies. 3. The advantages and limitations of each design are outlined to help researchers select the most appropriate design for their study.

1. Prepared by
Arati G Mishra
PhD Scholar
Principal
SET SON Junagadh

2.  A research study design is a step-by-step approach used by a
researcher to conduct a scientific study.
 It includes various methods and techniques to conduct research so
that a research problem can be handled efficiently.
 A researcher has a series of questions that needs to find answers by
conducting research.
 Research method provides a logical sequence to conduct
experiments so that all questions can be assessed in proper order.
 An impactful research design makes sure the least bias in the data
collected and increases trust in analyzed research information.
 A research design which leaves the least margin of errors can be
considered the best research design.

3. Research Approach
Population
 Sample and sampling technique
Tools and methods of data collection
Time, place and sources of data collection
Methods of Data analysis

4. Neutrality Reliability Validity Generalization
The results collected
in research should be
free from bias and
neutral.
Discuss and get
evaluated your
conclusion with
experienced multiple
individuals and consider
those who agree with
your research’s results.
Research design should
be able to ensure the
standards results by
indicating how research
questions can be
formed.
 Because a researcher
will always want the
same results every time,
he performs an
experiment.
The validity of a
research design is used
to calculate the
expected results and to
estimate the
truthfulness of the
result.
In most cases,
researchers opt for their
own definition when it
comes to what is
considered valid.
The questionnaire
prepared from the
research design is
considered valid.
Generalization is one
of the most important
key characteristics of
research design.
The results obtained
from the research should
be applicable to a
population and not just
to a limited sample.

5.  Main 3 type of Research study design
1. Qualitative Research Design
2. Quantitative Research Design
3. Mixed Methods.

6. 1. Phenomenological Research
2. Ethnographic Research
3. Grounded Theory
4. Historical Research Design
5. Action Research
6. Case Study

7. 1. Experimental Research Design
a) True Experimental Research Design
 Basic True Experimental Research Design
 Post test only control group Research Design
 Pre test Post test control group Research Design
 Solomon four group Research Design

8. 1. Experimental Research Design
a) True Experimental Research Design
 Specific True Experimental Research Design
 Parallel group Research Design
 Split body Research Design
 Factorial Research Design
 Randomization Block Research Design
 Cross over Research Design
 Latin square Research Design

9. 1. Experimental Research Design
b) Quasi Experimental Research Design
 Non Randomization control Experimental Research Design
 Non Equivalent control group post test only Experimental
Research Design
 Time Series Non equivalent control group Design
 Time Series Design
 Time Series Design with withdrawal and reinstitution treatment
design
 One Group Pre test post test design

10. 2. Non Experimental Research Design
a) Correlation Research Design
 Cohort Research Design
 Prospective cohort Research Design
 Historical cohort Research Design
 Ambispective cohort Research Design
 Case control Research Design
 Analytical cross section

11. 2. Non Experimental Research Design
b) Descriptive Research Design
 Univariant Research Design
 Prevalence
 Incidence
 Comparative Research Design
 Exploratory Research Design
 Survey

12. 3) Specific Research Design
 Clinical trial
 Evaluation Research Design
 Outcome Research Design
 Operational Research Design
 Methodological Research Design
 Secondary data Analysis
 Meta Analysis
 Ecological Research

13. 1. Convergent Research Design
2. Explanatory sequential Research Design
3. Exploratory sequential Research Design
4. Embedded Design3.tudy desig3.n

15. 1) Case-study design
 A case-study research design is used for the in-depth and detailed
study of a subject.
 This technique is usually used to narrow down a big problem into small
discrete easily researchable problems.
 The case study research design is useful to test the applicability of
specific theory or model on the real-life phenomena.
 A case-study research design is useful in those scenarios where there is
not much information is known or available about the phenomena.
 The case-study research design has an important place in various
disciplines and professions such as sociology, political science, clinical
science social science, administrative science, and psychology.

16. Advantages of Case study design Limitation of Case-study research design
The case-study research design delivers a
thorough description of the explicit and rare case.
The case-study research design is widely used by
social scientists to test modern real-life situations
and provides an extension of the existing concepts.
The case-study research design can modify what
is already known through previous research.
It gives the freedom to the researchers to apply
various methodologies and include any number of
resources to investigate the problem.
The case study research design excels at
establishing a relationship between a limited
number of events or conditions and also helps us to
understand complex issues.
Sometimes research done on a small sample
cannot be applied on a large population.
Therefore, a case study research design is difficult
to establish reliability and generalize.
The researcher can be biased about the finding of
the case because of the intense exposure to the
study.
Case study research design does not enable the
assessment of cause and effect relationship.
Missing important information can make the case
hard to interpret.
Sometimes the case may not be the
representation of the larger case being
investigated. If research is being done on a specific
situation or phenomenon then results might be

17. 2) Case control study design
 A case-control study is a type of medical research investigation
often used to help determine the cause of a disease, particularly
when investigating a disease outbreak or rare condition.
 A case-control study is a way of carrying out a medical investigation
to confirm or indicate what is likely to have caused a condition.
 They are usually retrospective, meaning that the researchers look
at past data to test whether a particular outcome can be linked
back to a suspected risk factor and prevent further outbreaks.
 In prospective case-control studies are less common. These involve
enrolling a specific selection of people and following that group
while monitoring their health.

18. Advantages of Case control study design Limitation of Case control research
design
Quicker, cheaper and require less time and effort
than cohort studies.
Case-control studies can study rare diseases.
Case-control studies can study multiple risk
factors/exposures.
They are useful for studying outcomes (diseases)
that take a long time to develop, e.g. cancer.
Case-control studies are prone to selection and
recall bias (i.e. better recollection of exposure
amongst cases than among controls.
 They are inefficient for examining rare
exposures.
 It may be difficult to establish temporality
(when the person was actually exposed to the
disease/risk factor).
It can be difficult to choose an appropriate
control group.
 Unlike cohort studies, case-control studies
cannot calculate incidence rates, relative risks or
attributable risks. Instead odds ratio are the
measure of association used (when outcome is
uncommon, e.g. most cancers, it can be a good

19. 3) Action research design
 The action research design follows a characteristics-based path,
where initially an exploratory stance has opted and understanding is
developed about the problem and made some type of strategies for
intervention.
 While carrying out the interventions, various forms of relevant
observations are collected. The same path followed again with the
new interventional strategies and continued until a sufficient
understanding of the problem is not realized.
 The path followed is cyclic or iterative in nature to provide a
deeper understanding of the situation, initializing with
hypothesizing and specifying the given problem and moving ahead
making numerous interventions and assessments.

20. Advantages of Action research design Limitation of Action research design
It is a research design which can be used in work
or community situations, because of its cooperative
and adaptive research nature.
Action research design focuses on practical and
solution-driven research rather than testing various
theories.
Action research design increases the chances of
learning consciously from their experience,
therefore, it is also viewed as a learning cycle.
The Outcomes of the action research design have
obvious relevance to practice.
No information can be hidden or controlled by
the researcher.
It is difficult to perform conventional studies
because it is the responsibility of the researcher to
boost change for study.
Over-involvement of the researcher may bias the
test results.
There is no standard format to write action
research, therefore, it is hard to document.
Because of its cyclic nature action research is
difficult and time consuming to conduct.

21. 4) Cohort Research design
 A cohort study is generally conducted on a certain population (have
some commonality or similarity) over a period of time.
 A cohort study is usually applied in medical sciences and social
sciences. A cohort study makes note of statistical occurrence with a
specialized subsection of the population, which is unified by similar
characteristics that are relevant with the problem being
investigated, instead of studying statistical occurrence with the
general population.
 A cohort can either be open or closed but not both at the same
time. Cohort studies collect data applying the method of
observation using a qualitative framework.

22.  Open cohort studies involve dynamic population which is
separated by the state of being studied in the problem.
 The size of a cohort study is not constant because the date of
entry and exit is defined by an individual.
 Rate-based data is gathered in open cohort studies. Closed cohort
study involves a specific population, where all the participants
enter the study at a specific point and no new participants are
allowed to take part in later.
 Therefore, the number of participants in a closed cohort study
remain constant and in a few rare cases, it can only decrease.

23. Advantages of Cohort study Limitation of Cohort study
In risk-based studies, using action research study
is mandatory, because it is unethical to involve
random people.
Both original and secondary data can be used in
cohort research.
A cohort study is flexible in its nature and can be
used to provide insights into effects over time and
different types of changes for example, social,
political, economic, and cultural.
Cohort studies can gauge probable cause before
the outcome has occurred. It can establish that
these causes led to the result. Therefore, avoid the
debate determining which is the cause and which is
the effect.
Because of lack of randomization, the external
legitimacy of a cohort study is lower than the other
researches which select random participants.
Cohort studies usually take a long time because
the researcher has to wait for certain conditions
within the group. Therefore, there are chances
that variables may change with time, hence,
impacting the credibility of the results.
In the case of comparison of two cohort groups,
the factors which differ between the two groups
can’t be controlled.

24. 5) Descriptive design
 This type of research design is used to describe the
characteristics of a population or phenomena being researched.
 This study provides the answer to “what” and does not provide
the answers to “how”, “when”, and “why”.
 Descriptive research does not require an internal validity to
describe the characteristics of a population.
 This type of research is used to calculate frequencies, averages,
and statistic of data.

25. Advantages of Descriptive design Limitation of Descriptive design
This approach gathers a large amount of data for
the study.
With the help of this study rich data can be
yielded for future references.
A more focused study can be developed by using
the limitations of the study as a useful tool.
The descriptive design gives a general overview
of the study which is helpful to determine useful
pointers for which variables are worth studying.
This study entirely depends on the
instrumentation for observation and measurement.
The outcome of a descriptive design can’t be
used to disprove a hypothesis.
Outcomes of descriptive designs can’t be
replicated as outcomes of this design is collected
using the observational method.

26. 6) Cross-sectional design
 This type of research design can only calculate among or from a
variety of people, phenomena or subjects at the place of change.
 It has three distinguishing features such as no time dimensions, a
dependence on the existing differences, and selection of groups
based on differences rather than random selection.

27. Advantages of Cross-sectional study Limitation of Cross-sectional study
Cross-sectional research design is inexpensive to
perform because this is done using surveys.
Results are more reliable because it is performed
on a population.
This study provides the characteristics of the
result at a point in time.
Grouping of the population is done based on their
difference and are not selected randomly.
A cross-sectional study can use a large number of
subjects, unlike many other research designs.
It is difficult to find people, phenomena or
subjects of same interest.
Outcomes are time-bound and do not provide any
reliability for historical occurrences.
This study can’t be used to determine the cause
and effect relationship.
As outcomes are time bound, therefore, there
are chances of getting different outcomes in
different time-frame.

28. 7) Exploratory design
 This type of research design is used for the researches on which no
research is done before and have no studies to refer to.
 The focus of exploratory design is to get understandings and
knowledge for later investigations. This study determines if a future
study is possible or not and later techniques can be developed for
more research.
Advantages of Exploratory design Limitation of Exploratory design
It helps to determine research priority.
It is useful to gather background data for a
particular topic.
This research answers all questions like “what”,
“why”, “how”.
Findings of the exploratory group are not
generalized on the whole population.
Outcomes of this study are tentative, because of
its unstructured style of research.

29. 8) Experimental design
 This type of research design is often used when there is a priority
of time such as cause will always precede effect and when there is
steadiness in a causal relationship such as a particular cause will
always lead to the same effect and the degree of association is
great.
 Experimental design is the blueprint of the procedure that
permits researchers to control all factors of the experiment.
 Experimental designs use more groups and more measurements
for a longer period of time.

30. Advantages of Experimental design Limitation of Experimental design
It delivers a high level of evidence for a single
study.
This study determines what is the cause of
something to take place.
It helps researchers to determine placebo effects
from treatment effects.
Experimental research is not real and it might not
fit into the real world.
The settings of the experiment may change the
behavior of the subjects.
The experimental researches are sometimes
costly, because of the use of special equipment and
facilities.
There are a few types of problems which can’t be
experimented because of ethical or technical
reasons.

31. 9) Longitudinal design
 Longitudinal research design makes repetitive experiments and
makes multiple observations.
 In this type of research design, the same group of people is
interviewed at regular intervals. In this way, the researcher tracks
their behavior and identify variables that have caused the change
in their behaviors.
 This research study is a type of observational study and is also
known as a panel study.

32. Advantages of Longitudinal design Limitation of Longitudinal design
Observation can be made during a particular
phenomenon.
Future outcomes can be predicted on the basis of
earlier factors.
Let the research to establish a causal relationship
between various variables.
Provide an explanation for the pattern of change.
Methods of conducting experiment might change
over time.
Original sample might change over time.
More than one variable can’t be shown in this
type of research.
In this type of research, the researcher assumes
that the present trends will remain the same in
future also.
It takes a long time to conduct this type of
research.

33. 10) Historical design
 In this type of research data from the past is collected, evaluate
and the hypothesis is defended based on the outcomes.
 To make this type of research a lot of resources like logs,
documents, notes, diaries, reports, official records, archives,
and no textual data like maps, images, drawings, audios) are
used.
 This research is difficult to conduct because documents should
be authentic and authorized.

34. Advantages of Historical design Limitation of Historical design
It is useful for trend analysis.
It can provide a contextual background to
understand a research problem better.
There are no chances of emotional involvement
of the researcher with the subject.
Historical resources can be used multiple times.
The success of research completely relies on the
quality of historical resources.
External variables can’t be controlled in this type
of research; thus, research remains weak.
Gaps in the study are difficult to acknowledge
because of the missing pieces of historical
resources.
Interpretation of historical resources consumes a
lot of time.

35. 11) Observational research design
 This type of research design is used to draw results by comparing
subjects under research with a controlled group.
 An observational study can be of two types. In the first type, your
subjects know that you are observing them and in the second type,
you observe your subjects without letting them know.
 Observational study design let you get the insights of a particular
phenomenon without getting into the trouble of setting up a large
project.

36. Advantages of Observational design Limitation of Observational design
It is a flexible type of research and doesn’t
require to stick to a hypothesis.
In-depth information can be collected about the
phenomenon.
Results can be generalized to real life events.
It can act as a pre-research before starting any
other experiment.
It accounts for the complexity of group behavior.
Subjects under study are not equally credible.
There are high chances for this research turned
out to be biased because the researcher might
notice what he wants to notice.
The outcome of this research is limited to a small
group and can’t be generalized.
Subjects might behave differently because of the
presence of the researcher.

37. 12) Sequential research design
 This type of research is designed in a staged approach, where you
can move to the next stage only after completing research at the
first stage.
 The results from one stage are used in the next stage and this
process continues until enough data is collected to test the
hypothesis.
 The sample size can vary throughout the research.
 After analyzing each stage, research can admit the null hypothesis
or can choose a different hypothesis or even can choose to perform
the experiment again, that means in this type of research design
there is no limit on a number of subjects selected by a researcher.

38. Advantages of Sequential research
design
Limitation of Sequential research design
There is no limit on the size of the sample of
research.
Repetitive nature of the research let you make
initial changes.
A sequential research design is not expensive.
Fewer efforts from the researcher’s side.
Because of its sequential nature, results of one
sample are analyzed and tested before taking the
second sample into the study.
It is difficult to maintain consistency in the
research from one sample to another.
Samples aren’t randomized. Hence outcomes
can’t be generalized on the whole population.
Moving the results of one sample to another is
difficult work.

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