Unit-II: Research Design

UG 4th Semester
Things to Learn

● Meaning
● Need for Research Design
● Features of a Good Design
● Important Concepts Relating to Research Design
● Different Research Designs
● Basic Principles of Experimental Designs.
Meaning of Research Design

❖ Having decided what you want to study, you now need to determine how you are
going to conduct your study.
❖ It is the conceptual structure within which research is conducted.
❖ It constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of data.
❖ A traditional research design is a blueprint or detailed plan for how a research
study is to be completed—operationalizing variables so they can be measured,
selecting a sample of interest to study, collecting data to be used as a basis for
testing hypotheses, and analysing the results. (Thyer 1993: 94).
cont..
❖ More explicitly, the design decisions happen to be in respect of:
➢ What is the study about?
➢ Why is the study being made?
➢ Where will the study be carried out?
➢ What type of data is required?
➢ Where can the required data be found?
➢ What periods of time will the study include?
➢ What will be the sample design?
➢ What techniques of data collection will be used?
➢ How will the data be analysed?
➢ In what style will the report be prepared?
cont..

❖ Keeping in view the above stated design decisions, one may split the overall research
design into the following parts:
➢ Sampling Design which deals with the method of selecting items to be observed for the given study
➢ Observational Design which relates to the conditions under which the observations are to be made
➢ Statistical Design which concerns with the question of how many items are to be observed and how the
information and data gathered are to be analysed
➢ Operational Design which deals with the techniques by which the procedures specified in the sampling,
statistical and observational designs can be carried out.

❖ In brief, research design must, at least, contain—(a) a clear statement of the research
problem; (b) procedures and techniques to be used for gathering information; (c) the
population to be studied; and (d) methods to be used in processing and analysing data.
NEED FOR RESEARCH DESIGN

❖ It facilitates the smooth sailing of the various research operations

❖ Making research as efficient as possible yielding maximal information with
minimal expenditure of effort, time and money.
❖ Advance planning of the methods to be adopted for collecting the relevant
data and the techniques to be used in their analysis, keeping in view the
objective of the research and the availability of staff, time and money.
❖ Thoughtlessness in designing the research project may result in rendering
the research exercise futile.
❖ The design helps the researcher to organize his ideas in a form whereby it
will be possible for him to look for flaws and inadequacies.
FEATURES OF A GOOD DESIGN

❖ A good design is often characterised by adjectives like flexible, appropriate, efficient, economical.
❖ Generally, the design which minimises bias and maximises the reliability of the data collected and
analysed is considered a good design.
❖ The design which gives the smallest experimental error is supposed to be the best design.
❖ Choosing an appropriate design for different types of studies. For example;
➢ Exploratory or a Formulative Study: flexible enough to permit the consideration of many different aspects of a
phenomenon.
➢ Descriptive Studies: Minimises bias and maximises the reliability of the evidence
➢ Inferential Study: A design which will permit inferences about causality in addition to the minimisation of bias and
maximisation of reliability.
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS RELATING TO RESEARCH DESIGN

❖ Before describing the different research designs, it will be appropriate to

explain the various concepts relating to designs
➢ Dependent and Independent Variables
➢ Extraneous Variable
➢ Control
➢ Confounded Relationship
➢ Research Hypothesis
➢ Experimental and Non-Experimental Hypothesis-Testing Research
➢ Experimental and Control Groups
➢ Treatments
➢ Experiment
DIFFERENT RESEARCH DESIGNS

A. Research Design in Case of Exploratory Research Studies

B. Research Design in Case of Descriptive and Diagnostic Research Studies

C. Research Design in Case of Hypothesis-Testing Research Studies

A. Research Design in Case of Exploratory Research Studies

● Exploratory research studies are also termed as formulative research

studies.
● Main Purpose:
○ Formulating a problem for more precise investigation or of developing the working
hypotheses.
○ Discovery of ideas and insights.
● Appropriate Research Design: Flexible enough to provide opportunity for considering
different aspects of a problem under study
● Three Methods:
○ Survey of concerning literature
○ Experience survey and
○ Analysis of ‘insight-stimulating’ examples
Method-1: Survey of Concerning Literature

● Most simple and fruitful method of formulating precisely the research problem or
developing hypothesis
● Hypotheses stated by earlier workers may be reviewed and their usefulness be
evaluated as a basis for further research.
● It may also be considered whether the already stated hypotheses suggest new
hypothesis.
● Researcher should review and build upon the work already done by others.
● But in cases where hypotheses have not yet been formulated, his task is to review
the available material for deriving the relevant hypotheses from it.
Method-2: Experience Survey

● The survey of people who have had practical experience with the problem to be studied.
● Objective: to obtain insight into the relationships between variables and new ideas relating to the research
problem
● Target Population: People who are competent and can contribute new ideas may be carefully selected as
respondents to ensure a representation of different types of experience.
● Prepare an interview schedule for the systematic questioning of informants.
● Interview must ensure flexibility in the sense that the respondents should be allowed to raise issues and
questions which the investigator has not previously considered.
● It is desirable to send a copy of the questions to be discussed to the respondents well in advance for doing
some advance thinking over the various issues involved.
● This survey may as well provide information about the practical possibilities for doing different types of
research.
Method-3: Analysis of ‘Insight-Stimulating’ Examples

● Its a method for suggesting hypotheses for research.

● It is particularly suitable in areas where there is little experience to serve as a guide.
● It involves intensive study of selected instances of the phenomenon in which one is interested.
● For this purpose the existing records, if any, may be examined, the unstructured interviewing may take place,
or some other approach may be adopted.
● Attitude of the investigator, the intensity of the study and the ability of the researcher to draw together diverse
information is critical
● Big Question: What sort of examples are to be selected and studied?
● No clear cut answer to it. It depends.
● For example; reactions of strangers, the reactions of marginal individuals, the study of individuals who are in
transition from one stage to another, the reactions of individuals from different social strata and the like.
 B. Research Design in Case of Descriptive and Diagnostic
Research Studies

Descriptive research Diagnostic research

● Descriptive research studies are those ● Whereas diagnostic research studies
studies which are concerned with describing determine the frequency with which
the characteristics of a particular individual, something occurs or its association with
or of a group. something else.
● Studies concerned with specific predictions, ● Studies concerning whether certain
with narration of facts and characteristics variables are associated are examples of
concerning individual, group or situation are diagnostic research studies.
all examples of descriptive research studies.
 Cont..
● From the point of view of the research design, the descriptive as well as diagnostic studies
share common requirements
● We may group together these two types of research studies.
● In both the studies, the researcher must be able to define clearly, what he wants to
measure and must find adequate methods for measuring it along with a clear cut definition
of ‘population’ he wants to study.
● Objective: To obtain complete and accurate information
● Therefore, the procedure to be used must be carefully planned.
What Type of Research Design Is Required for Descriptive and
Diagnostic Research Studies?

● The research design must make enough provision for protection against bias and must maximize
reliability, with due concern for the economical completion of the research study.
● The design in such studies must be rigid and not flexible.
● Research Design for Diagnostic and Descriptive Studies Requires Attention on the Following:
❖ Formulating the objective of the study (what the study is about and why is it being made?)
❖ Designing the methods of data collection (what techniques of gathering data will be adopted?)
❖ Selecting the sample (how much material will be needed?)
❖ Collecting the data (where can the required data be found and with what time period should
❖ the data be related?)
❖ Processing and analyzing the data.
❖ Reporting the findings.
 Things To Be Kept In Mind

● Objective:
○ Objectives should be specified with sufficient precision to ensure that the data collected are relevant.
○ If this is not done carefully, the study may not provide the desired information.
● Methods:
○ Researcher should know Several methods (viz., observation, questionnaires, interviewing, examination of records, etc.)
used with their merits and limitations.
○ While designing data-collection procedure, adequate safeguards against bias and unreliability must be ensured.
○ Questions must be well examined and be made unambiguous; interviewers must be instructed not to express their own
opinion; observers must be trained so that they uniformly record a given item of behavior.
○ It is always desirable to pretest the data collection instruments before they are finally used for the study purposes.
● Sampling:
○ In most of the descriptive/diagnostic studies the researcher takes out sample(s) and then wishes to make statements
about the population on the basis of the sample analysis or analyses.
○ The problem of designing samples should be tackled in such a fashion that the samples may yield accurate information
● Data Collection:
○ It is necessary to supervise closely the staff of field workers as they collect and record information.
○ Checks may be set up to ensure that the data collecting staff perform their duty honestly and without prejudice.
○ “As data are collected, they should be examined for completeness, comprehensibility, consistency and reliability.
 Things To Be….

● Data Processing and Analyzing:

○ The process involves Coding the interview replies, observations, etc.; tabulating the data; and
performing several statistical computations.
○ Processing and analyzing procedure should be planned in detail before actual work is started.
○ Coding should be done carefully to avoid error in coding and for this purpose the reliability of
coders needs to be checked.
○ Appropriate statistical operations, along with the use of appropriate tests of significance
should be carried out to safeguard the drawing of conclusions concerning the study.
● Reporting:
○ This is the task of communicating the findings to others and the researcher must do it in an
efficient manner.
○ The layout of the report needs to be well planned so that all things relating to the research
study may be well presented in simple and effective style.
Diefference in Research Design
C. Research Design in Case of Hypothesis-Testing Research
Studies

● Hypothesis-testing research studies (generally known as experimental studies) are those where
the researcher tests the hypotheses of causal relationships between variables.
● Such studies require procedures that will not only reduce bias and increase reliability, but will
permit drawing inferences about causality.
● When we talk of research design in Hypothesis-Testing Research Studies, we often mean the
design of experiments.
● Professor R.A. Fisher’s name is associated with experimental designs.
● Beginning of such designs was made by him when he was working at Rothamsted Experimental
Station (Centre for Agricultural Research in England).
● As such the study of experimental designs has its origin in agricultural research.
● Professor Fisher found that by dividing agricultural fields or plots into different blocks and then by
conducting experiments in each of these blocks, whatever information is collected and inferences
drawn from them, happens to be more reliable
● Since experimental designs originated in the context of agricultural operations, we still use several
terms of agriculture (such as treatment, yield, plot, block etc.) in experimental designs.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS

❖ Principle of Replication

❖ Principle of Randomization

❖ Principle of Local Control

Principle of Replication

● According to the Principle of Replication, the experiment should be repeated

more than once.
● Thus, each treatment is applied in many experimental units instead of one.
● By doing so the statistical accuracy of the experiments is increased.
● For example, suppose we are to examine the effect of two varieties of rice (VR).

Field-A Field-B Field-A Field-B

VR-1 VR-2 VR-1 VR-2 VR-1 VR-2 VR-1 VR-2
VR-1 VR-2

Experiment Design-1 Experiment Design-2

Principle of Randomisation

● The Principle of Randomization provides protection, when we conduct an experiment, against

the effect of extraneous factors by randomization.
● In other words, this principle indicates that we should design or plan the experiment in such a
way that the variations caused by extraneous factors can all be combined under the general
heading of “chance.”
● For instance, if we grow one variety of rice, say, in the first half of the parts of a field and the
other variety is grown in the other half, then it is just possible that the soil fertility may be
different in the first half in comparison to the other half.
● If this is so, our results would not be realistic. In such a situation, we may assign the variety of
rice to be grown in different parts of the field on the basis of some random sampling technique.
Principle of Local Control

● Under it the extraneous factor, the known source of variability, is made to vary
deliberately over as wide a range as necessary and this needs to be done in such a
way that the variability it causes can be measured and hence eliminated from the
experimental error.
● This means that we should plan the experiment in a manner that we can perform a
two-way analysis of variance, in which the total variability of the data is divided into
three components attributed to treatments (varieties of rice in our case), the
extraneous factor (soil fertility in our case) and experimental error.
● In other words, according to the principle of local control, we first divide the field into
several homogeneous parts, known as blocks, and then each such block is divided
into parts equal to the number of treatments.
Principle of Local Control

● Then the treatments are randomly assigned to these parts of a block. Dividing
the field into several homogenous parts is known as ‘blocking’.

● In general, blocks are the levels at which we hold an extraneous factor fixed, so
that we can measure its contribution to the total variability of the data by means
of a two-way analysis of variance.

● In brief, through the principle of local control we can eliminate the variability due
to extraneous factor(s) from the experimental error.