Chapter 3:

Methodology
Lecture 05 Methods of Research
Methodology
• This section will serve as plan or guide for the researcher what
technique and appropriate tool they will be used in a given phase of
their research.
• The list of activities and discussion of the steps that will be performed
by the researcher are presented in this section.
• In addition, this section will help the researcher to plan on how to
manage (responsibilities), control (budget), and evaluate the study.
Methodology Outline
• Research Design
• Research Instruments
• Gantt Chart
• Budgetary Requirement
• Tasking
Research Design
• A set of instructions for the researcher; to gather and analyze data in
certain ways that will control who and what are to be studied
• The choice of design is made when the problem/question of the
study is finalized
Guiding Principles in Research Design
Research Design
• Refers to a scheme or plan of action for meeting the objectives
• A blueprint for conducting a study that maximizes control over
factors that could interfere with the validity of the findings
• The researcher’s plan
• How the study will be conducted
• Type of data that will be collected and
• The means to be used to obtain these data (which are determined after
variables are identified and quantified)
Research Design
• Purpose – to provide a plan in answering research question
• Each design has its own applicability depending on the problems and
objectives of the study
• Important consideration – to minimize possible errors and maximize
the reliability and validity of data
Reliability and Validity
Reliability
• Refers to the consistency, stability, or dependability of the data
• A research method should yield the same results, even if conducted
twice or more
Validity
• Refers to data that are not only reliable but also true and accurate
• It refers to which extent an instrument is able to actually measure
what it is supposed to measure.
Reliability and Validity
Threats to Validity
• History
• Selection
• Testing
• Instrumentation
• Maturation
• Mortality
Threats to Validity
• History
• Refers to the events that may occur during the time frame of the study which
are not actually part of the study.
• They produce effects that influence the results of the study, either increasing
or decreasing the expected results.
Threats to Validity
• Selection
• Occurs when respondents of the study are chosen not only individually but as
a group
Threats to Validity
• Testing
• Refers to the pre-test given that results in an improved performance in the
post-test.
• To avoid this threat, a pre-test may not be needed for administration
• However, if a pre-test is given, another measure is recommended to use as an
alternate form of instrument.
Threats to Validity
• Instrumentation
• It refers to unreliability in measuring instruments that may result to an invalid
measurement of performance
• The change in instrument used between the pre-test and post-test may result
in an effect not caused by a treatment introduced
Threats to Validity
• Maturation
• This factor refers to the physiologic and psychologic changes that may
happen to the respondents of the study over a period of time
• If the time frame of a training program is quite long and rigid, the participants
may experience some psychological discomfort due to boredom, tiredness,
hunger and the like.
Threats to Validity
• Mortality
• It refers to loss of participants during the post-test stage or even during the
implementation of the time frame of the study
• When the same group of individuals is studied over a long period of time
• By the time a follow-up study is conducted on the same group some
members may have dropped out or may refuse to cooperate further in the
study.
Characteristics of a Research Design
Characteristics of a Research Design
1. The Setting in which the research occurs
A. Laboratory Studies
• Designed to be more highly controlled in relation to both the environment in
which the study is conducted and the control of extraneous and intervening
variables
B. Field Studies
• Occurs outside laboratory setting
• This occurs in natural settings and use a variety of methods such as:
• Field experiments, participant’s observations in village or hospital wars, interview in the
home or office, questionnaires, anything at all that does not occur in a controlled
laboratory setting
Characteristics of a Research Design
2. Timing of data collection
A. Prospective or longitudinal studies
• Events that are underway or expected to occur in the future
B. Retrospective, ex post facto or historical studies
• Have occurred in the past
C. Cross-sectional Studies
• Those in which data collection is strictly in the present time
Characteristics of a Research Design
3. The subjects to be included in the research
• The sample size or number of subjects in the study
• The method used to collect the data
• The researcher’s plan for communicating the findings
Types of Basic Research Design
Types of Basic Research Design
• Descriptive Design
• Experimental Design
• Qualitative Method
Descriptive Design
• Most Common method used in researches
• Used when the purpose of the study is to inquire about the prevailing
conditions of events, objects, or people
• The method describes “what is” in relation to the variables under
consideration
Characteristics of Descriptive Research
• It ascertains prevailing conditions of facts in a group or case study
• It gives either a quantitative or both, description of the general
characteristic of the group or case under study
• What caused the prevailing conditions is not emphasized
Characteristics of Descriptive Research
• The study of conditions at different periods of time may be made and
the change that took place between the periods may be evaluated for
any value it gives
• Comparison of the characteristics of two groups may be made to
determine their similarities and differences
• The variables involved in the study are not usually controlled
• Studies on prevailing conditions may or can be repeated for purposes
of comparison and verification
Types of Descriptive Design
• Exploratory Descriptive Design
• Descriptive Survey Design
• Correlational Design
• Comparative Design
• Case Study
• Feasibility Study
Exploratory Descriptive Design
• This provides an in-depth exploration of a single process, variables or
concept
• The word exploratory indicates that not much is known
• Means that a survey of the literature failed to reveal any significant
research in the area
Descriptive Survey Design
• Used when you intend to gather a relatively limited data from a
relatively large number of subjects
• This is used to measure existing phenomenon without inquiring into
why it exists
Correlation Design
• Studies the relationship of two or more variables
• Has a conceptual base and is looking for cause and effect
relationships in the results
• But can not specify the direction of the relationship at the beginning
of the study
Comparative Design
• Examines and describes differences in variables in two or more
groups that occur naturally in the setting
• Specifies cause and effect at the beginning of a study and is based on
a theoretical framework
Case Study
• Extensive exploration of a single unit of study such as:
• Persons, family groups, communities or institutions, very small number of
subjects who are examined intensively
Feasibility Study
• Study tries to determine the viability of an undertaking or a business
venture like establishing an institution or constructing an
infrastructure
Experimental Design
• Central Characteristic: manipulating the independent variable and
measuring the effect on the dependent variable
• The classical experimental designs consist of the experimental group
and the control group
Experimental Group
• It is where the independent variable that can be manipulated is
placed
• The dependent variable is measured while the independent variable
is being manipulated
Control Group
• The independent variable is not manipulated
• The dependent variable is measured in the experimental group the
same way, and at the same time
Experimental Group vs Control Group

Independent variable Dependent Variable

Experimental Group Changed Measured
Control Group Unchanged Measured
Manipulation
• It is the way the researcher works on the independent variables so
that some of the subjects are affected
• Some variables in the experiment may not be manipulated
Control
• The researcher uses one or more measures to control the
experiment, including the use of an unmanipulated control group
that is compared with an experimental group
• Control is attained by:
• Allowing for no variables
• Specifying the variations to be allowed
• Distributing the variations equally
Types of Experimental Design
• Pre-experimental
• True-experimental
• Quasi-experimental
Pre-experimental
• One-shot Case study – involves one group that is exposed to a
treatment and then post tested
• None of the threats to validity that are relevant is controlled
• Although it controls several sources of validity not controlled by
one-shot case study, a number of additional factors are relevant to
this are not controlled
True Experimental
• Pre-test Post-test Control Group Design
• Post test only control group design
• Solomon Four-group Design
• Non-equivalent Control Group Design
Pre-test Post-test Control Group Design
• Involves at least two groups
• Both of which are formed by random assignment
• Both groups are administered a pre-test of the dependent variable
• One group receives a new or unusual treatment and both groups are
post-tested
Post-test Only Control Group Design
• Same as the pre-test post-test control group design except that there
is no pre-test
• Subjects are randomly assigned to groups
• Exposed to the independent variable and post-tested
Solomon Four-Group Design
• It involves random assignment of subjects to one of the four groups
• Two groups are post-tested and the other two are not
• One of the pre-tested groups and one of the unpre-tested groups
received the experimental treatment
Quasi-Experimental
• Non-equivalent control group design
• Time series analysis
• Counter Balance Design
Non-Equivalent Control Group Design
• It is like the pre-test post-test control group design but does not
involve random assignment
• The lack of random assignment adds a source of invalidity not
associated with the pre-test post-test control group design
Time Series Analysis
• It is elaboration of the one-group pre-test post-test design in which
one group is
• Repeatedly pre-tested
• Exposed to a treatment
• Repeatedly post tested
Counter-Balance Design
• All groups receive all treatments but in a different order
• The only restriction is that the number of groups equals the number
of controlled groups
Qualitative Method
• Historical Method
• Ethnographic Method
• Phenomenological Method
Historical Method
• This method is past oriented
• Objective is to interpret events in the light of the present situation
Ethnographic Method
• Defined as the environment or setting where the behavior
• As the larger domain of which a given phenomenon is a part
• As immediately relevant aspects of a situation
• As lack of experience that incorporates thoughts, acts and the past
• As a frame of reference that directly influences current
decision-making about specific issues
Phenomenological Method
• Described as an approach in sociology that is based on human
character as the subject matter of discipline
• It is also described as an interpretative intuitive and dialectic
approach