Research Methods

Directions: Work with the group that you have planned with during the previous meetings. Go
over the information below. Answer the succeeding questions after reading and discussing the
information on descriptive research studies.

Name of Members:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Below you will find general information, examples, advantages, and disadvantages of the four
types of descriptive research studies-survey, assessment, comparative, and correlational studies.

Case Study

General Information on Survey Research

 A detailed study about one person or unit over a period of time
 A case study provides insights into human behavior which may lead us to discover new
findings.
 It can be limited to a few number of participants on the development of a certain activity.
 It is a very detailed description and analysis of the subject matter: a person, event,
institution, or community.

Examples:
 A Case Study of the Zika Virus in the Manila Hospital Medical Ward
 A Case Study of the Language Development of Two Bilingual Children
 A Case Study of Organization Development of a Certain Department

Advantages
1. It gives a detailed description of the subject matter and its limitations to only a few
respondents or participants form the stages of development of the case.
2. It gives out unique situations in the case study that can be used to seek new information.
3. It may demonstrate the effectiveness of a certain theoretical model for the small sample
size. In depth-and detailed information can be derived.

Disadvantages

1. There is the tendency to select convenient cases.

2. It cannot test hypothesis statistically since the sample size is small.

Survey Research

General Information on Survey Research

 used to gather relatively limited data from relatively large number of cases.
 The purpose is to gather information about prevailing conditions or about the variables
under study. These may include correlational or causal comparative studies.
 Serves the purpose of describing:
current or prevailing conditions,
opinions,
attitudes,
impressions,
perceptions of a group of people,
descriptions of objects

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  involves getting data or information from a variety of subjects, taken from a
representative or probability samples for the purpose of inferring the properties of the
parameter to the population

Examples:
 Impressions on Studying Abroad of Students from Selected Schools in Metro Manila
 Leadership Styles of Personnel in the Operations Department of the Government Service
Insurance System
 Sources of Stress of Personnel in the Membership Department of the Government
Service Insurance System
 The Predictive Efficacy of Science Subjects on the Performance of Students in Three
Colleges in the Medical Technology Licensure Examination
 Quantitative Measures of Productivity of the Government Insurance Industry from 2010 to
2015
 Consumer Behavior on Purchase of Cellphones in Metro Manila

Advantages
1. It is not labor intensive.
2. The methodology is not complex, and there is the possibility of replication.
3. It can use a small sample size which reduces cost, effort, and time.
4. It can avail of current questionnaires and standardized instruments for the study.
Disadvantages
1. There is no possibility of high returns of questionnaires or other instruments to generate
data.
2. There is the possibility that assertions made by respondents in the questionnaires may
not be true or correct.
3. There is the possibility that the instrument prepared by the researcher may be inadequate
or insufficient to gather data for the study.

Assessment or Evaluation Studies

General Information on Evaluation Studies

 Assessment or Evaluation Studies are those which refer to the efficiency of effectiveness
of:
practices,
policies,
instruments,
other variables that may be considered
 These deal with impressions or perceptions of respondents- oftentimes subjective.

Examples:
 The Implementation of Management by Objectives (MBO) in Selected Government
Agencies
 The Improvement of the Government Service Insurance System’s Operations Due to
Interdepartmental Collaboration
 The Use of Intensive Quality Control Measures in the Marketing Materials of the
Government Service Insurance System’s

Comparative Studies

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General Information on Comparative Studies
Comparative descriptive studies are causal-comparative with the use of intervening variables.
They merely compare the characteristics of groups according to some selected variables since
the main purpose is to determine the difference without determining the cause.

Examples:
1. Comparing the Different Quantitative projection techniques for Market Shares of Oil
Products in metro Manila
2. Organization Development as Perceived and Desired by Personnel of a Certain bottling
Company in Metro Manila

Advantages
1. The method is not labor intensive and the results are easily seen.
2. Variables are selected not only on the basis of previous studies but also on what the
subjects have.

Disadvantages
1. The findings are limited. If a differences exists, so what and why? There questions are
not answered.
2. The selection of the variable is likewise limited.

Correlational Studies

General Information on Comparative Studies

 Designed to determine which different variables are related to each other in the
population of interest.
 The main distinguishing feature of correlational studies is the effort to estimate a
relationship, as distinguished from simple description. Through these studies you can
ascertain how much variation caused by one variable is related with the variation caused
by another variable.
 You use measures of correlation to determine the magnitude and direction of
relationship.
 Relationship and association

Mathematically, relationship means a linear relationship and is used between two quantitative
variables.
Association is used when a chi-square test is used or applied to qualitative or categorized
variables.

Examples:
Determining the relationship between:
1. English and Mathematics achievement
2. Age and leadership dimension
3. Age and blood pressure
4. Length of work experience and amount of stress experienced
5. Personality factors and level of job satisfaction
6. Amount of fertilizer and number of oranges

Two types of variables are considered:

1. the independent variable or the x variable or the predictor

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 2. the dependent variable or the y variable or the criterion measure

Independent Variables Dependent Variables

English Mathematics
Age Blood pressure
Age Leadership dimension
Work experience Stress
Fertilizer Number of fruits

Advantages
1. It is easy to identify the variables; likewise it is easy to generate data.
2. The methods are easily identifiable since there are definite statistical methods and
techniques for them.
3. Some authors relate this to regression analysis, especially with the interpretation of
proportion overlap and statisticians describe the findings as “elegant”.
4. When correlational analysis is used together with analysis for some variables, much
information is generated for aside from knowing the directions of the relationships, the
amount of variations noted in the dependent variables or the amount of influence on the
dependent variables attributed to the independent variabale can be estimated with the
use of the regression equation.

Disadvantages
1. It is difficult to fulfill the basic assumptions of normality and linearity, especially the latter.
2. Sometimes, the study utilizes complex statistical techniques, the findings of which might
be difficult to interpret.

Task:
1. Which descriptive research type are you considering to work on with your group
for the Psychology project that will run from First to Fourth Quarter? State the type
of research and proposed research title.

2. Do you think this study will be advantageous to you as students and teenagers?
Briefly state your reason.

3. Which data collection methods have you agreed with your group members to use?
(Remember triangulation-e.g. survey, interviews, logs)

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