BINALBAGAN CATHOLIC COLLEGE

Binalbagan, Negros Occidental

College of Education

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

ROLES OF THE RESEARCHER according to Nieswiadomy (2005)

1. As principal investigator
2. As member of a research team
3. As identifier of researchable problems
4. As evaluator of research findings
5. As user of research findings
6. As patient or client advocate during study
7. As subject/respondent/participant
IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH
1. Research provides scientific basis for any practice or methodology in any field or discipline.
Example: In medicine, a new drug must first be tested to determine its efficacy in curing sickness
before it can actually be prescribed.
2. Research is undertaken for the continuous development and further productivity in any field.
This explains that research is the result of advancing knowledge from the past.
3. Research helps develop tools for assessing effectiveness of any practice and operation.
Tools such as psychological tests, intelligence quotients tests, psychological assessments, among
others. Such importance is observed in behavioral science and physical science.
4. Research provides solutions to problems concerning almost all issues encountered in the
different areas of work.
Issues include the tardiness of employees, incentives given to the staff, sportsmanship among school
athletes, and implementation of “a clean and green program” program in school.
5. Research impacts decision-making.
Example: For a teacher to change his methodology for the first-period and last-period classes, he must
conduct a study considering the time element, enthusiasm to teach, academic standing of the students,
instructional aids.
6. Research develops and evaluates alternative approaches to the additional aspects of any
discipline.
Example: Research can help determine whether lecture is a better method than experiment in teaching
Science.

GOALS FOR CONDUCTING RESEARCH

1. To produce evidence-based practice.
2. To establish credibility in the profession.
3. To observe accountability for the profession.
4. To promote cost-effectiveness through documentation.
RESEARCH DESIGNS
1. Action Research
-follows a cyclical process; pragmatic and solution driven
-starts with the identification of a problem and determines a plan of action to address it
-the action plan is implemented and data is gathered to determine the effects of the action implemented
-the information gathered during the implementation phase is analyzed and evaluated in order to gain a
better understanding of the problem and determine the effectiveness of the solution implemented
-appropriate for community-based solutions
2. Causal Design
research explored how a specific change impacts a certain situation
-employs hypotheses that seek to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between variables
-seeks to determine whether “variable X caused Y”
3. Descriptive Design
- answers who, what, when, where, and how questions related to a particular research problem
-used to obtain information about the present situation to gain an understanding of a certain
phenomena

4. Experimental Design
-the researcher controls the factors and variables related to a certain phenomenon and tries to change
or manipulate one or several factors to determine the possible effects

5. Exploratory Design
-focuses on topics or problems which have had little or no studies done about them
-its purpose is to gain information and insight that can be used for later researches
-is often used to determine which method or approach to use for a certain topic or problem

6. Cohort Design
-identifies a group of people sharing common characteristics who are then studied for a period of time
-the researcher seeks to identify how these groups are affected by certain factors or changes and
relates the information gathered to the research topic or problem

7. Cross-sectional design
-looks into a large group of people, composed of individuals with varied characteristics
-seeks to determine how these individuals are affected by a certain variable or change and gathers
data at a specific period of time

8. Longitudinal design
-follows a group of people over a long period of time
-throughout the period of study, observations are made on the group to track changes over time and
identify factors that may have caused them
-explores causal relationships over time and determines how long these relationships last and the
extent of their effects on the group being studied.

9. Sequential design
-carried out in stages to gather sufficient data to test the hypothesis
-combined with a cohort or cross-sectional study as it identifies specific group for each stage

10. Mixed-method design

-combines aspects of various research designs and methods
-primarily combines qualitative and quantitative methods to gain a complete picture of the research
problem and gather data that will fully determine the validity of the hypotheses

BRIEF COMPARISON OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Aims to characterize trends and patterns
Usually starts with neither a theory nor
hypothesis about the relationship between two
or more variables
Uses structured approach research instruments
like questionnaires or schedules
Uses large sample sizes that are
representatives of the population
Has high output replicability
Used to gain greater understanding of group
similarities
Uses structured process
Methods include census, survey, experiments,
and secondary analysis
Involves processes, feelings, and motives (the
why’s and how’s) and produces in-depth and
holistic data
Usually concerned with generating hypothesis
from data rather than testing a hypothesis
Uses either unstructured or semi-structured
instruments
Uses small sample sizes chosen purposely
Has high validity
Used to gain greater understanding of individual
difference in terms of feelings, motives, and
experiences
Uses more flexible processes
Methods include field research, case study, and
secondary analysis