GOLDEN GATE COLLEGES
P. Prieto St., Batangas City
COLLEGE OF NURSING
Selection of Research Approach
 Research approaches are plans
and the procedures for research that
span the steps from broad assumptions
to detailed methods of data collection,
analysis, and interpretation.
 The selection of a research
approach is also based on the nature of
the research problem or issue being
addressed, the researchers’ personal
experiences, and the audiences for the
study.
Three Approaches to Research
1. Qualitative
2. Quantitative
3. Mixed methods
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
 Qualitative research is an
approach for exploring and
understanding the meaning individuals or
groups ascribe to a social or human
problem.
 The process of research involves
emerging questions and procedures, data
typically collected in the participant’s
setting, data analysis inductively building
from particulars to general themes, and
the researcher making interpretations of
the meaning of the data.
 The final written report has a
flexible structure. Those who engage in
this form of inquiry support a way of
looking at research that honors an
inductive style, a focus on individual
meaning, and the importance of
rendering the complexity of a situation.
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
 Quantitative research is an
approach for testing objective theories by
examining the relationship among
variables. These variables, in turn, can
be measured, typically on instruments, so
that numbered data can be analyzed
using statistical procedures.
 The final written report has a set
structure consisting of introduction,
literature and theory, methods, results,
and discussion.
 Those who engage in this form of
inquiry have assumptions about testing
theories deductively, building in
protections against bias, controlling for
alternative explanations, and being able
to generalize and replicate the findings.
MIXED METHODS
 Mixed methods research is an
approach to inquiry involving collecting
both quantitative and qualitative data,
integrating the two forms of data, and
using distinct designs that may involve
philosophical assumptions and
theoretical frameworks.
 The core assumption of this form
of inquiry is that the combination of
qualitative and quantitative approaches
provides a more complete understanding
of a research problem than either
approach alone.
RESEARCH DESIGN
 Research design is the
researcher’s overall plan of how the study
will be conducted. The plans contains
such details as the type of data to be
collected, the techniques or the means to
be used
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 GOLDEN GATE COLLEGES
P. Prieto St., Batangas City

COLLEGE OF NURSING
 Research designs are types of Types of Experimental Research
inquiry within qualitative, quantitative, and
mixed methods approaches that provide 1. True experiment
specific direction for procedures in a  True experiments are held under
research design. Others have called highly controlled conditions to yield
them strategies of inquiry reliable evidence about cause and effect
relationship.

Properties of True Experimental

Quantita- Qualitative Mixed Studies
tive
Experimen Narrative Convergent a. Manipulation
-tal research
designs Explanatory  The researcher subjects the
Phenomeno- sequential
respondents of the study to a particular
Non logy
experimen Exploratory situation.
-tal Grounded sequential
b. Control
designs theory
Transforma-
 The researcher imposes certain
Ethnogra- tive,
phies embedded, conditions over the experimental situation.
or multiphase Control group (CG)- this group is not
Case study subjected to any experimental
treatment.
QUANTITATIVE DESIGN Experimental group (EG)- this group
is subjected to experimental treatment
A. Experimental Research used by researcher
 Experimental research seeks to
determine if a specific treatment c. Randomization
influences an outcome.  The researcher assigns subjects to
 The researcher assesses this by a control or experimental group on a
providing a specific treatment to one random basis.
group and withholding it from another and
then determining how both groups scored d. Validity
on an outcome.
 The researcher is interested in
 This particular design is an inquiry
controlling or altogether removing
on cause- and- effect relationships, and
extraneous variables that may create
is conducted in a specialized setting.
inaccurate findings.
 An experiment consists of a set of
actions and observations performed to 2. Quasi-experiment
accept or reject the hypothesis to
establish a causal relationship between  Quasi- experiment lacks one or
phenomena. more of the four properties of the true
experiment. The missing component is

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 GOLDEN GATE COLLEGES
P. Prieto St., Batangas City

COLLEGE OF NURSING
either randomization or the control group b. Correlational design
or the validity component.
 This study examines the extent of
relationship between variables by
determining how changes in one variable
B. Non- experimental Research relate to the changes in another variable.
 The researcher does not interfere QUALITATIVE DESIGN
with nature, and the conditions for
research are realistic and natural.  Qualitative research focuses on
insights into and understanding of
Types of Non- Experimental Designs individual perceptions on the
1. Basic or Library Research phenomenon under study.
 Qualitative research always
 This is intended to increase attempts to obtain rich, in-depth, and
knowledge in science for the purpose of valid data which almost always delve into
knowing and learning the truth. their hidden meanings and are
considered to belong to non-
2. Applied research experimental type of studies.
 Qualitative research is based
 This is undertaken for practical
trustworthiness rather than reliability or
purposes. It is a scientific investigation
validity.
conducted to generate knowledge that
will directly influence or improve clinical Characteristics of Qualitative Design by
practice. Guba
Types of Applied Research 1. Credibility
1. Historical  The findings represent realities of
 It is a critical evaluation and the participants.
analysis of events, developments and
experiences of the past. 2. Confirmability
2. Descriptive design  The researcher enhances
objectivity by reducing bias on methods
 A study that describes the nature and process
of the phenomenon under investigation
3. Dependability
after a survey of the current trends,
practices and condition s that relate to  The repetition of the study of
that phenomenon. similar subjects results in constant data
or findings.
a. Causal comparative
 In which the investigator compares 4. Transferability
two or more groups in terms of a cause that
has already happened.

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 GOLDEN GATE COLLEGES
P. Prieto St., Batangas City
COLLEGE OF NURSING
 The results can be used for
situations with similar subjects and
settings.
Types of Qualitative Research
1. Phenomenological studies
 Is a design of inquiry coming from
philosophy and psychology in which the
researcher describes the lived experiences
of individuals about a phenomenon as
described by participants. This description
culminates in the essence of the
experiences for several individuals who
have all experienced the phenomenon.
This design has strong philosophical
underpinnings and typically involves
conducting interview.
2. Ethnographic Studies
 Is a design of inquiry coming from
anthropology and sociology in which the
researcher studies the shared patterns of
behaviors, language, and actions of an
intact cultural group in a natural setting
over a prolonged period of time. Data
collection often involves observations and
interviews.
 The primary aim of ethnographic
studies is to understand the participants’
world view and how their culture is
communicated or portrayed.
3. Grounded theory Studies
 Is a design of inquiry from
sociology in which the researcher derives
a general, abstract theory of a process,
action, or interaction grounded in the
views of participants. This process
involves using multiple stages of data
collection and the refinement and
interrelationship of categories of
information.
 Concerned with the analysis of
data leading to the development of
theory.
 Data include in- depth interviews
and observation of the study participants
to generate comprehensive explanations
of a phenomenon grounded in reality.
4. Historical studies
 Are involved in identification,
location, critical evaluation and synthesis
of past events in order to shed light on
present behavior, trends or practices.
 The data for historical research are
usually found in documents or in relics and
artifacts.
5. Case studies
 Case studies involve in- depth
examination and analysis of people or
groups of people in relation to nursing
issues or problems that are important to
the client and researcher.
6. Field studies
 Field studies investigate problems
as they occur in their natural setting. Data
are collected from individuals in their usual
roles.
 The aim of field studies is to
understand practices, behavior and beliefs
of these individuals or groups as they
normally function in real life.
7. Biographies
 Biographies explore the life of an
individual. Data are derived from
documents that describe the turning point
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 GOLDEN GATE COLLEGES
P. Prieto St., Batangas City

COLLEGE OF NURSING
or significant moments in the life of an exploratory sequential approach the
individual. researcher first begins with a qualitative
research phase and explores the views of
MIXED METHOD OR MULTIMETHOD participants. The data are then analyzed,
STUDIES and the information used to build into a
second, quantitative phase. The
 Mixed methods involve combining
qualitative phase may be used to build an
or integration of qualitative and
instrument that best fits the sample under
quantitative research and data in a
study, to identify appropriate instruments
research study.
to use in the follow-up quantitative phase,
TYPES OF MIXED METHOD or to specify variables that need to go into
a follow-up quantitative study. Particular
1. Convergent parallel mixed method challenges to this design reside in
focusing in on the appropriate qualitative
 is a form of mixed methods design
findings to use and the sample selection
in which the researcher converges or
for both phases of research.
merges quantitative and qualitative data
in order to provide a comprehensive References:
analysis of the research problem. In this
design, the investigator typically collects Crestita B. Tan, A Research Guide In
both forms of data at roughly the same Nursing Education
time and then integrates the information
John W. Creswell, Research Design
in the interpretation of the overall results.
Contradictions or incongruent findings
are explained or further probed in this
design. Prepared by:
2. Explanatory sequential mixed
methods
 is one in which the researcher first Helen Cressida D. Aragon
conducts quantitative research, analyzes
the results and then builds on the results
to explain them in more detail with
qualitative research. It is considered
explanatory because the initial
quantitative data results are explained
further with the qualitative data. It is
considered sequential because the initial
quantitative phase is followed by the
qualitative phase.
3. Exploratory sequential mixed
methods
 is the reverse sequence from the
explanatory sequential design. In the

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