Lesson 9

RESEARCH
Design
What is a research Design?
Research Design is the process of structuring techniques and
strategies that help researchers solve their problems or answer their
inquiry. This may entail detailed data gathering procedures that leads to
the fulfillment of the research goals. To do this, researchers need to
carefully design research methods, data collection, and other
pertinent processes to minimize the cost of conducting the
investigation. Most importantly, they need to plan the data gathering
procedures to ensure that the data used in the study is valid.
What is a research Design?
This is especially true for quantitative research where procedures need
to be strictly followed. In qualitative research, more relaxed
processes in carrying out procedures are implemented. This is
because refinement of procedures in the middle is the process can be
done depending on the kind of data collected. Nevertheless, the
research procedures must still be planned and placed in the proposal in
both research approaches.
Approaches to
Qualitative Inquiry
Researchers should not be limited
by only one strategy or approach to
seek answers for their inquiry.
 ETHNOGRAPHY
Involves studying a particular group or population in the
natural setting or in their habitat. It aims to describe,
analyze, and interpret behavior patterns, belief systems, and
unique language people in a particular culture and ethnicity.
Observational techniques are used to gather data from the
subjects as they are naturally observed.
 ETHNOGRAPHY
There are no alterations done in the environment of
the research subjects. Studies that involve
ethnography usually takes a long period of time to
be finished. It is best used in studying culture-sharing
groups in their natural environment.
 ETHNOGRAPHY
The culture-sharing group may be a school, a family, or a
community. It can also be a representative of a large activity
or event (e.g. students participating in as religious retreat).
Examples of this approach may be a study of the life of
indigenous people in a particular locality or a study of school
practices and challenges to deliver relevant and meaningful
education to students.
 GROUNDED THEORY
Is commonly used to elicit different ideas, opinions, or belief from
the respondents when a unified theoretical explanation is
needed about an event, an action, or a process that fits the
situation or actual work in practice. The grounded theory or
explanation is a better alternative than its equivalent theory taken "off
the shelf" because it is generated from the persons concerned in their
actual habitat, academic setting, or work environment.
 GROUNDED THEORY
It usually involves a series of data gathering procedures
to validate the information gathered from the
participants. This approach may be taken if one is interested
to study how high-performing senior high school students
develop interest in pursuing a career in research.
 CASE STUDY
Is done when a researcher would want to know the
deeper details about a certain situation, event, activity,
process, and even a group of individuals. The analysis
unit in this approach may be single case or multiclass,
resulting to a within-site research or a multisite study,
respectively. A series of thorough and in-depth data collection
procedures from multiple sources of information is done.
 CASE STUDY
Over a consistent period of time, researchers employ a
variety of data gathering techniques such as observations,
interviews, and anecdotal documentations to address
the research objectives. Examples of case studies include a
study on the role of the school in assimilation of immigrant
orphans or a study that deals with finding out the reason why
it is difficult for some people to withdraw from their vices.
 PHENOMENOLOGY
Describes the common meaning of several
individual's lived experiences about a
phenomenon. Primarily, the purpose of this
approach is to generate a universal description of a
phenomenon from its several individual contexts.
 PHENOMENOLOGY
Drawing out relationships and patterns of gathered
data are done to gain deeper understanding about the
experiences of the research respondents. When the
general context of students' experience about grief, bullying,
and discrimination is desired, this approach may be
appropriate.
 HISTORICAL APPROACH
Is a systematic collection and evaluation of information,
which may include documents, stories, and artifacts to
describe, explain, and eventually understand events
and actions that happened in the past. Evaluation of
documents involves external and internal criticism.
 HISTORICAL APPROACH
External criticism refers to the examination of the
authenticity of the materials. Questions like "Who
wrote the documents and for what purpose the
documents was written?", "When, where and what
circumstances the document was written," and "Do
other forms of the document exist?" are asked.
 HISTORICAL APPROACH
Internal criticism means examination of the
accuracy of the information in the document and the
truthfulness of the author. Presence at and
participation in the event, and competence of the
author are important factors in this evaluation.
 HISTORICAL APPROACH
Researchers use this information to critically analyze
the cause for the current situation and to be able to
recommend possible solution that could solve the
issues and problems. This approach so best used to
gather information about a particular historical event
(e.g., the 1986 EDSA revolution, martial law period).
QUICK QUIZ # 2.1

In FIVE SENTENCES, explain why

researchers should not be limited by
only one strategy or approach to
seek answers for their inquiry.