Teacher Training College-Bouzareah/ Department of English/ Writing a

Scientific Report in Education/ Fourth year/ 2019-2020/Mrs Hamdoud

II. Practical Part: Research Approaches and Designs

Quantitative and Qualitative Designs

There are two main approaches to a research problem - quantitative and qualitative
methods. Quantitative methods are used to examine the relationship between variables
with the primary goal to analyze and represent that relationship mathematically through
statistical analysis. This is the type of research approach most commonly used in
scientific research problems. Qualitative methods are chosen when the goal of the
research problem is to examine, understand and describe a phenomenon. These methods
are a common choice in social science research problems and are often used to study
ideas, beliefs, human behaviors and other research questions that do not involve
studying the relationship between variables. Once the main approach to the research
problem has been determined, there are several research designs for each type of
approach that may be considered.

Quantitative designs

Correlational design:

Explore the relationship between two or more variables through a correlational analysis.
The intent is to determine if and to what degree the variables are related. It does not
imply one causes the other.

Causal Comparative design:

Compare two groups with the intent of understanding the reasons or causes for the two
groups being different.

Experimental design:

Test an idea, treatment, program to see if it makes a difference. There is a control group
and a test group. Individuals are randomly assigned to the two groups. One group gets
the treatment (test group) and the other group (control group) does not get the treatment.
There is a pre and post-test for both groups in a traditional experimental design.

Quasi-experimental design:
It is the same as experiment in that there is a control and test group. However, current
groups are used as is rather than randomly assigning people to the two groups. Both
groups receive the pre and post- test in a traditional design.

Qualitative designs
Case Study design:
Intent is to study and understand a single situation, which could be a leader, a classroom,
a process, program, activity. Collect a variety of material in a specific and bounded time
period.

Narrative design:
Describe the lives of individual(s) to get meaning from them.

Grounded Theory design:

The focus is to develop an understanding of a phenomenon or situation in order to be
able to develop a theory/model for items such as factors, a form of interaction, or a
process.

Phenomenology:
Studies a human experience at an experiential level such as understanding what it means
for a student to fail his/her baccalaureate exam. It is about understanding the essence or
meaning of the experience.

Mixed Research Designs:

They involve having both a quantitative design and qualitative design. It is the best
approach if the study requires both quantitative and qualitative designs to address the
problem statement.
This design takes significantly more time, more resources, and requires the researcher
to develop expertise in qualitative analysis techniques and quantitative analysis
techniques.

https://cirt.gcu.edu/research/developmentresources/tutorials/researchdesigns
Correlational design:

Explore the relationship between two or more variables through a correlational

analysis. The intent is to determine if and to what degree the variables are related. It
does not imply one causes the other.

Causal Comparative design:

Compare two groups with the intent of understanding the reasons or causes for the two
groups being different.

Experimental design:

Test an idea, treatment, program to see if it makes a difference. There is a control

group and a test group. Individuals are randomly assigned to the two groups. One
group gets the treatment (test group) and the other group (control group) does not get
the treatment. There is a pre and post-test for both groups in a traditional experimental
design.

Quasi-experimental design:

It is the same as experiment in that there is a control and test group. However, current
groups are used as is rather than randomly assigning people to the two groups. Both
groups receive the pre and post- test in a traditional design.

Qualitative designs

Case Study design:

Intent is to study and understand a single situation, which could be a leader, a

classroom, a process, program, activity. Collect a variety of material in a specific and
bounded time period.
Narrative design:

Describe the lives of individual(s) to get meaning from them.

Grounded Theory design:

The focus is to develop an understanding of a phenomenon or situation in order to be

able to develop a theory/model for items such as factors, a form of interaction, or a
process.

Phenomenology:

Studies a human experience at an experiential level such as understanding what it

means for a student to fail his/her baccalaureate exam. It is about understanding the
essence or meaning of the experience.

Mixed Research Designs:

They involve having both a quantitative design and qualitative design. It is the best
approach if the study requires both quantitative and qualitative designs to address the
problem statement.

This design takes significantly more time, more resources, and requires the researcher
to develop expertise in qualitative analysis techniques and quantitative analysis
techniques.