CHAPTER 4 - LESSON 1

Choosing Appropriate Quantitative

Research Design
Cristopher Reymond S. Castillo, Ph.D.
 INTRODUCTION
 To start writing a research paper, you have to plan
the research design of your study. The research
design is your overall concept or strategy to put
together the components of your study in a logical
manner.
 Additionally, the design ensures that the research
problem is appropriately addressed. The research
problem and questions shall determine the type of
research design you should use.
 Meaning of Quantitative Research
Designs
 When a man decides to build a house, does not he
draws first the blue print before he will start to do
the work?
 Same with the conduct of research, the blueprint for
the collection, measurement, and data analysis is
drawn as a pattern to follow.
 Furthermore, research designs enable the researcher
to obtain a more valid, objective, reliable, and
accurate answers to the research questions.
Research design
 is defined as the logical and coherent overall strategy that
the researcher uses to integrate all the components of
the research study (Barrot, 2017, p 102). In order to find
meaning in the overall process of doing your research
study, a step-by-step process will be helpful to you.
 In quantitative research, you are going to have a
great deal of abstraction and numerical analysis.
 According to Fraenkel and Wallen (2007, p 15), the
research designs in quantitative research are mostly
pre-established. Hence having an appropriate
research design in quantitative research, the
researcher will have a clearer comprehension of
what he is trying to analyze and interpret.
Types of Quantitative Research
Designs
 Exploratory Research Design
 Descriptive Research Design
 Causal Research Design
 Ex-Post Facto
 Exploratory Research Design
 An exploratory research design is often used to
establish an initial understanding and background
information about a research study of interest, oftenly
with very few or no earlier related studies found
relevant to the research study.
 This research design is described as an informal or
unstructured way of investigating available sources.You
may conduct library search, secondary data analysis,
experience surveys, opinionnaire, case analysis, focus
groups, projective techniques and Internet searches.
 Experience surveys refer to gathering data from key
informants about a research topic. In case analysis, you
may review past experiences or situations that may have
some similarities with the present research problem.You can
also gather small groups of people and conduct focus group
discussions. Through an unstructured discussion, you can gain
information relevant to the research study that you plan to
undertake.
 If the sample size in exploratory studies is small, the results
of the study cannot be generalized for a population.
 Descriptive Research Design
 When little is known about the research problem, then it is
appropriate to use descriptive research design. It is a design that is
exploratory in nature.
Descriptive research design is used to gather information on
current situations and conditions. It helps provide answers to the
questions of who, what, when, where and the how of a particular
research study.
 Descriptive research studies provide accurate data after subjecting
them to a rigorous procedure and using, large amounts of data from
large numbers of samples.
 This design leads to logical conclusions and pertinent
recommendations. However, the descriptive research design is
dependent to a high degree on data collection instrumentation for the
measurement of data and analysis.
Classification of Descriptive Research
Design
 Survey
 Correlation Research
 Evaluation Research
 Survey
 The survey research design is usually used in securing
opinions and trends through the use of questionnaires and
interviews.
 A survey is used in gathering data from institutions,
government and businesses to help in decision-making
regarding change strategies, improving practices, analysing
views on choice of products or market research. Surveys can
be conducted face-to-face or online.
 Online surveys are widely used because gathering data from
the target respondents or completing of questionnaires is fast
using the Internet.
 Correlation Research
 Correlation research design is used for research studies aimed to
determine the existence of a relationship between two or more
variables and to determine the degree of the relationship.
 This design is to determine if variable increases or decreases as
another variable increases or decreases. This design seeks to establish
an association between variables. It does not seek cause and effect
relationship like descriptive research; it measures variables as it
occurs. It has two major purposes: (a) to clarify the relationship
between variables and (b) predict the magnitude of the association.
 However, the extent of the purpose of correlational research
depends on the scope and delimitation
of the study.
Examples of correlational research involving two (2) quantitative
variables that can be correlated are: mental ability and grade in
math; gender and math performance; advertising costs and sales;
and income and expenses.
 Evaluation Research
 Evaluation research is conducted to elicit useful
feedback from a variety of respondents from
various fields to aid in decision making or policy
formulation.
 Type of Evaluation
 Formative evaluation is used to determine the
quality of implementation of a project, the efficiency
and effectiveness of a program, assessment of
organizational processes such as procedures,
policies, guidelines, human resource development
and the like.
 Summative evaluation is done after the
implementation of the program. It examines the
outcomes, products or effects of the program.
 Examples of Formative Evaluation
 Needs Assessment
 Evaluates the need for the program or project. For example, how great
is the need for a remedial program in mathematics? Who needs the
program? When can the program start? Where or in what college will
the program be implemented and what are needed to implement the
program?
 Process Evaluation
 Evaluates the process of implementation of a program. For example,
you may want to conduct a study on the implementation of the Student
Information System (SIS) in your school. Some questions would be:
how will students and teachers assess the efficiency of the current
process of the SIS? Is it working well? What suggestions may be
implemented to improve the program? When will the
recommendations from teachers and students be implemented to
improve the program considering the cost and other technicalities?
 Implementation Evaluation
 Evaluates the efficiency or effectiveness of a project or program. For
example, how effective is the scholarship program in your school? Are
the criteria followed? How many students availed themselves of said
scholarships and how many students graduated successfully?
 Program Monitoring
 Evaluates the performance and implementation of an unfinished
program. The evaluation is done prior to the completion of the
program. It helps improve implementation and achieve best results. The
initial implementation of the K-12 program is a very good topic for
evaluation under this type of research design. Whatever evaluation is to
be done will be a part of a monitoring program for the K-12
implementation.
 Here are some examples of summative evaluation: Secondary Data
Analysis
 You may examine existing data for analysis. For example, you may want
to find out the influence of gender and mental ability in the results of
the National Achievement Test (NAT) in your school or in your region.
 Impact Evaluation
 This is used to evaluate the overall effect of the program in its
entirety. For example, you may want to determine the effect of
remedial classes on the performance of students in mathematics
in your school.
 Outcome Evaluation
 This is done to determine if the program has caused useful
effects based on target outcomes. For example, you may want
to determine if a leadership training program for officers of
student organizations of a certain public secondary school have
enhanced the leadership skills of the participants.
 Cost-effectiveness Evaluation
 Also called cost-benefit analysis, it compares the relative
costs to the outcomes or results of some courses of action.
For example, you may conduct a study on the value for
money returns of a company brought about by an intensive
training investment for employees in the Sales department.
 Ex Post Facto
 If the objective of the study is to measure a cause from a pre-existing
effects, then Ex Post Facto research design is more appropriate to
use. In this design, the researcher
has no control over the variables in the research study. Thus, one
cannot conclude that the changes measured happen during the actual
conduct of the study.
 For example, a researcher is interested in how weight influences
self-esteem levels in adults. So the participants would be separated
into differing groups (underweight, normal weight, overweight) and
their self esteem levels measured. This is an ex post facto design
because a pre-existing characteristic (weight) was used to form the
groups.
 Causal Research Design
 Causal research design is used to measure the impact that an
independent variable (causing effect) has on another variable (being
effected) or why certain results are obtained. A valid conclusion
may be derived when an association between the independent
variable and the dependent variable is obtained. It can also be used
to identify the extent and nature of cause-and-effect relationships.
 Causal research can help businesses determine how decisions may
affect operations. A restaurant owner may want to find out why
he/she has fewer customers than their neighboring restaurants that
resulted in decline in sales. So management may conduct his/her
study on the quality of the food, the price of the food, cleanliness or
the quality of services accorded to the customers. Thus, the purpose
of the research study is to find out the factors that cause the decline
in the number of customers in the said restaurant.
 Points of Exploratory Descriptive Causal
Comparison Research Research Research

Research Unstructured Formal and Highly

Approach and Structured structured
flexible

Degree of Not well- Variables are Variables and

Problem defined defined relationships
Identification are
defined
 When to use? Initial research Often a follow- Late stage of
up to exploratory decision-making
research
Goals and Provides insights on Describe situations Explains the
Objectives a problem cause and effect
relationship
between variables
Sample size Small non- Large Large
Representative Representative Representative
sample sample Sample

Type of hypothesis Research questions Hypothesis is non- Hypothesis is

only directional directional

Data management Data may not be Data are statistically Data are statistically
and measurements statistically measurable measurable
measured