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DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH
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FACULTY DR.MAHESH B.V.M
PRESENTORS Ms . UMA SANKAR K
Ms . VAISHNAVI V KULKARNI

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 DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH

o INTRODUCTION
o DEFINITION
o PURPOSE
o DIFFERENT TERMS
o PROCEDURE
o USE IN THE FIELD OF AUDIOLOGY & SLP
o ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
o DIFFERENT TYPES

1. Comparative

2. Developmental

3. Correlational
INTRODUCTION
Research is the process of answering a question that can be answered by appropriately
collected data. The question may simply be, “What is (or was) the frequency of a disease in a
certain place at a certain time?” The answer to this question is descriptive, but contrary to a
common misperception, this does not mean that obtaining the answer (descriptive research)
is a simple task. All research, whether quantitative or qualitative, is descriptive, and no
research is better than the quality of the data obtained. To answer a question correctly, the
data must be obtained and described appropriately. The rules that govern the process of
collecting and arranging the data for analysis are called research designs.
Methods in educational research mostly are descriptive in nature; that is, they answer “what”.
Descriptive research is appropriate when observation of natural phenomena is necessary to
solve a particular problem.
Descriptive research becomes more appropriate in a situation in which the researcher is
interested in observing behaviours that occur naturally without the interference of an
experimenter.

The main purpose of descriptive research method is to describe – events, beliefs, attitudes,
values, intentions, preferences or behaviours. The data collection techniques under
descriptive methods are majorly Surveys, interview and observations.

Descriptive research involves the observation of relations between attribute independent

variables (which cannot be manipulated) and dependent variable.

● It is the first kind of data analysis performed on a data set.

● It is applied to large volumes of data, such as census data

● The description and interpretation processes are different steps.

DEFINITION

฀ Descriptive research is used to study group differences, developmental trends, and

relationships among through the use of objective measurements, various kinds of
tests, surveys, and/or naturalistic observations (Schiavetti, Metz, & Orlikoff, 2011).

฀ Descriptive research is designed to systemically describe situations or events as they

naturally occur, in other words, the status of phenomena of interest as they currently
exist (Polit & Beck, 2010).

฀ It is a type of research in which the distributions of selected dependent variables is

observed and recorded (Hegde,2003).

฀ Research of this type provides and empirical picture of what was observed at one time
or of observed changes over a period of time, without manipulation of independent
variable by the researcher. (shadghnessy, Zechmeister, and Zechmeister 2000).

฀ Descriptive research, according to Best, is concerned with:

Conditions or relationships that exist; practices that prevail; beliefs, points of views,
or attitudes that are held; processes that are going on; effects that are being felt; or
trends that are developing. At times, descriptive research is concerned with how what
is or what exists is related to some preceding event that has influenced or affected a
present condition or event (Best 1970).

฀ In descriptive research, researchers are essentially passive observers who try to be as

unobtrusive as possible so that their presence (or the presence of their measuring
instruments or techniques) causes minimal alteration of the naturalness of the
phenomena under investigation.
฀ Naturalistic observation is conducted in a genuine or real world setting by an observer
who attentively, but passively, records what occurs without any attempt to
intervene, control, or manipulate the observed events.

฀ The independent variable in descriptive research is an attribute—it cannot be

manipulated by the researcher to see what effect it has on the dependent variable.
In descriptive studies, the researcher must rely on comparisons of values of the
dependent variable that correspond to some existing value of an attribute independent
variable.

฀ The major goals of observation in natural setting are to describe behaviour as it

ordinarily occurs and to investigate the relationship among variables that are present.
(Shaughnessy et al. 2000).

฀ Descriptive research results should not lead to the formulation of cause- effect
statements because many factors beyond the control of the researcher may confound
the results. The description of differences between groups or of relationships among
variables does not provide sufficient grounds for establishing causal relations (Justice,
2009).

฀ Research of this type provides an empirical picture of what was observed at one time
or of observed changes over a period of time, without manipulation of independent
variables by the researcher.

฀ Descriptive Research is an important endeavour in behavioural science and constitutes

a large portion of the research found in the speech pathology and audiology literature.
PURPOSE OF DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH:

฀ To describe individuals, events, programs or groups.

E.g.: “what are the characteristics of speech and hearing graduates in Aiish?”
A mail to survey the speech and hearing graduates could determine characteristics
such as age, gender, religion, area of concentration and career goals.

฀ To compare individuals, events, programs or groups.

E.g.: “How do AIISH and other speech and hearing institutions compare in
academic curricula?”
Telephone interviews with selected staff in two institutions could determine
teaching philosophy, numbers and types of courses offered and text books used.

฀ To determine motivations
“Do Hearing aid advertisements motivate people to buy them?”
Interviews with selected regular hearing aid users could determine their recall of
advertisements and their reported reasons for such purchases.

฀ To determine needs, desires or problems.

Eg: “What problems do hearing aid users encounter when using a specific type of
hearing aid?”
Surveys, interviews or direct observation could determine problems or specific
needs.

฀ To determine preferences or make predictions or projections.

Eg: “Which speech/voice software does speech/voice pathologist prefer to use on
their subjects?”
Surveys or interviews could determine individuals’ intentions.

฀ To determine effects, results or consequences.

Eg: “How does parents’ attitude towards speech therapy affect their children’s
overall progress in speech- language development?”
Observation/ interviews of attitudes with parents could determine such effects.
 ฀ To determine relationships or associations.
Eg: “How do individuals previous therapy exposure relate to their attitudes
towards the speech and language therapy?”
Survey or interviews with selected individuals concerning their previous therapy
exposure and attitudes could be compared to determine this relationship.

฀ To link attitude to behaviour.

Eg: “How do stutterers’ attitude towards rehabilitation influence their personality
development?”
Survey of stutterers’ attitudes towards rehabilitation could be compared to their
personality as determined by personnel records or interview with family.

Different terms to describe independent and dependent variables in

descriptive research:
1. Classification variable (IV) and criterion variable (DV)
Subjects can be classified according to certain variables, and comparisons can be made
between the classifications with regard to some criterion variable. (Graziano &Raulin, 2013).

For example, person with aphasia may be compared with person without aphasia on some
measure of linguistic performance. In this,

Classification variable: Language status (aphasic vs. non aphasic)

Criterion variable: Linguistic performance

2. Predictor variable (IV) and predicted variable (DV)

Subjects of one classification are measured on a number of criterion variables to determine
the relationships among these variables and the ability to predict one variable from the other.
It goes analogous with the independent variable and dependent variable, respectively.

PROCEDURE
The researcher must be able to define clearly, what he wants to measure and must find
adequate methods for measuring it along with a clear cut definition of ‘population’ he wants
to study. Since the aim is to obtain complete and accurate information in the said studies, the
procedure to be used must be carefully planned. The research design must make enough
provision for protection against bias and must maximise reliability, with due concern for the
economical completion of the research study. The design in such studies must be rigid and
not flexible and must focus attention on the following:

(a) Formulating the objective of the study (what the study is about and why is it being
made?)

(b) Designing the methods of data collection (what techniques of gathering data will be
adopted?)

(c) Selecting the sample (how much material will be needed?)

(d) Collecting the data (where can the required data be found and with what time period
should the data be related?)

(e) Processing and analysing the data.

(f) Reporting the findings. In a descriptive/diagnostic study the first step is to specify the
objectives with sufficient precision to ensure that the data collected are relevant. If this is not
done carefully, the study may not provide the desired information

TECHNIQUES FOR COLLECTING INFORMATIONS

Several methods

● Observation

● Questionnaires

● Interviewing

● Examination of records etc.

APPLICATION OF DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH IN THE FIELD OF
AUDIOLOGY AND SPEECH LANGAUGE PATHOLOGY

1. Descriptive research is more appropriate in a situation in which the researcher is

interested in behaviours as they occur naturally without the interference of an
experimenter. For Eg. The difference in mother child interaction in children with and
without cleft palate.
2. Descriptive research is also used in situations where the experimental research can’t be
done due to ethical reasons. For Eg: Effect of loud sound on hearing.

● An example concerns research on the etiology of stuttering. It has been hypothesized that
various conditions in the child's speaking environment may be responsible for the onset of
stuttering. However, it would be unethical to manipulate systematically environmental
conditions in an attempt to cause stuttering in children. Therefore, much research
concerned with environmental factors related to the onset of stuttering has focused on
descriptions of stuttering and non stuttering children around the time of typical onset.

In summary, when observation of natural phenomena is necessary to solve a particular

problem, descriptive research is appropriate.
This descriptive research strategy has the advantage of allowing researchers to study
variables that cannot be manipulated experimentally. Sometimes these experiments are
called "experiments of nature" because participants belong to the classifications as a
result of the vagaries of nature. These experiments may also be referred to as "natural-
group" research studies for the same reason.

ADVANTAGES:
1. Natural environment: Descriptive research allows for the research to be conducted in
the respondent’s natural environment, which ensures that high-quality and honest data is
collected.
2. Quick to perform and cheap: As the sample size is generally large in descriptive
research, the data collection is quick to conduct and is inexpensive.
3. Descriptive studies result in rich data that is collected in large amounts.
(A researcher can conduct descriptive research using specific methods like observational
method, case study method, and survey method. Between these three, all primary data
collection methods are covered, which provides a lot of information. This can be used for
future research or even developing a hypothesis of your research object.)
4. Descriptive research may be a pre-cursor to future research because it can be helpful in
identifying variables that can be tested.
5. Varied: Since the data collected is qualitative and quantitative, it gives a holistic
understanding of a research topic. The information is varied, diverse, and thorough.
6. Surveys can be used by companies and organizations to study in beliefs, attitudes,
behaviours and habits of members of a target audience, company or other organization.
7. Effective to analyse non-quantified topics and issues
8. The possibility to observe the phenomenon in a completely natural and unchanged natural
environment
9. The opportunity to integrate the qualitative and quantitative methods of data
collection. Accordingly, research findings can be comprehensive.

DISADVANTAGES

1. Participants or subjects may not be truthful or may not behave naturally when they
know they are being observed.
2. Descriptive studies cannot test or verify the research problem statistically
3. Research results may reflect certain level of bias due to the absence of statistical tests
4. Descriptive studies are not helpful in identifying cause behind described phenomenon
5. In descriptive research, however, it is not possible for the researcher to manipulate the
independent variable to see what effect that manipulation will have on the dependent
 variable. Independent variables in descriptive research usually include factors such as
research-subject classification that the researcher cannot manipulate.
For instance, the descriptive researcher may wish to compare a group of children who are
language delayed with a group of children who have typical developmental histories with
respect to some behaviour. However, the classification of the children (the independent
variable) cannot be directly manipulated to observe its effect on their behaviour (the
dependent variable). Some authors call such descriptive research experiments of nature
because nature has manipulated the independent variable in determining the children’s
classification.
6. Thus, direct cause–effect relations are difficult to infer from the results of descriptive
research.

7. Descriptive studies cannot be used to correlate variables or determine cause and effect.
8. Some scientists regard descriptive studies as unreliable and unscientific.
9. Confidentiality can be an issue.
10. Researcher bias may play a role in many ways.
11. The results are not repeatable and typically the study cannot be replicated (due to their
observational nature).
12. Cannot test or verify the research questions.
13. Lack of reliability.
14. Risk of sampling error.

TYPES OF DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH:

There are five different strategies of descriptive research:

1. Comparative

2. Developmental

3. Correlational

4. Survey

5. Retrospective
❖ COMPARATIVE RESEARCH

● Comparative research method can be defined as a research methodology in which aspects

of social science or life are examined across different cultures or countries.
● Comparative research is a strategy used to measure the behaviour of two or more types of
participants at one point in time in order to draw conclusions about the similarities or
differences between them.
● Studies variables which the experimenter cannot manipulate under any conditions.
Involves studying the similarities and differences among the variables or subject
classifications.
● E.g.: Comparing two or more levels of severity of stuttering individuals (mild, moderate,
severe)

● Also known as standard-group comparison.

● In clinical research, the primary goal is to understand the differences between a general
sample of participants (considered "normal") screening procedures may be used to rule
out the existence of a communication disorder and specific clinical groups formed based
on clinical diagnoses, such as language disorders or stuttering. The two groups are then
compared on selected dependent variables.

● Researchers use two strategies for comparison

● In the first strategy, the groups are compared further on the same criterion variable
that separated the groups in the first place. The first strategy is illustrated by studies in
which children who have language disorders are compared with typical-language
children on the age at which they master selected grammatic morphemes or other
language skills. It must be noted that comparisons in such instances are made on the
same criterion variable that separated the two groups. Language skills separated the
two groups to begin with, and it is on the same variable that the two groups are further
compared.

● In the second strategy, the groups are compared on variables that did not serve as
explicit criteria for the initial separation of the groups.The criterion and the
comparison measures are different in this strategy. Groups are formed based on one
variable, and they are compared on the basis of different variables. Persons with and
without aphasia (criterion variable) may be compared on the basis of memory skills or
on a test of intelligence (variable on which they are compared).
● Advantages
฀ It can yield useful information regarding the differences between typical
(“normal”) and clinical populations.

฀ Variables are not manipulated and treatments are not applied, simplifying steps of
the research process.

฀ Careful selection of groups or cases that are homogeneous with respect to the
extraneous variables helps to ensure the reliability of the findings by removing
influence of extraneous variables.

● Disadvantages
฀ No experimental control

฀ Difficult to establish cause effect relationship

฀ Difficult to draw conclusions on the criterion variable compared. (Justice, 2009).

฀ Young (1976, 1993, and 1994) criticized the use of group difference data for
generating knowledge about the performance of different group of subjects on
various criterion measures.

฀ It may sometimes be difficult to find the same types of data for the groups or cases
for making a true comparison.

฀ Comparative studies also do not account for situations where multiple causation is
possible.

❖ DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH
● Developmental research study is designed to measure changes over time in
behaviour or characteristics of subjects usually with reference to aging or
maturation of subjects.

● The independent variable in developmental research is maturation (e.g., Physical,

cognitive, emotional growth and experience). And is usually indicated by general
 measurements of chronological or mental age or by some index of specific
maturation, such as mean length of utterance as an index of language age.

● It is usually indicated by measurements of chronological or mental age or by some

index of maturation (e.g., mean length of utterance as an index of language
maturity).

● It is also called as normative research.

● In this type of research, the distribution of selected dependent variables across age
groups is observed and recorded.

● Developmental Research tends to concentrate on very young and very old

populations because it is concerned with the emergence of behaviour as children
grow and the changes in performance that accompany the normal aging processes
in the geriatric population.

● The major purpose of normative research is to arrive at norms that are the
averaged performance levels of presumably typical reference groups.

● Three different developmental plans encountered in the literature are:

a. Cross sectional
b. Longitudinal
c. Semi longitudinal

● CROSS-SECTIONAL:

฀ When different respondents are studied at different points in time, the

study is called ‘cross-sectional’.

฀ A cross-sectional plan of observation involves the selection of subjects

from various age groups and a comparison of differences among the
average behaviours or characteristics of the different groups i.e., it
involves observation of some subset of a population of items all at the
same time, in which, groups can be compared at different ages with
respect of independent variables.
 ฀ The cross-sectional method lessens the threat of participant loss and
reduces costs. Rather than observe the same participants over an extended
period of time, cross-sectional designs include several different groups of
participants. Each group of participants represents a different point in
time along the developmental continuum.

฀ Strengths:

▪ Simple and quick to perform.

▪ It is less costly and less time consuming than longitudinal research and
it is relatively immune to subject attrition.

฀ Weakness:

▪ The assumptions can be invalid due to the differences between the age
ranges.

▪ A weakness of cross-sectional research is that observations are made of

differences between subjects of different ages to generalize about
developmental changes that would occur within subjects as they mature.

Examples:

1. Rademaker et al. (1998) used a cross- sectional plan of observation to

examine the influence of aging by selecting women participants for the
study from four different age ranges: 20- 39, 40- 59, 60- 79, and 80- 89
years of age. Average oropharyngeal swallow efficiency decreased
across the four age groups and these differences between age groups
may be interpreted as evidence of the influence of the aging process on
swallowing.
2. Holm, Crosbie, and Dodd (2007), for example, grouped 409 typically
developing children by age. By quantifying the accuracy of speech
production of each group, the researchers describe change in speech
variability and consistency for children between three and seven years
of age.

● LONGITUDINAL:
฀ The term ‘longitudinal’ is used to describe a variety of studies that are
conducted over a period of time. Many consider longitudinal research
stronger than cross-sectional research because the same group of subjects is
followed over time. Also known as cohort study, follow-up study, incidence
study, and perspective study (Rosenfeld, 1991).

฀ A clear distinction is drawn between longitudinal and cross-sectional studies.

The longitudinal study gathers data over an extended period of time; a short-
term investigation may take several weeks or months; a long-term study can
extend over many years. Where successive measures are taken at different
points in time from the same respondents, the term ‘follow-up study’ or
‘cohort study’ is used in the British literature, the equivalent term in the
United States being the ‘panel study’.

฀ The term ‘cohort’ is a group of people with some common characteristic. A

cohort study is sometimes differentiated from a panel study. In a cohort study
a specific population is tracked over a specific period of time but selective
sampling within that sample occurs (Borg and Gall 1979: 291). This means
that some members of a cohort may not be included each time. By contrast, in
a panel study each same individual is tracked over time.

฀ For example,

1. Scherer, Oravkinova and McBee (2013) compared the speech and

language development of children with and without cleft lip and/or
palate from 6 to 24 months of age.
2. Ryan B.P (2001) conducted a longitudinal study of the speech and
language characteristics of 22 preschool-age stuttering children. They
were tested approximately quarterly, eight times over a 2-year period.

฀ Advantages
 i. Observes temporal order of events i.e., longitudinal studies have the
advantage of directly showing how participants mature in their
behaviour while they are aging.
ii. Exclude time-in variant unobserved individual differences.

฀ Disadvantages:

i. Time consuming- it may take years to complete data collection

ii. Subject attrition
iii. Researcher attrition
iv. Expensive
v. As result of their expense, attrition and time consumption, longitudinal
studies often include a small number of participants, somewhat limiting
the generalization relative to cross sectional studies.
vi. Less power to detect causal relationships than do experiments

฀ Although longitudinal studies are more desirable because they directly observe
development, cross sectional studies are often substituted for longitudinal plans
because they are more cost effective and practical.

● SEMI LONGITUDINAL:

฀ A logical compromise to minimize the weaknesses and maximize the strengths

of cross- sectional and longitudinal studies is a semi longitudinal plan of
observation.

฀ This plan involves dividing the total age span to be studied into several
overlapping age spans, selecting participants whose ages are at the lower edge
of each new age span and following them until they reach the upper age of the
span.
 ฀ Each participant will be followed for about the same length of time (the
longitudinal, within- subjects aspect), but participants are of different ages at
the time of participation in the study (the cross- sectional, between the subject
aspects). Thus, the semi longitudinal design is a compromise between the
cross- sectional and longitudinal designs that incorporates aspects of each one.
The semi longitudinal design tries to maximize the advantages of both the
cross- sectional design and the longitudinal design while minimizing their
disadvantages.

฀ For example,

1. Wilder and Baken (1974), were interested in observing respiratory

parameters underlying infant crying behaviour with a technique called
impedance pneumography to record thoracic and abdominal
movements. Ten infants entered the study at ages ranging from 2 to
161 days, and each was observed over a period of four months. Rather
than making observation of infants of different ages or waiting for
infants to be born and then following them for a year, a semi-
longitudinal approach was adopted that allowed Wilder and Baken to
make observations between and within participants over a period of
time in a more efficient manner. In this study infant was observed
four times over the total time span from 2 to 255 days of age at time
intervals that averaged 28 days.
2. Travers B.G. et al. (2015) carried out a study that used a cohort
sequential design over 9 years to examine age-related changes of the
corpus callosum in 100 males with autism and 56 age-matched males
with typical development from early childhood (when autism can first
be reliably diagnosed) to mid-adulthood (after development of the
corpus callosum has been completed) (3 to 41 years of age).The
results suggest atypical early childhood development of the corpus
callosum microstructure in autism that transitions into sustained group
differences in adolescence and adulthood.

❖ CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH
฀ A correlational research strategy is used to study the relationships among two or more
variables by examining the degree to which changes in one variable correspond with
or can be predicted from variations in another.

฀ There is no manipulation of variables in correlational research.

฀ Correlational research may range from a simple problem in which only two variables
are studied to complex research in which the interrelation of a large number of
variables is considered.

฀ The appropriate correlation coefficient is computed to indicate the strength of the

relationship with regard to how much variation the two share.

฀ The correlation also indicates the direction of the relationship.

- A positive correlation indicates that increases in one variable are associated with
increases in the other,
- A negative correlation indicates that increases in one variable are associated with
decreases in the other.
- A zero correlation indicates that the two variables are unrelated.

฀ The concept of the correlation between variables can also be depicted visually on a
graph called the scatterplot or scattergram.

฀ Example: Scattergrams of conversational intelligibility and swallowing function for

Fig 1 – Spastic dysarthria

Fig 2 – Ataxic dysarthria
 Fig 3 – Hypokinetic dysarthria

฀ Performance on one variable can be predicted from knowledge of performance on the

other for a typical subject by completing a regression analysis that develops an
equation for predicting the expected score on one variable from knowledge of a
subject’s score on the other variable.

฀ In the regression problem, one variable (or set of variables) is designated as the
predictor and another variable (or set of variables) is designated as the predicted
variable.

฀ In correlational research, an independent variable is not manipulated to examine its

effect on a dependent variable. Rather, two variables are measured and then one is
used to try to predict the other one. That is, no cause-and-effect relationship between
the variables is assumed (Chen & Popovich, 2002).

฀ An example of an investigation of the correlation between two variables can be seen

in part of the study by Turner and Weismer (1993) concerning speaking rate in the
dysarthria associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

฀ This study deals with the relationship between physical and perceptual measures of
speech rate in subjects with ALS and in subjects with normal speech. The authors
were concerned with this relationship because of previous suggestions that physical
measures of speech rate might not predict perceptual measures of speech rate in some
instances of dysarthria.
 ADVANTAGES

฀ Correlational research can be used to estimate the amount of variation in a criterion

measure that can be accounted for on the basis of knowledge of group classification
rather than simply looking at average differences in a criterion measure between two
groups of subjects.

฀ Correlational research can be a powerful tool for learning what aspects of human
behaviour share common properties. If a strong relationship exists between two
variables, then a researcher can predict one variable from knowledge of the value of
the other.

DISADVANTAGE

฀ Correlation does not imply causation, and many people have seemed to miss this fact
in applying cause–effect statements to correlational data (Justice, 2009).

฀ correlational studies suffer from problems in the interpretation of the meaning of

correlation coefficients. Two variables may be significantly correlated, but this may
occur because both variables are correlated with a third variable that may be unknown
to the researcher. Knowledge of the third variable may be crucial to understanding the
true nature of the correlation between the original two variables. For these and other
more technical reasons, it may be difficult to assess the theoretical or practical
implications of a correlation.

฀ Sometimes correlational studies use a shotgun approach in an attempt to intercorrelate

many variables, and a large number of significant but fairly small correlation
coefficients are found that make it difficult to assess the meaning of the complex
interrelation of the variables.

RECENT STUDIES
PURPOSE OF DESCRIPTIVE DESIGNS
The purpose of descriptive studies is to describe individuals, events, or conditions by
studying them as they are in nature. The researcher does not manipulate any of the variables
but rather only describes the sample and/or the variables. Although a descriptive study can
explore multiple variables, it is the only design that can also explore a single variable.
Descriptive studies look at the characteristics of a population; identify problems that exist
within a unit, an organization, or a population; or look at variations in characteristics or
practices between institutions or even countries.
METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
Descriptive studies use observation or survey data .The research question and feasibility
issues will influence the method selected . There are inherent limitations and risks to validity
associated with each method. However, both also offer feasible and cost-effective means of
obtaining data quickly and easily.
Observation
One of the most frequently used methods of collecting descriptive data is through observation
of individuals or groups of individuals. Although this may sound like a qualitative method, it
differs from observation used in qualitative designs, because the variable of interest has a
quantitative value. Perhaps, a good example might be the use of the World Health
Organization hand washing observation tool that quantifies hand washing behaviours.

Survey
The second approach to data collection for a descriptive study is survey. Survey methods use
questionnaires to elicit information from subjects (respondents). This is useful when the
researcher is interested in perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, or opinions.6 Methods of survey
administration include verbal (in-person or over the phone), written (mailed or distributed
questionnaires), or electronic (email and electronic surveys). The advantages of survey
methods for data collection are that it can be relatively inexpensive and easy to do. However,
the reliability of the items within the survey and the subject's willingness to answer items
honestly are potential threats to internal and external validity and are a major study design
limitation.
CONCLUSION
Descriptive studies have an important place in the nursing research toolkit. They lay the
foundation for later quasiexperimental and experimental studies. The clinical nurse specialist
should also consider this design option when evaluating a new intervention, service, or
educational program. Finally, before instituting a program or process to address a clinical or
environmental issue in a healthcare facility, it might be wise to conduct a descriptive study to
determine whether the issue really exists and the extent of the issue. This 1 step can identify
those issues in need of a solution and can ultimately save an organization time, money, and
resources.
REFERENCES

1. Hegde, M. N., & Salvatore, A. P. (2019). Clinical research in communication

disorders: Principles and strategies. Plural Publishing.

2. Orlikoff, R. F., Schiavetti, N. E., & Metz, D. E. (2014). Evaluating research in

communication disorders. Pearson Higher Ed.

3. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2002). Research methods in education.

routledge.

4. Schiavetti, N., & Metz, D. E. (2006). Evaluating research in communicative

disorders. Allyn & Bacon.

5. Ventry, I. M., Schiavetti, N., & Denson, T. A. (1986). Evaluating research in

speech pathology and audiology. Macmillan Publishing Company.