Study designs in quantitative research

Differences between quantitative and qualitative CHAPTER 8

can be classified by examining them from 3 different
study designs Selecting a Study Design perspectives:-
1. The number of contacts with the study population
 Quantitative study designs - specific, well structured, have been tested for their 2. The reference period of the study
validity and reliability, and can be explicitly defined and recognised 3. The nature of the investigation
 The main focus - to understand, explain, explore, discover and clarify situations,
feelings, perceptions, attitudes, values, beliefs and experiences of a group of people.
Study design based on the number of contacts
o Qualitative research - to understand, explain, explore, discover and clarify situations, can be classified into 3 group:-
feelings, perceptions, attitudes, values, beliefs and experiences of a group of people.
o often based on deductive rather than inductive logic, are flexible and emergent in 1. cross-sectional group
nature, and are often non-linear and non-sequential in their operationalisation. -known as one-shot or status studies.
-aimed at finding out the prevalence of a phenomenon,
Study designs based on reference period
situation, problem, issue, by taking a cross-section of the
Study designs based on the nature of the investigation population.  Retrospective
-is extremely simple in design - investigate a phenomenon, situation, problem or issue that
#Experimental has happened in the past.
#Non-experimental 2. before-and-after studies -usually conducted either on the basis of the data available for
#Quasi- or semi-experimental -also known as pre-test/post-test design that period or the basis of the respondents’ recall of the
Experimental study designs -the most appropriate design for measuring the impact or situation.
These designs have been categorized as: effectiveness of a programme.
• The after-only experimental design -a before-and-after study is carried out by adopting the same  Prospective
-information on baseline (pre-test) is usually constructed on the basis of respondents’ recall of process as a cross-sectional study except that it comprises two -refer to the likely prevalence of a phenomenon, situation,
the situation before the intervention, or from information available in existing records – cross-sectional data sets, the second being undertake after a problem, attitude or outcome in the future.
secondary sources. certain period. -such studies attempt to establish the outcome of an event or
-the change of dependent variable is measured by the difference between the ‘before’ and ‘after’ -the main advantage - is its ability to measure change in a what is likely to happen.
data sets. phenomenon or to assess the impact of an intervention. -experiments are usually classified as prospective studies as the
researcher must wait for an intervention to register its effect on
• The before-and-after-experimental design 3. longitudinal studies the study population.
-overcomes the problem of retrospectively constructing the ‘before’ observation by establishing
- a longitudinal study design is used to determine the pattern of
it before the intervention is introduced to the study population  Retro spective-prospective
change in relation to time.
-takes care of only one problem of the after-only design – that is, the comparability of the -focus on the past trends in a phenomenon and study it into the
- a longitudinal studies can be seen as a series of repetitive
before-and-after observations future.
cross-sectional studies.
-change in DV = status of DV at the ‘after’ observation – status of DV at the ‘before’ -part of the data is collected retrospectively from the existing
observation records before the intervention is introduced and then the
study population is followed to ascertain the impact of the
• The control group design intervention.
-researcher selects 2 populations group instead of one: a control group(not exposed to the
intervention) and an experimental group (exposed to the intervention).
-any difference in the ‘before’ and ‘after’ observations between the groups regarding the DV is
attributed to the intervention.
 • The double-control design
-have two control groups instead of one. Other designs commonly used in quantitative research
-to quantify, say, the reactive effect of an instrument, you exclude one of the control groups
from the ‘before’ observation.  The cross-over comparative experimental design
- makes it possible to measure the impact of a treatment without
• The comparative design denying treatment to any group, though this design has its own problems.
-a study can be carried out either as en experiment or as a non-experiment. Other commonly
-the study population is divided into the same number of groups as the number of treatments to used philosophy-  The replicated cross-sectional design
be tested. The different treatment models are then introduced to the different groups. -is based upon the assumption that participants at different stages of a programme are similar
guided designs
-in the non-experimental form of comparative design, groups already receiving different in terms of their socioeconomic–demographic characteristics and the problem for which they
interventions are identified, and only the post-observation with respect to the DV is conducted.  Action research are seeking intervention.
 Feminist research
• The ‘matched control’ experimental design  Trend studies
 Participatory and -the most appropriate method of investigation.
-2 individuals from the study population whoa re almost identical with respect to a selected collaborative research
characteristic are matched and then allocated to a separate group. -enables you to find out what has happened in the past, what is happening now and what is
enquiry likely to happen in the future in a population group.
-researcher decide through randomization which group is to be considered control and which
experimental.
-matched groups are most commonly used in the testing of new drugs.  Cohort studies
-based upon the existence of a common characteristic such as year of birth, graduation or
• The placebo design marriage, within a subgroup of a population.
-attempts to determine the extent of this effect.
-a placebo study involves 2 or 3 groups, depending on whether or not the researcher wants to  Panel studies
have a control group. -similar to trend and cohort studies except that in addition to being longitudinal they are also
prospective in nature and the information is always collected from the same respondents

Study designs in qualitative research  Blind studies

-can be used with comparable and placebo experimental designs and is applied to studies
 Case study measuring the effectiveness of a drug.
--could be an individual, a group, a community, an instance, an episode, an event, a subgroup of a population, or a city. - main objective- to isolate the placebo effect
--is based upon the assumption that the case being studied is atypical of cases of a certain type and therefore a single case can
provide insight into the events and situations prevalent in a group from where the case has been drawn.a  -Double-blind studies
-very similar to that of a blind study except that it also tries to eliminate researcher bias by
 Oral history concealing the identity of the experimental and placebo groups from the researcher.
--is a process of obtaining, recording, presenting and interpreting historical or current information, based upon personal
experiences and opinions of some members of a study group or unit.

 Focus group/ group interviews

--a form of strategy in qualitative research in which attitudes, opinions or perceptions towards an issue, product,
service or programme are explored through a free and open discussion between members of a group and the
researcher