RESEARCH DESIGN

 Research design is the specification of methods and procedures for

acquiring the information needed
 It is the overall operational pattern or framework of the project that
stipulates what information is to be collected from which sources by
what procedures
 It is based on a framework and provides a direction to the investigation
being conducted in the most efficient manner
 Research method is the technique to collect the information required
 CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH DESIGNS
Research Design

Exploratory Research Conclusive Research

Design Design

Descriptive Casual
Research Research

Cross-sectional Longitudinal
Design Design

Single Cross- Multiple Cross-

sectional Design sectional Design
 Exploratory Research
 Exploratory research, as the name implies, intends merely to explore
the research questions and does not intend to offer final and
conclusive solutions to existing problems.
 This type of research is usually conducted to study a problem that
has not been clearly defined yet.
 Exploratory research often relies on techniques such as:
 secondary research - such as reviewing available literature and/or
data
 informal qualitative approaches, such as discussions with consumers,
employees, management or competitors
 formal qualitative research through
 in-depth interviews
 focus groups
 projective methods
 case studies or pilot studies
 Conclusive Research
 As the term suggests, conclusive research is meant to provide
information that is useful in reaching conclusions or decision-making.
 It tends to be quantitative in nature, that is to say in the form of
numbers that can be quantified and summarized.
 It relies on both secondary data, particularly existing databases that are
reanalyzed to shed light on a different problem than the original one for
which they were constituted, and primary research, or data specifically
gathered for the current study.
 The purpose of conclusive research is to provide a reliable or
representative picture of the population through the use of a valid
research instrument.
 In the case of formal research, it will also test hypothesis.
 Conclusive research can be sub-divided into two major categories:
 Descriptive or statistical research, and
 Causal research
 Descriptive Research
 Descriptive research or statistical research provides data about the
population or universe being studied.
 But it can only describe the "who, what, when, where and how" of a
situation, not what caused it.
 Therefore, descriptive research is used when the objective is to
provide a systematic description that is as factual and accurate as
possible.
 Descriptive research provides the number of times something occurs,
or frequency, lends itself to statistical calculations such as determining
the average number of occurrences or central tendencies.
 One of its major limitations is that it cannot help determine what
causes a specific behaviour, motivation or occurrence.
 The two most commonly types of descriptive research designs are
 Observation and
 Surveys
 To facilitate the discussion on descriptive research designs
researchers divide descriptive research designs into two categories.
 Cross-sectional design
 Longitudinal design
 Cross-sectional design
 It involves collection of information from any given sample of
population elements only once.
 In simple terms, cross-section studies are just conducted once
 The objective of cross-sectional design many times is to establish
categories such that classification in one category implies
classification in one or more other categories.
 One advancement into the cross-section analysis in recent times is
the development of ‘cohort analysis’.
 Cohort analysis consists of a series of surveys conducted at
appropriate time intervals.
 Cohort refers to the group of respondents who experience the same
event within the same time interval.
 Longitudinal design
 A longitudinal design is much more reliable than a cross-sectional
design for monitoring changes over time, because it relies less on
consumers’ mental capabilities and more frequently monitors events
as close to their time of occurrence as feasible.
 The primary objective of longitudinal design is to monitor change over
a period of time.
 It involves a fixed sample of population elements that is measured
repeatedly.
 The sample remains the same over a period of time, thus providing a
series of pictures which, when viewed together, portray a detailed
illustration of the situation and changes that are taking place over a
period of time.
 The major difference between cohort analysis and longitudinal design
thus is the sample.
 Causal Research
 If the objective is to determine which variable might be causing a
certain behaviour, i.e. whether there is a cause and effect
relationship between variables, causal research must be undertaken.
 In order to determine causality, it is important to hold the variable that
is assumed to cause the change in the other variable(s) constant and
then measure the changes in the other variable(s).
 This type of research is very complex and the researcher can never be
completely certain that there are not other factors influencing the
causal relationship, especially when dealing with people’s attitudes
and motivations.
 There are often much deeper psychological considerations, that even
the respondent may not be aware of.
 There are two research methods for exploring the cause and effect
relationship between variables:
 Experimentation, and
 Simulation