BACS2042

Research Methods

Chapter 3
General Types of Research Designs
and Approaches
Contents
• Quantitative vs
Qualitative Research
• Experimental Design
• Non-experimental
Design
• Quasi-experimental
Design
• Focus Groups
• Survey Studies
 Quantitative vs
Qualitative Research
 Quantitative vs Qualitative Research

Quantitative Qualitative

Non- Quasi-
Experimental
experimental experimental Focus group Survey studies
Design
Design Design

After-Only Before-and-After
Quantitative vs Qualitative Research
Quantitative
• Explaining phenomena by
collecting numerical data.
• Analyzed using mathematically
based methods (e.g.: statistics).
Qualitative
• Concerned with qualitative
phenomena.
• E.g.: Investigating the reasons for
human behavior.
• Aims at discovering the
underlying motives and desires
using in depth interviews
Behavioral and
social sciences
 Quantitative Qualitative
Main purpose of To quantify extent of variation To describe variation in a
investigation in a phenomenon phenomenon
Measurement of Emphasize on
variables Measurement or classification Description of variables
of variables
Sample size Greater sample size Fewer cases

Focus of enquiry Narrow focus in terms of extent Covers multiple issues

of enquiry
Dominant research Reliability and objectivity (not Authenticity
value value-free)
Analysis of data Subjects variables to frequency Subjects responses, narratives or
distributions, cross-tabulations observational data to identification of
or other statistical procedures themes

6
Example of IT based Quantitative Research
Network based Quantitative Research:
• A group of researchers would like to know the
future and emerging threats to network operation
caused by various factors
• Factors: social and human factors (e.g. social
engineering, new applications, and interpersonal
trust), network, systems and infrastructure factors
(e.g. network attacks, failures and
misconfiguration).
• Target: new devices, applications and end-systems
(e.g. iPads, Facebook, e-Banking, etc.)
Example of IT based Quantitative Research
Network based Quantitative Research:
• To understand how these factors might impact the
operation of future networks, the researcher
designs an extensive questionnaire, distributed it
to selected groups of experts in the area of
computer networks, and asked for their input.
• Through this questionnaire, researchers are able to
capture significant insights into how experts
perceive the causes, drivers and relevance of
future threats to vital networks and
communication infrastructures.
Example of Qualitative Research
Attitude or opinion research i.e., research designed to
find out how people feel or what they think about a
particular subject or institution is also qualitative
research.
Example of Qualitative Research
• Researchers would like to conduct a scientific
approach to find out what do consumers like about
Android.
• The researchers undertook a qualitative study and
spoke to over 50 people who adopted Android
over other platforms.
• In line with the qualitative research, the
researchers then transcribed the interviews and
looked for trends or themes across interviewee
responses.
 Experimental Design
Non Experimental Design
Quasi Experimental Design
Experimental Design
Experimental study involves the researcher
manipulating the variable(s) and wait until it
has produced the change. (dependent,
independent variables)

“Observation under controlled conditions”

 Quantitative Qualitative

Experimental Non- Quasi-

experimental experimental Focus group Survey studies
Design Design Design

Before-and-
After-Only
After
Non Experimental Design
• The researcher starts from the outcome
to determine the cause.
• Does not manipulate any variables
(correlation)
Quasi Experimental Design
• Quasi-experimental study has the
properties of both experimental and
non-experimental studies.
• Part of the study may be non-
experimental and the other part
experimental.
Experimental Design Example
To test a new drug to treat diabetes.

Experimental
X (dosage), ml Y (sugar level)
0.25 180

0.30 179

0.35 178

0.40 176

0.56 160
Manipulate X to see its effects on Y
Non Experimental Design Example
To test a new drug to treat diabetes.

Non Experimental
X (dosage), ml Y (sugar level)
0.25 180

0.30 179

0.35 178

0.40 176

Correlational research is classified as non-experimental because it does not

manipulate the independent variables.
After-Only Experimental Design Example
To test a new drug to treat diabetes.

Experimental group 1 Experimental group 2

Diabetic patients

Sugar Level: 180 Sugar Level: 210

Assumption: Same
Higher dosage Lower dosage
sugar level
Sugar Level: 140 Sugar Level: 170

What if Sugar Level of Group 1 patients is lower than G2 even before taking the drug?
Before and After Experimental Design Example
To test a new drug to treat diabetes.

Experimental group 1 Experimental group 2

Diabetic patients

Sugar Level: 190 Sugar Level: 180

Higher dosage Lower dosage

Sugar Level: 140 Sugar Level: 170

Dosage of X is affecting Y
Control Group Design Example
To test a new drug to treat diabetes.

Experimental group 1 Experimental group 2

Diabetic patients

Higher dosage
Lower dosage

Control Group
Qualitative Research
Qualitative Research
• Focus Groups
• Survey Studies
• Others: case study, oral history, participant
observation, holistic research, community
discussion forums, etc.
Focus Group
Design:
• Select a group of people (8-12 people)
• The group could comprise individuals drawn
from a group of highly trained professionals
or average residents of a community
• Identify the issues for discussion
• Decide the process of recording the discussion
• E.g. time to meet for discussion
• The records of the discussions become the basis
of analysis for findings and conclusions.
Focus Group
• Expensive
• Used traditionally by company to identify new
product or investigate ways to improve existing
products
• Lack of predictability
Survey Studies
• Larger sample size (participants) compared to
focus group
• Structured nature of the questionnaire (survey
results are quantifiable)
• Can be used to predict future behavior
Survey Studies
Disadvantages:
• Inflexible design
• Possible inappropriateness of questions

The Internet facility has enabled the execution of

large participants for survey studies.
Survey Studies
Advantages:
• High representativeness
• Low costs
• Convenient data gathering
• Good statistical significance
Exercise
 1
Qualitative or Quantitative?

Title: Online engagement factors on Facebook brand

pages

Objective: To analyze the factors that influence the

level of online customer engagement in Facebook

Research Questions:
• Which content should be posted to get higher level
of online engagement? (media type and content
type)
• When the content should be posted?
 1
Qualitative or Quantitative?
Online engagement factors on Facebook brand pages

Hypotheses Formulation:
“Previous studies showed that consuming entertaining and
informative content is an important factor for participation in
brand communities (Dholakia et al. 2004; Raacke and Bonds-
Raacke 2008), where entertainment was found to have a
stronger effect (Park et al. 2009).”

“Previous studies over temporal interaction patterns showed

that most of the user activities on Facebook are undertaken
during the workdays (Golder et al. 2007). Similarly, a study on
online advertisement reported that the volume of CTR drops
significantly over the weekend (Rutz and Bucklin 2008). ”
 1
Qualitative or Quantitative?
Online engagement factors on Facebook brand pages

Hypotheses:

H1: Posts which contain entertaining content cause

the highest level of engagement.
H2: Posts created on workdays result in higher level of
engagement
 1
Qualitative or Quantitative?
Online engagement factors on Facebook brand pages

Conceptual Framework:
Online engagement factors on Facebook brand pages

content
1
Media Type
 2
Qualitative or Quantitative?

Title: Additive Facebook use among university

students

Objectives: To explore the phenomenon of Facebook

addiction among university students.
 2
Qualitative or Quantitative?
Additive Facebook use among university students

“Excessive Facebook use has been found to harm

psychological and social well-being of individuals and their
personality [2]. Larkshmi [3] claims that for those who are
addicted to Facebook and their personal life truly interrupted
by their uncontrolled activities on Facebook. As further
clarified, the following is the checklist for Facebook addiction
disorder (FAD):
1. Check your Facebook account in the morning
2. Spend entire nights on the site, causing them to become
tired the next day
3. Spend hours a day on Facebook
4. Whenever you are offline, you are just enjoying a
daydream about the status updates and comments that
have been received”
Interview
RECAP
 Quantitative vs Qualitative
Research
 Experimental Design
 Non-experimental Design
 Quasi-experimental Design
 Focus Groups
 Survey Studies