Quantitative Research

Design
Prepared by : Farah Al Zaghal

Submitted to : Dr. Nahla Al Ali

On our journey , we
travel toward better
understanding of
complexity 
Our objective :
at the end of this chapter, we should be able to :

identify Quantitative design

Identify quantitative approaches
approach , characteristics ,
in a research article
advantages and disadvantages .

Select an appropriate re search

Identify the different between
design for a planned research
designs
problem
 The research
design :
 is the architectural backbone
of the study .
 The overall plan for
addressing a research
question, including
specifications for enhancing
the study’s integrity
What is the importance of the research design ?

• spells out the basic strategies that researchers adopt to

develop evidence that is accurate and interpretable.
• incorporates methodologic decisions that researchers
make

• Understand design options when planning a research

project.

• indicate how often data will be collected, what types

of comparisons will be made, and where the study will
take place.
 Quantitative design
quantitative research :
The investigation of phenomena that lend themselves to precise measurement and quantification, is concerned
with measuring attributes and relationships in a population.

In most quantitative (and some qualitative) studies, researchers incorporate comparisons into their design

Comparisons

1. Comparison 2. Comparison of 3. Comparison of

between two or 4. Comparison
one group’s status one group’s status 5. Comparison with
more based on relative
at two or more under diferent external data.
rankings.
groups. points in time circumstances

Research designs for quantitative studies can be categorized based on the type of comparisons
that are made
GENERAL DESIGN ISSUES
• Most phenomena have multiple causes
Criteria for
Causality • Causes usually are not deterministic but rather are
probabilistic Causality

Design • It is easy to get confused about terms

used for research designs because
Terminology there is inconsistency among writers.
Quantitative study types
This map will guide
us to determine the
type of the study by
asking some
questions , use it
carefully !
Experimental studies
 - researchers are active agents, not passive
observers.

experimental (or
randomized Early physical scientists learned that although

controlled trial , pure observation is valuable, complexities in

nature often made it difficult to understand
relationships.
RCT)

The 20th century witnessed the acceptance of

experimental methods by researchers interested
in human physiology and behavior
A true experimental or RCT design is characterized by the following properties:

Manipulation

Control:
including devising a counterfactual approximation

Randomization:
The researcher assigns participants to a control or experimental condition on a random basis
 Manipulation

The full nature of the

Experimenters manipulate
the independent variable
How ?
Experimenters intervention must be
deliberately vary the delineated in
independent variable
formal protocols
and observe the effect on
the outcome (O) that spell out exactly what
the treatment is

The goal is to

have an identical intervention for all people in the treatment group.

(the same dose, administered in exactly the same manner according to well-articulated protocols
 Counterfactual
CONTROL The control
conditions

Different
Alternative Standard
doses or Wait-list
methods of A placebo
Intervention intensities of control group
care
treatment

runs the risk of

ambiguous may be hard to
results if
interventions are Ethically ! do
moderately pragmatically
effective.

 Methodologically,
 - the best test is between two conditions that are as different as possible, as when the experimental group gets a
strong treatment and the control group gets no treatment.
 - Some researchers combine two or more comparison strategies, The use of multiple comparison groups is often
attractive but adds to the cost and complexity of the study.
 Randomization

(also called random assignment or random allocation)

- Random means that participants have an equal chance of being assigned to any group.

- there is no systematic bias in the groups

- The larger the sample, the stronger the likelihood that the groups will be balanced on factors that could affect the outcomes.

- The timing of randomization is important. Randomization methods :

- Study eligibility—whether a person meets the criteria for inclusion—
should be ascertained before randomization
1.flipping a coin. (simple)
2.a table of random numbers (complete )
3.websites (randomizer.org )
4.Standard statistical software packages
(e.g., SPSS or SAS)
•The sequence of
steps that occurs in
most RCTs , including
the timing for
obtaining informed
consent
 Randomization Variants
Simple or complete randomization is used in many nursing studies, but variants of randomization
offer advantages in terms of ensuring group comparability or minimizing certain biases.

Stratified Permuted block Randomized Partial Cluster

Urn randomization
randomization randomization consent randomization randomization
• separately for • groups in small • group balance is • randomization • only people • clusters of people
distinct subgroups blocks to ensure a continuously occurs prior to without a strong (e.g., hospital
. balanced monitored and the obtaining informed treatment wards) to different
• (M or F ) distribution in each allocation consent preference are treatment groups
block probability is • (also called a randomized—
adjusted when an Zelen design) sometimes referred
imbalance occurs to as partially
(i.e., the randomized patient
probability of preference (PRPP)
assignment
becomes higher for
the treatment
condition with
fewer participants)
 Blinding (or Masking)
 is used to prevent biases stemming from awareness.

 The absence of blinding can result in several types of bias.

blinding (single- is used with only one

blind study ) group of people.

Types
double-blind. mask with two groups .
 Posttest-only design
(or after-only design)
- data on the dependent variable are collected only once —after randomization and completion of the
intervention.
 EXAMPLE

- An exercise program for older adults

based on traditional Chinese medicine
ideas, and wanted to test its feasibility,
safety and helpfulness.
- So they conducted a one-group
posttest-only study as a pilot test with
31 older adult volunteers.
- Then they evaluated these
participants (using open-ended
questions) after receiving the
intervention .
 Pretest–posttest design
or a before–after design
collecting data multiple times from two groups are mixed designs
Analyses can examine both differences between groups and changes within groups
over time .
EXAMPLE
Solomon four group design
 EXAMPLE

A Solomon four-group design was used in order

to control any pretest sensitization.
The pretest and posttest measured the anxiety
score by using a standardized questionnaire.
The intervention used was a VR technique that
simulates step-by-step going into an operation
room.
 Factorial Design

• In factorial experiments, people are randomly assigned to a specific combination of conditions

• MULTIPLE independent variables in a factorial design are the factors
• When describing the dimensions of the design, researchers refer to the number of levels
• Factorial experiments with more than two factors are rare.

EX:
2 × 3 design:
two levels in factor A times three levels in
factor B.
EXAMPLE
 Crossover Design
exposing the same people to more than one condition

Counterbalancing :
Procedure be used to rule out ordering effects.
For example,
if there were three conditions (A, B, C), participants would
be randomly assigned to one of
six counterbalanced orderings →
 Lippoldt, J., Pernicka, E., & Staudinger, T. (2014). Interface pressure at
different degrees of backrest elevation with various types of pressure-
redistribution surfaces.
EXAMPLE
ADVANTAGES

Most powerful design to establish the causal relationship between the independent
and dependent variable

Controlled environment in which study is conducted can yield a greater degree of

purity in observation

Conditions not found in natural setting can be created in an experimental setting

Researcher can pursue studies in more leisurely , careful and concentrated way.
Experimental Strengths

- EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN IS THE GOLD STANDARD FOR TESTING

INTERVENTIONS BECAUSE IT YIELDS STRONG EVIDENCE ABOUT
INTERVENTION EFFECTIVENESS.
  Example:
drug studies rarely use a crossover design because drug B administered after
drug A is not necessarily the same treatment as drug B administered before

Carryover drug A.

When carryover effects are a potential concern, researchers often have a

effects : washout period in between the treatments

“When people may be influenced in the

second condition by their experience in
the first condition.”
 The term is derived from a series of experiments conducted at the
Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Corporation in which

Hawthorne
effect
“PLacebo-type effect”
 caused by people’s expectations.

- To reduce the potential for the Hawthorne effect Researchers use double-
blind experiments
(Neither researcher nor participant know who is getting which treatment )
 Results cannot be
replicated in studies It is not possible to impose
conducted on human control over extraneous
beings due to ethical variable
problems.
disadvantages
Many of human variables
Difficult to get co- neither have valid
operation from the study measurable criteria nor
participants instrument to measure
them.
 QUASI-EXPERIMENTS DESIGN
Called controlled trials without randomization in the medical literature, involve an intervention but they
lack randomization, the signature of a true experiment.

Note that in quasi experiments

the term comparison group is often used
in lieu of control group
QUASI VS EXPERIMENTAL
 TYPES of QUASI
Non randomized control group Time series design
design single-subject experiments
 Non equivalent control group design Multiple Time Series Design
• Identical to pretest post test control
group design , except no random
assignment of subjects
Nonequivalent
Control-Group  Most frequently used
Before-After Design
 Involves a treatment and two or more groups of
participants

 Collects data before and after intervention

 No randomization Therefore the groups can not be

assumed to be equivalent
EXAMPLE
Time-Series  single-subject experiments (sometimes called N-of-1
Design studies).
use time series designs to gather information about an
intervention based on the responses of a single patient (or a
small number of patients) under controlled conditions.

 Has neither a control group nor randomization

 Involves the collection of data over an extended period

of time and the introduction period
Time series design
• Involves periodic measurements on the dependent variable for
a group of test units (one group only)
single-subject • After multiple measurements, experimental treatment is
administered (or occurs naturally)
experiments
• Diagrammed as:
O1 O2 O3 O4 X O5 O6 O7

• A series of periodic measurements is taken from two groups of

test units (an experimental group and a control).
Multiple Time
• Diagrammed as:
Series Design O1 O2 O3 O4 O5 O6 O7 O8
O1 O2 O 3 O 4 X O5 O6 O7 O8
 ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

• Practical and feasible to • No control over

conduct
• More suitable for real • Absence of a control
world natural setting than
true experimental design
• Allow researcher to
evaluate the impact of
quasi independent
variable under naturally
occurring conditions
• May be able to establish
causal relationship.
extraneous variables
group make the results
less reliable and weak
for establishment of
the causal relationship
between independent
and dependent
variables.
Thank You