Research Methods and Designs Quiz

Different Types of Research

• Research methods seek to explain naturally occurring phenomena in the natural world by generating credible theories. Examples include research on climate change and gene therapy.

Research in the Humanities

• Seeks to define the purpose of human existence by tapping into historical facts and future possibilities. Examples include the relationship between religion and politics.

Artistic Research

• Provides alternative approaches to established concepts by using practical methods as substitutes for fundamental and theoretical ones. It expands on current concepts and allows for further interpretation.

Research Designs

• Enables researchers to organize research components in an orderly and coherent manner, ensuring the research study effectively addresses the problem.

Action Research

• Follows a cyclical process to address a problem. First, the researcher identifies the problem, develops an action plan, implements the plan, analyzes the collected data, and assesses the solution's effectiveness.

Causal Design

• Explores how a specific change impacts a certain situation by showing cause-and-effect relationships between variables.

Descriptive Design

• Answers "who, what, when, where, and how" questions related to research problems. It obtains information to understand a specific phenomenon in a present situation.

Exploratory Design

• Focuses on topics or problems with limited prior studies to gain information and insight for future research.

Experimental Design

• Researchers control factors and variables to change one or several factors and determine the effects.

Cohort Design

• Identifies a group of people with common characteristics and studies them over time. Researchers seek to understand the impact of changes on these groups.

Cross-Sectional Design

• Examines a large group of varied individuals at a specific point in time to determine how these individuals are affected by a certain variable.

Longitudinal Design

• Follows a group of people over a long period to explore causal relationships and determine the duration and effects of these relationships on the group.

Mixed-Method Design

• Combines aspects of various research designs and methods, combining qualitative and quantitative research to develop a complete picture of a research problem and ensure the validity of the hypotheses.

Research Methods

• Determines the approach researchers will take to identify relevant data for research and to analyze collected information.

Quantitative Research

• A method to collect and analyze numerical data to test theories, explain phenomena, and reach conclusions.

Qualitative Research

• A method of inquiry that involves collecting and analyzing non-numerical data to understand human behavior and social phenomena. It focuses on gaining insights into individual perceptions and interpretations of events.

Characteristics of Qualitative Research

• Qualitative research is systematic and rigorous but more flexible than quantitative research. It often involves an iterative process where data collection and analysis happen simultaneously. Researchers focus on gathering information from people who can provide the richest insights into the phenomenon of interest and continue data collection until saturation—no new information is revealed related to key themes in the data. It examines everyday life in a natural context.

Common Types of Qualitative Research

• Phenomenological Study: Aims to understand the essence or structure of experience by explaining how complex meanings arise from simple units of inner experience. Focuses on lived experiences through descriptions provided by subjects or respondents. Examples include studying experiences of people with spouses facing rehabilitation or others, depending upon the focus of the research question.

• Ethnographic Study: A method of collecting and analyzing data about cultural groups or minorities. Researchers immerse themselves in the culture and become part of the study population. Researchers collect data by talking with key informants. Examples include studying demographic profiles and the migratory adaptations of squatters in a certain area.

• Historical Study: Examines the identification, location, evaluation, and synthesis of data from past events to understand their implications for the present and future. Sources of data may include documents, relics and artifacts, or oral reports.

• Case Study: An in-depth examination of an individual, group, or institution to understand the impact of a significant event or situation in their life .

• Grounded Theory Study: Involves a process of comparing data points to establish categories, properties and hypotheses about relationships. It is tentative and suggestive, not intended as something to test in the study, but rather to help organize the research findings. Examples include determining the formation of professional identities of counselors.

• Narrative Analysis: Analyzes stories to understand how people experience and communicate events. The primary data sources for this type of research are life accounts of individuals based on their personal experiences.

Psychological, Biographical, and Discourse Analysis (as subtypes of Narrative Analysis)

• Psychological: Analyzes stories in terms of internal thoughts and motivations.
• Biographical: Takes into account society and factors like gender and class.
• Discourse: Studies how language is used in texts and contexts.

Critical Qualitative Research

• Seeks to bring about change and empower individuals by describing and critiquing the social, cultural, and psychological perspectives related to current contexts.

Postmodern Research

• Analyzes facts established as truth, the ability of research and science to discover truth, and all generalizations and typologies.

Basic Interpretative Qualitative Study

• Used when researchers want to understand how people give meaning to a particular situation or phenomenon.

Strengths of Qualitative Research

• Studies require fewer participants. Helpful for describing complex phenomena. Issues can be examined in detail and depth. Interviews are not restricted to specific questions and can be guided and redirected. Subtleties are not missed. Provides individual case information. Provides understanding and description of experiences. Can describe phenomena in detail in their local contexts. Researchers often identify contextual and setting factors. Allows for the study of dynamic processes and the generation of grounded theory focused on a phenomenon of interest. Interprets how participants perceive constructs, and most qualitative data are gathered in naturalistic settings. Qualitative research in its use of descriptive words from participants' descriptions, helps vividly demonstrate a phenomenon to readers.

Weaknesses of Qualitative Research

• Knowledge may not be applicable to other people or situations. Inflexibility and difficulty demonstrating and assessing inflexibility. Data analysis can be time-consuming. Qualitative research might not be as well understood or accepted as quantitative research within the scientific community. Presence of the researcher during data gathering can affect participants' responses. Issues of anonymity and confidentiality can create problems when presenting findings. Making quantitative predictions is difficult, and often it is difficult to test hypotheses and theories with larger participant pools. Might have lower credibility with some administrators and program commissioners. Collecting data might take more time than in quantitative analysis. Results might easily be influenced by the researcher's personal biases and idiosyncrasies.