8 Framing a Research Design/Process

Pa . Raajeswari

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INTRODUCTION

 

Fundamental to the success of any formal marketing research project is sound research design. The function of a research design is to ensure that the required data are collected and that they are collected accurately and economically. In this chapter, an attempt is made to discuss various aspects of research designs.

 

A researcher attempting to solve his problem should necessarily prepare a plan which will help him to attain his ultimate motto. This plan is nothing but a research design. It is a plan for the collection and analysis of data. It is a tentative plan which undergoes many modifications as the study progresses. It presents a series of guide posts to enable the researcher to progress in the right direction.

 

MEANING OF RESEARCH DESIGN

 

A researcher design or model indicates a plan of action to be carried out in connection with a proposed research work. It provides only a guideline for the researcher to enable him to keep track of his actions and to know that he is moving in the right direction in order to achieve his goal. The design may be a specific presentation of the various steps in the process of research. These steps include the selection of a research problem, the presentation of the problem, the formulation of the hypothesis, conceptual clarity, methodology, survey of literature , documentation, bibliography, data collection, testing of the hypothesis, interpretation, presentation and report writing. All these stages have been discussed in subsequent pages.

 

Thus, it is a crucial step in the dissertation of thesis because, if a wrong decision is made, the whole study may be criticized on the grounds of inappropriate design or even worse as being unscientific or illogical.

 

DEFINITIONS OF RESEARCH DESIGN

 

Several definitions of ‘research design’ have been advanced by several writers on the subject of research methodology, a few of them are presented below:

 

According to Pauline V. Young, a research design is ‘the logical and systematic planning and directing a piece of research’. The design, according to her ‘results from translating a general scientific model into varied research procedures’. It gives an outline of the structure and process of the research programme. Without such a plan of study no scientific study is possible.

 

Johada, Deutsch and Cook have defined it as ‘research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure.

 

Vimal shah has said that ”the design is the plan of study and as such it is planned in every study uncontrolled as well as controlled and subjective as well as objective”.

 

ESSENTIALS OF A RESEARCH DESIGN

 

The above definitions give the essentials of a good research design. They are;

  • It is a plan that specifies the objectives of the study and the hypotheses to be tested.
  • It is an outline that specifies the sources and types of information relevant to the research questions.
  • It is a blueprint specifying the method to be adopted for gathering and analysis the data.
  • It is a scheme defining the domain of generalisability, i.e., whether the obtained information can be generalized to a large population or to different situations.

IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH PLAN

 

A research without a pre-drawn plan is like an ocean voyage without a Mariner’s compass. The preparation of a research plan for a study aids in establishing direction to the study and in knowing exactly what has to be done and how and when it has to be done at every stage. It enables the researcher to consider beforehand the various decisions to be made: what are the objectives of the study? What are the investigative questions? What are the sources of data? What is the universe of the study? What sampling method is appropriate? And so on.

 

Without a plan, research work becomes unfocused and aimless empirical wandering; the researcher would find it difficult, laborious and time-consuming to make adequate discrimination in the complex interplay of factors before the researcher; he may not be able to decide which is relevant and which is not, and may get lost in a welter of irrelevancies. The use of a research design prevents such a blind search and indiscriminate gathering of data and guides the researcher to proceed in the right direction.

 

A research plan prescribes the boundaries of research activities and enables the researcher to channel his energies in the right work. With clear research objectives in view, the researcher can proceed systematically towards his achievement. Thus, the design also enables the researcher to anticipate potential problems of data gathering, operationalisation of concepts, measurement, etc

  • Research design is needed because it facilitates smooth, effective and economical working of various research problems. It yields maximum output (information) with minimum effort, time and money. It can be illustrated with the help of one well known example: for construction of a house we need a blueprint by an expert architect, to reduce the cost and construct attractive, durable and nice house so does the research design for the researcher minimize the cost.
  •  It is useful to prepare an advance plan for collecting and analyzing the information, keeping in view the objectives of the research and availability of men, money and time.
  • It provides an opportunity to the critic to evaluate the projected study.

CONCEPTS RELATING TO RESERACH DESIGN

 

Before describing the different research design, it will be appropriate to explain the various concepts relating to designs so that these may be better and easily understood.

  1. Dependent and independent variables
  2. Extraneous variables
  3. Control
  4. Confounded relationship
  5. Research hypothesis
  6. Experimental and non-experimental hypothesis testing research
  7. Experimental and control groups
  8. Treatments
  9. Experiment
  10. Experimental units

CLASSIFICATION OF DESIGNS

 

There are a number of crucial research choices, various writers advance different classification schemes, some of which are;

  1. Experimental, historical and inferential designs (American Marketing Association)
  2. Exploratory, descriptive and causal designs (Slltiz, Jahoda, Deutsch and Cook)
  3. Experimental, and ex post facto (Kerlinger)
  4. Historical method, and case and clinical studies (Goode and Scates)
  5. Sample surveys, field studies, experiments in field settings, and laboratory experiments (Festinger and Katz)
  6. Exploratory, descriptive and experimental studies (Body and Westfall)
  7. Exploratory, descriptive and causal (Green and Tull)
  8. Experimental, quasi-experimental designs (Nachmais)
  9. True experimental, quasi-experimental and non-experimental designs (Smith)
  10. Experimental, pre-experimental, quasi-experimental designs and survey research (Kidder and Judd)

The different categorizations exist, because ‘research design’ is a complex concept. In fact, there are different perspectives from which any given study can be viewed. They are;

  1. The degree of formulation of the problem (the study may be exploratory or formalized)
  2. The topical scope-breadth and depth-of the study (a case of a statistical study)
  3. The research environment: field setting or laboratory (survey, laboratory experiment)
  4. The time dimension (one-time or longitudinal)
  5. The mode of data collection ( observation or survey)
  6. The manipulation of the variables under study (experimental or ex post facto)
  7. The nature of the relationship among variables (descriptive or causal)

KINDS OF RESEARCH DESIGN

 

The different kinds of designs have been discussed below:

 

DESIGN OF EXPLORATORY OR FORMULATIVE STUDIES

 

The purpose of exploratory studies are to achieve new insights into a phenomenon. The major emphasis in those studies is the discovery of new insights or ideas. The reason for aiming at new insights or ideas is to formulative a more precise problem or to develop hypotheses for further definite research.

 

An exploratory research will be effective and turn out to be fruitful if the following methods are adopted before the initiation.

  • Survey of literature, i.e., a review of the literature in the pertinent field and in the fields of related social sciences.
  • Experience survey, i.e., survey of the people who have had practical experience with the problem to be studied.
  • Analysis of ‘insight-stimulating’ cases.

DESIGN OF DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES

 

Descriptive studies aim at portraying accurately the characteristics of a particular group or situation. One may undertake a descriptive study about the works in a factory, their age distribution, their community-wise distribution, their educational level, the state of their physical health and so on and so forth. Also one may study the conditions of work in a factory health, safety and welfare.

 

Diagnostic studies refers to scientific differentiation among various conditions or phenomena for the purpose of accurately classifying these conditions. In its broadest sense, diagnostic corresponds to the fact-finding aspect of clinical practice. Its objectives include screening and classification, personality description, prediction of outcome and attainment of insight by the client.

 

DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTAL STUDIE 

 

The term ‘experiment’ is frequently linked with laboratory. The investigator of the experimental method is able to observe and measure the effect of manipulation of the independent variable on the dependent variable in a situation in which the operation of other relevant factors is held to a minimum. Experimental studies are most suitable for testing the causal hypothesis. A hypothesis of causal relationship asserts that a particular characteristic or occurrence (X) is one of the factors that determine another characteristic or occurrence (Y).

 

PREPARATION OF THE RESEARCH DESIGN

 

Planning involves deciding things in advance. Accordingly, the preparation of a research plan involves a careful consideration of the following questions and making appropriate decisions on them:

  1. What is the study about?
  2. Why is the study made?
  3. What is its scope?
  4. What are the objectives of the study?
  5. What are the propositions to be tested?
  6. What are the major concepts to be defined operationally?
  7. On the basis of what criteria or measurements, the operational definitions are to be made?
  8. When or in what place will the study be conducted?
  9. What is the reference period of the study?
  10. What is the typology of the design?
  11. What kinds of data are needed?
  12. What are the sources of data?
  13. What is the universe from which the sample has to be drawn?
  14. What is the sample size?
  15. What sampling techniques can be used?
  16. What methods are to be adopted for collecting data?
  17. What tools are to be used for collecting data?
  18. How the data are to be processed?
  19. What techniques of analysis are to be adopted?
  20. What is the significance of the study?
  21. To what target audience the reporting of the findings is meant?
  22. What is the type of report to be prepared?
  23. What is the time period required for each stage of research work?
  24. What is the time limit within which the whole work should be completed?
  25. What is the cost involved?

These questions should be considered with reference to the researcher’s interest, competence, time and other resources, and the requirements of sponsoring agency, if any. Thus, the considerations which enter into making decisions regarding what, where, when, how much, by what means constitute a plan of study or a study design.

 

FEATURES OF RESEARCH DESIGN

  • Research design is a plan which specifies which type of information will be revealed to the research study.
  • The collection and analysis of the data requires the strategy to be specified which will be used for research study.
  • Research design has main emphasis on time period involved and financial outlay required. The research activity may suffer if these aspects of time and finance are developed as constraints.

Therefore research design has to have:

  1. Proper understanding of research problem
  2. Data collection procedure
  3. Population to be studied
  4. Data analysis method

FACTORS FOR APPROPRIATE RESEARCH DESIGN

 

The following factors are involved in appropriate research design

  • The methods for obtaining necessary information for the research study.
  • The ability and the skill of the researcher and his associates in conducting the research study.
  • The objectives of the research problems are required to be properly studied.
  • The nature of the research problems also requires due consideration.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD RESEARCH DESIGN

 

A good research design is often characterized by adjectives like Objectivity, Reliability, Validity and Generalization. Generally the design which minimizes bias and maximizes the reliability of the data collected and analyzed is considered a good design. The design which gives the smallest experimental error is supposed to be the best design in many investigations. Similarly, a design which yields maximum information and provides an opportunity for considering many different aspects of a problem is considered most appropriate and efficient design in respect of many research problems.

 

A research design appropriate for a particular research problem, usually involves the following factors:

  • The means of obtaining information.
  • The availability and skills of the researcher and his staff.
  • The objectives of the problem to be studied.
  • The nature of the problem to be studied.
  • The availability of time and money for the research work.

In short, a good research should ensure that:

  • The measuring instruments can yield objective, reliable and valid data,
  • The population is defined in unequivocal terms,
  • The requisite size of the sample is collected by using the technique of same selection,
  • The appropriate statistical analysis has been employed,
  • The findings of the present study can be generalized.

EVALUATION OF THE RESEARCH DESIGN

 

The fundamental questions in evaluating a research design pertain to the precision, reliability and relevance of the data and their analysis. Before actually carrying out research, it is better if the investigator revaluates his research design. This can be achieved if the investigator verifies the following aspects for their explicitness.

  • How precise are the observations?
  • Can other investigators repeat the observations?
  • How explicit are the hypotheses?
  • Have the problems and hypotheses been stated in operational terms scientifically?
  • Has the plan of research been presented in detail so that its logic is apparent?
  • Do the data actually satisfy the demands of the problem, i.e., do they actually demonstrate the conclusion?
  • Does the research design ensure a comparison that is not subject to the alternative interpretations?

ADVANTAGES OF RESEARCH DESIGN

 

The preparation of research design has the following advantages:

  • Saves a lot of researcher’s time;
  • Directs him to prepare himself for executing the various activities systematically;
  • Enables resource planning procurement in right time;
  • Better documentation of the activities while the project is in progress;
  • Ensures project time schedule;
  • Instills and builds up confidence in the student;
  • Provides satisfaction and sense from the beginning to the completion of every stage of the project.

CONCLUSION

 

Well students in this lesson we have discussed about the meaning, definition, essentiality , importance , concepts ,classification, kinds , steps involved in the preparation , features , characteristics and evaluation of research design which are the important points to be considered in formulation of any research design. All these steps are to be put on paper to avoid ambiguity at a later stage. An unplanned research work may entail a lot of fruitless labour and wastage of time, money and effort. The work in research design, thus, starts after the selection of the problem and ends before collection of data. The gap in between the two should be bridged carefully with a well-planned research design. Reliance on the results can be placed only when the research work has been carefully planned from the start to the finish

you can view video on Framing a Research Design/Process

Web links

  • https://www.nyu.edu/classes/bkg/methods/005847ch1.pdf
  • https://www.drjohnlatham.com/frameworks/research-methods-framework/
  • https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/12702_02_Fox_Ch_01.pdf
  • https://medium.com/digital-experience-design/how-to-properly-frame-your-design-challenge-36104910dfc8
  • https://epubs.scu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.co.in/&httpsred ir=1&article=1079&context=theses