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  • What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

Published on June 7, 2021 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023 by Pritha Bhandari.

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question  using empirical data. Creating a research design means making decisions about:

  • Your overall research objectives and approach
  • Whether you’ll rely on primary research or secondary research
  • Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
  • Your data collection methods
  • The procedures you’ll follow to collect data
  • Your data analysis methods

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research objectives and that you use the right kind of analysis for your data.

Table of contents

Step 1: consider your aims and approach, step 2: choose a type of research design, step 3: identify your population and sampling method, step 4: choose your data collection methods, step 5: plan your data collection procedures, step 6: decide on your data analysis strategies, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research design.

  • Introduction

Before you can start designing your research, you should already have a clear idea of the research question you want to investigate.

There are many different ways you could go about answering this question. Your research design choices should be driven by your aims and priorities—start by thinking carefully about what you want to achieve.

The first choice you need to make is whether you’ll take a qualitative or quantitative approach.

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible and inductive , allowing you to adjust your approach based on what you find throughout the research process.

Quantitative research designs tend to be more fixed and deductive , with variables and hypotheses clearly defined in advance of data collection.

It’s also possible to use a mixed-methods design that integrates aspects of both approaches. By combining qualitative and quantitative insights, you can gain a more complete picture of the problem you’re studying and strengthen the credibility of your conclusions.

Practical and ethical considerations when designing research

As well as scientific considerations, you need to think practically when designing your research. If your research involves people or animals, you also need to consider research ethics .

  • How much time do you have to collect data and write up the research?
  • Will you be able to gain access to the data you need (e.g., by travelling to a specific location or contacting specific people)?
  • Do you have the necessary research skills (e.g., statistical analysis or interview techniques)?
  • Will you need ethical approval ?

At each stage of the research design process, make sure that your choices are practically feasible.

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Within both qualitative and quantitative approaches, there are several types of research design to choose from. Each type provides a framework for the overall shape of your research.

Types of quantitative research designs

Quantitative designs can be split into four main types.

  • Experimental and   quasi-experimental designs allow you to test cause-and-effect relationships
  • Descriptive and correlational designs allow you to measure variables and describe relationships between them.

With descriptive and correlational designs, you can get a clear picture of characteristics, trends and relationships as they exist in the real world. However, you can’t draw conclusions about cause and effect (because correlation doesn’t imply causation ).

Experiments are the strongest way to test cause-and-effect relationships without the risk of other variables influencing the results. However, their controlled conditions may not always reflect how things work in the real world. They’re often also more difficult and expensive to implement.

Types of qualitative research designs

Qualitative designs are less strictly defined. This approach is about gaining a rich, detailed understanding of a specific context or phenomenon, and you can often be more creative and flexible in designing your research.

The table below shows some common types of qualitative design. They often have similar approaches in terms of data collection, but focus on different aspects when analyzing the data.

Your research design should clearly define who or what your research will focus on, and how you’ll go about choosing your participants or subjects.

In research, a population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about, while a sample is the smaller group of individuals you’ll actually collect data from.

Defining the population

A population can be made up of anything you want to study—plants, animals, organizations, texts, countries, etc. In the social sciences, it most often refers to a group of people.

For example, will you focus on people from a specific demographic, region or background? Are you interested in people with a certain job or medical condition, or users of a particular product?

The more precisely you define your population, the easier it will be to gather a representative sample.

  • Sampling methods

Even with a narrowly defined population, it’s rarely possible to collect data from every individual. Instead, you’ll collect data from a sample.

To select a sample, there are two main approaches: probability sampling and non-probability sampling . The sampling method you use affects how confidently you can generalize your results to the population as a whole.

Probability sampling is the most statistically valid option, but it’s often difficult to achieve unless you’re dealing with a very small and accessible population.

For practical reasons, many studies use non-probability sampling, but it’s important to be aware of the limitations and carefully consider potential biases. You should always make an effort to gather a sample that’s as representative as possible of the population.

Case selection in qualitative research

In some types of qualitative designs, sampling may not be relevant.

For example, in an ethnography or a case study , your aim is to deeply understand a specific context, not to generalize to a population. Instead of sampling, you may simply aim to collect as much data as possible about the context you are studying.

In these types of design, you still have to carefully consider your choice of case or community. You should have a clear rationale for why this particular case is suitable for answering your research question .

For example, you might choose a case study that reveals an unusual or neglected aspect of your research problem, or you might choose several very similar or very different cases in order to compare them.

Data collection methods are ways of directly measuring variables and gathering information. They allow you to gain first-hand knowledge and original insights into your research problem.

You can choose just one data collection method, or use several methods in the same study.

Survey methods

Surveys allow you to collect data about opinions, behaviors, experiences, and characteristics by asking people directly. There are two main survey methods to choose from: questionnaires and interviews .

Observation methods

Observational studies allow you to collect data unobtrusively, observing characteristics, behaviors or social interactions without relying on self-reporting.

Observations may be conducted in real time, taking notes as you observe, or you might make audiovisual recordings for later analysis. They can be qualitative or quantitative.

Other methods of data collection

There are many other ways you might collect data depending on your field and topic.

If you’re not sure which methods will work best for your research design, try reading some papers in your field to see what kinds of data collection methods they used.

Secondary data

If you don’t have the time or resources to collect data from the population you’re interested in, you can also choose to use secondary data that other researchers already collected—for example, datasets from government surveys or previous studies on your topic.

With this raw data, you can do your own analysis to answer new research questions that weren’t addressed by the original study.

Using secondary data can expand the scope of your research, as you may be able to access much larger and more varied samples than you could collect yourself.

However, it also means you don’t have any control over which variables to measure or how to measure them, so the conclusions you can draw may be limited.

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As well as deciding on your methods, you need to plan exactly how you’ll use these methods to collect data that’s consistent, accurate, and unbiased.

Planning systematic procedures is especially important in quantitative research, where you need to precisely define your variables and ensure your measurements are high in reliability and validity.

Operationalization

Some variables, like height or age, are easily measured. But often you’ll be dealing with more abstract concepts, like satisfaction, anxiety, or competence. Operationalization means turning these fuzzy ideas into measurable indicators.

If you’re using observations , which events or actions will you count?

If you’re using surveys , which questions will you ask and what range of responses will be offered?

You may also choose to use or adapt existing materials designed to measure the concept you’re interested in—for example, questionnaires or inventories whose reliability and validity has already been established.

Reliability and validity

Reliability means your results can be consistently reproduced, while validity means that you’re actually measuring the concept you’re interested in.

For valid and reliable results, your measurement materials should be thoroughly researched and carefully designed. Plan your procedures to make sure you carry out the same steps in the same way for each participant.

If you’re developing a new questionnaire or other instrument to measure a specific concept, running a pilot study allows you to check its validity and reliability in advance.

Sampling procedures

As well as choosing an appropriate sampling method , you need a concrete plan for how you’ll actually contact and recruit your selected sample.

That means making decisions about things like:

  • How many participants do you need for an adequate sample size?
  • What inclusion and exclusion criteria will you use to identify eligible participants?
  • How will you contact your sample—by mail, online, by phone, or in person?

If you’re using a probability sampling method , it’s important that everyone who is randomly selected actually participates in the study. How will you ensure a high response rate?

If you’re using a non-probability method , how will you avoid research bias and ensure a representative sample?

Data management

It’s also important to create a data management plan for organizing and storing your data.

Will you need to transcribe interviews or perform data entry for observations? You should anonymize and safeguard any sensitive data, and make sure it’s backed up regularly.

Keeping your data well-organized will save time when it comes to analyzing it. It can also help other researchers validate and add to your findings (high replicability ).

On its own, raw data can’t answer your research question. The last step of designing your research is planning how you’ll analyze the data.

Quantitative data analysis

In quantitative research, you’ll most likely use some form of statistical analysis . With statistics, you can summarize your sample data, make estimates, and test hypotheses.

Using descriptive statistics , you can summarize your sample data in terms of:

  • The distribution of the data (e.g., the frequency of each score on a test)
  • The central tendency of the data (e.g., the mean to describe the average score)
  • The variability of the data (e.g., the standard deviation to describe how spread out the scores are)

The specific calculations you can do depend on the level of measurement of your variables.

Using inferential statistics , you can:

  • Make estimates about the population based on your sample data.
  • Test hypotheses about a relationship between variables.

Regression and correlation tests look for associations between two or more variables, while comparison tests (such as t tests and ANOVAs ) look for differences in the outcomes of different groups.

Your choice of statistical test depends on various aspects of your research design, including the types of variables you’re dealing with and the distribution of your data.

Qualitative data analysis

In qualitative research, your data will usually be very dense with information and ideas. Instead of summing it up in numbers, you’ll need to comb through the data in detail, interpret its meanings, identify patterns, and extract the parts that are most relevant to your research question.

Two of the most common approaches to doing this are thematic analysis and discourse analysis .

There are many other ways of analyzing qualitative data depending on the aims of your research. To get a sense of potential approaches, try reading some qualitative research papers in your field.

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

  • Simple random sampling
  • Stratified sampling
  • Cluster sampling
  • Likert scales
  • Reproducibility

 Statistics

  • Null hypothesis
  • Statistical power
  • Probability distribution
  • Effect size
  • Poisson distribution

Research bias

  • Optimism bias
  • Cognitive bias
  • Implicit bias
  • Hawthorne effect
  • Anchoring bias
  • Explicit bias

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question . It defines your overall approach and determines how you will collect and analyze data.

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims, that you collect high-quality data, and that you use the right kind of analysis to answer your questions, utilizing credible sources . This allows you to draw valid , trustworthy conclusions.

Quantitative research designs can be divided into two main categories:

  • Correlational and descriptive designs are used to investigate characteristics, averages, trends, and associations between variables.
  • Experimental and quasi-experimental designs are used to test causal relationships .

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible. Common types of qualitative design include case study , ethnography , and grounded theory designs.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

  • Your research questions and/or hypotheses
  • Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
  • The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
  • Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
  • Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
  • Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests  or thematic analysis )

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

Operationalization means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.

For example, the concept of social anxiety isn’t directly observable, but it can be operationally defined in terms of self-rating scores, behavioral avoidance of crowded places, or physical anxiety symptoms in social situations.

Before collecting data , it’s important to consider how you will operationalize the variables that you want to measure.

A research project is an academic, scientific, or professional undertaking to answer a research question . Research projects can take many forms, such as qualitative or quantitative , descriptive , longitudinal , experimental , or correlational . What kind of research approach you choose will depend on your topic.

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  • Knowledge Base
  • Methodology

Research Design | Step-by-Step Guide with Examples

Published on 5 May 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on 20 March 2023.

A research design is a strategy for answering your research question  using empirical data. Creating a research design means making decisions about:

  • Your overall aims and approach
  • The type of research design you’ll use
  • Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
  • Your data collection methods
  • The procedures you’ll follow to collect data
  • Your data analysis methods

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims and that you use the right kind of analysis for your data.

Table of contents

Step 1: consider your aims and approach, step 2: choose a type of research design, step 3: identify your population and sampling method, step 4: choose your data collection methods, step 5: plan your data collection procedures, step 6: decide on your data analysis strategies, frequently asked questions.

  • Introduction

Before you can start designing your research, you should already have a clear idea of the research question you want to investigate.

There are many different ways you could go about answering this question. Your research design choices should be driven by your aims and priorities – start by thinking carefully about what you want to achieve.

The first choice you need to make is whether you’ll take a qualitative or quantitative approach.

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible and inductive , allowing you to adjust your approach based on what you find throughout the research process.

Quantitative research designs tend to be more fixed and deductive , with variables and hypotheses clearly defined in advance of data collection.

It’s also possible to use a mixed methods design that integrates aspects of both approaches. By combining qualitative and quantitative insights, you can gain a more complete picture of the problem you’re studying and strengthen the credibility of your conclusions.

Practical and ethical considerations when designing research

As well as scientific considerations, you need to think practically when designing your research. If your research involves people or animals, you also need to consider research ethics .

  • How much time do you have to collect data and write up the research?
  • Will you be able to gain access to the data you need (e.g., by travelling to a specific location or contacting specific people)?
  • Do you have the necessary research skills (e.g., statistical analysis or interview techniques)?
  • Will you need ethical approval ?

At each stage of the research design process, make sure that your choices are practically feasible.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

Within both qualitative and quantitative approaches, there are several types of research design to choose from. Each type provides a framework for the overall shape of your research.

Types of quantitative research designs

Quantitative designs can be split into four main types. Experimental and   quasi-experimental designs allow you to test cause-and-effect relationships, while descriptive and correlational designs allow you to measure variables and describe relationships between them.

With descriptive and correlational designs, you can get a clear picture of characteristics, trends, and relationships as they exist in the real world. However, you can’t draw conclusions about cause and effect (because correlation doesn’t imply causation ).

Experiments are the strongest way to test cause-and-effect relationships without the risk of other variables influencing the results. However, their controlled conditions may not always reflect how things work in the real world. They’re often also more difficult and expensive to implement.

Types of qualitative research designs

Qualitative designs are less strictly defined. This approach is about gaining a rich, detailed understanding of a specific context or phenomenon, and you can often be more creative and flexible in designing your research.

The table below shows some common types of qualitative design. They often have similar approaches in terms of data collection, but focus on different aspects when analysing the data.

Your research design should clearly define who or what your research will focus on, and how you’ll go about choosing your participants or subjects.

In research, a population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about, while a sample is the smaller group of individuals you’ll actually collect data from.

Defining the population

A population can be made up of anything you want to study – plants, animals, organisations, texts, countries, etc. In the social sciences, it most often refers to a group of people.

For example, will you focus on people from a specific demographic, region, or background? Are you interested in people with a certain job or medical condition, or users of a particular product?

The more precisely you define your population, the easier it will be to gather a representative sample.

Sampling methods

Even with a narrowly defined population, it’s rarely possible to collect data from every individual. Instead, you’ll collect data from a sample.

To select a sample, there are two main approaches: probability sampling and non-probability sampling . The sampling method you use affects how confidently you can generalise your results to the population as a whole.

Probability sampling is the most statistically valid option, but it’s often difficult to achieve unless you’re dealing with a very small and accessible population.

For practical reasons, many studies use non-probability sampling, but it’s important to be aware of the limitations and carefully consider potential biases. You should always make an effort to gather a sample that’s as representative as possible of the population.

Case selection in qualitative research

In some types of qualitative designs, sampling may not be relevant.

For example, in an ethnography or a case study, your aim is to deeply understand a specific context, not to generalise to a population. Instead of sampling, you may simply aim to collect as much data as possible about the context you are studying.

In these types of design, you still have to carefully consider your choice of case or community. You should have a clear rationale for why this particular case is suitable for answering your research question.

For example, you might choose a case study that reveals an unusual or neglected aspect of your research problem, or you might choose several very similar or very different cases in order to compare them.

Data collection methods are ways of directly measuring variables and gathering information. They allow you to gain first-hand knowledge and original insights into your research problem.

You can choose just one data collection method, or use several methods in the same study.

Survey methods

Surveys allow you to collect data about opinions, behaviours, experiences, and characteristics by asking people directly. There are two main survey methods to choose from: questionnaires and interviews.

Observation methods

Observations allow you to collect data unobtrusively, observing characteristics, behaviours, or social interactions without relying on self-reporting.

Observations may be conducted in real time, taking notes as you observe, or you might make audiovisual recordings for later analysis. They can be qualitative or quantitative.

Other methods of data collection

There are many other ways you might collect data depending on your field and topic.

If you’re not sure which methods will work best for your research design, try reading some papers in your field to see what data collection methods they used.

Secondary data

If you don’t have the time or resources to collect data from the population you’re interested in, you can also choose to use secondary data that other researchers already collected – for example, datasets from government surveys or previous studies on your topic.

With this raw data, you can do your own analysis to answer new research questions that weren’t addressed by the original study.

Using secondary data can expand the scope of your research, as you may be able to access much larger and more varied samples than you could collect yourself.

However, it also means you don’t have any control over which variables to measure or how to measure them, so the conclusions you can draw may be limited.

As well as deciding on your methods, you need to plan exactly how you’ll use these methods to collect data that’s consistent, accurate, and unbiased.

Planning systematic procedures is especially important in quantitative research, where you need to precisely define your variables and ensure your measurements are reliable and valid.

Operationalisation

Some variables, like height or age, are easily measured. But often you’ll be dealing with more abstract concepts, like satisfaction, anxiety, or competence. Operationalisation means turning these fuzzy ideas into measurable indicators.

If you’re using observations , which events or actions will you count?

If you’re using surveys , which questions will you ask and what range of responses will be offered?

You may also choose to use or adapt existing materials designed to measure the concept you’re interested in – for example, questionnaires or inventories whose reliability and validity has already been established.

Reliability and validity

Reliability means your results can be consistently reproduced , while validity means that you’re actually measuring the concept you’re interested in.

For valid and reliable results, your measurement materials should be thoroughly researched and carefully designed. Plan your procedures to make sure you carry out the same steps in the same way for each participant.

If you’re developing a new questionnaire or other instrument to measure a specific concept, running a pilot study allows you to check its validity and reliability in advance.

Sampling procedures

As well as choosing an appropriate sampling method, you need a concrete plan for how you’ll actually contact and recruit your selected sample.

That means making decisions about things like:

  • How many participants do you need for an adequate sample size?
  • What inclusion and exclusion criteria will you use to identify eligible participants?
  • How will you contact your sample – by mail, online, by phone, or in person?

If you’re using a probability sampling method, it’s important that everyone who is randomly selected actually participates in the study. How will you ensure a high response rate?

If you’re using a non-probability method, how will you avoid bias and ensure a representative sample?

Data management

It’s also important to create a data management plan for organising and storing your data.

Will you need to transcribe interviews or perform data entry for observations? You should anonymise and safeguard any sensitive data, and make sure it’s backed up regularly.

Keeping your data well organised will save time when it comes to analysing them. It can also help other researchers validate and add to your findings.

On their own, raw data can’t answer your research question. The last step of designing your research is planning how you’ll analyse the data.

Quantitative data analysis

In quantitative research, you’ll most likely use some form of statistical analysis . With statistics, you can summarise your sample data, make estimates, and test hypotheses.

Using descriptive statistics , you can summarise your sample data in terms of:

  • The distribution of the data (e.g., the frequency of each score on a test)
  • The central tendency of the data (e.g., the mean to describe the average score)
  • The variability of the data (e.g., the standard deviation to describe how spread out the scores are)

The specific calculations you can do depend on the level of measurement of your variables.

Using inferential statistics , you can:

  • Make estimates about the population based on your sample data.
  • Test hypotheses about a relationship between variables.

Regression and correlation tests look for associations between two or more variables, while comparison tests (such as t tests and ANOVAs ) look for differences in the outcomes of different groups.

Your choice of statistical test depends on various aspects of your research design, including the types of variables you’re dealing with and the distribution of your data.

Qualitative data analysis

In qualitative research, your data will usually be very dense with information and ideas. Instead of summing it up in numbers, you’ll need to comb through the data in detail, interpret its meanings, identify patterns, and extract the parts that are most relevant to your research question.

Two of the most common approaches to doing this are thematic analysis and discourse analysis .

There are many other ways of analysing qualitative data depending on the aims of your research. To get a sense of potential approaches, try reading some qualitative research papers in your field.

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population. Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research.

For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

Statistical sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population. There are various sampling methods you can use to ensure that your sample is representative of the population as a whole.

Operationalisation means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.

For example, the concept of social anxiety isn’t directly observable, but it can be operationally defined in terms of self-rating scores, behavioural avoidance of crowded places, or physical anxiety symptoms in social situations.

Before collecting data , it’s important to consider how you will operationalise the variables that you want to measure.

The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question .

  • If you want to measure something or test a hypothesis , use quantitative methods . If you want to explore ideas, thoughts, and meanings, use qualitative methods .
  • If you want to analyse a large amount of readily available data, use secondary data. If you want data specific to your purposes with control over how they are generated, collect primary data.
  • If you want to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables , use experimental methods. If you want to understand the characteristics of a research subject, use descriptive methods.

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

  • Types of Research Designs
  • Purpose of Guide
  • Design Flaws to Avoid
  • Independent and Dependent Variables
  • Glossary of Research Terms
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  • Narrowing a Topic Idea
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  • Academic Writing Style
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Introduction

Before beginning your paper, you need to decide how you plan to design the study .

The research design refers to the overall strategy and analytical approach that you have chosen in order to integrate, in a coherent and logical way, the different components of the study, thus ensuring that the research problem will be thoroughly investigated. It constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement, and interpretation of information and data. Note that the research problem determines the type of design you choose, not the other way around!

De Vaus, D. A. Research Design in Social Research . London: SAGE, 2001; Trochim, William M.K. Research Methods Knowledge Base. 2006.

General Structure and Writing Style

The function of a research design is to ensure that the evidence obtained enables you to effectively address the research problem logically and as unambiguously as possible . In social sciences research, obtaining information relevant to the research problem generally entails specifying the type of evidence needed to test the underlying assumptions of a theory, to evaluate a program, or to accurately describe and assess meaning related to an observable phenomenon.

With this in mind, a common mistake made by researchers is that they begin their investigations before they have thought critically about what information is required to address the research problem. Without attending to these design issues beforehand, the overall research problem will not be adequately addressed and any conclusions drawn will run the risk of being weak and unconvincing. As a consequence, the overall validity of the study will be undermined.

The length and complexity of describing the research design in your paper can vary considerably, but any well-developed description will achieve the following :

  • Identify the research problem clearly and justify its selection, particularly in relation to any valid alternative designs that could have been used,
  • Review and synthesize previously published literature associated with the research problem,
  • Clearly and explicitly specify hypotheses [i.e., research questions] central to the problem,
  • Effectively describe the information and/or data which will be necessary for an adequate testing of the hypotheses and explain how such information and/or data will be obtained, and
  • Describe the methods of analysis to be applied to the data in determining whether or not the hypotheses are true or false.

The research design is usually incorporated into the introduction of your paper . You can obtain an overall sense of what to do by reviewing studies that have utilized the same research design [e.g., using a case study approach]. This can help you develop an outline to follow for your own paper.

NOTE : Use the SAGE Research Methods Online and Cases and the SAGE Research Methods Videos databases to search for scholarly resources on how to apply specific research designs and methods . The Research Methods Online database contains links to more than 175,000 pages of SAGE publisher's book, journal, and reference content on quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research methodologies. Also included is a collection of case studies of social research projects that can be used to help you better understand abstract or complex methodological concepts. The Research Methods Videos database contains hours of tutorials, interviews, video case studies, and mini-documentaries covering the entire research process.

Creswell, John W. and J. David Creswell. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches . 5th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2018; De Vaus, D. A. Research Design in Social Research . London: SAGE, 2001; Gorard, Stephen. Research Design: Creating Robust Approaches for the Social Sciences . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2013; Leedy, Paul D. and Jeanne Ellis Ormrod. Practical Research: Planning and Design . Tenth edition. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2013; Vogt, W. Paul, Dianna C. Gardner, and Lynne M. Haeffele. When to Use What Research Design . New York: Guilford, 2012.

Action Research Design

Definition and Purpose

The essentials of action research design follow a characteristic cycle whereby initially an exploratory stance is adopted, where an understanding of a problem is developed and plans are made for some form of interventionary strategy. Then the intervention is carried out [the "action" in action research] during which time, pertinent observations are collected in various forms. The new interventional strategies are carried out, and this cyclic process repeats, continuing until a sufficient understanding of [or a valid implementation solution for] the problem is achieved. The protocol is iterative or cyclical in nature and is intended to foster deeper understanding of a given situation, starting with conceptualizing and particularizing the problem and moving through several interventions and evaluations.

What do these studies tell you ?

  • This is a collaborative and adaptive research design that lends itself to use in work or community situations.
  • Design focuses on pragmatic and solution-driven research outcomes rather than testing theories.
  • When practitioners use action research, it has the potential to increase the amount they learn consciously from their experience; the action research cycle can be regarded as a learning cycle.
  • Action research studies often have direct and obvious relevance to improving practice and advocating for change.
  • There are no hidden controls or preemption of direction by the researcher.

What these studies don't tell you ?

  • It is harder to do than conducting conventional research because the researcher takes on responsibilities of advocating for change as well as for researching the topic.
  • Action research is much harder to write up because it is less likely that you can use a standard format to report your findings effectively [i.e., data is often in the form of stories or observation].
  • Personal over-involvement of the researcher may bias research results.
  • The cyclic nature of action research to achieve its twin outcomes of action [e.g. change] and research [e.g. understanding] is time-consuming and complex to conduct.
  • Advocating for change usually requires buy-in from study participants.

Coghlan, David and Mary Brydon-Miller. The Sage Encyclopedia of Action Research . Thousand Oaks, CA:  Sage, 2014; Efron, Sara Efrat and Ruth Ravid. Action Research in Education: A Practical Guide . New York: Guilford, 2013; Gall, Meredith. Educational Research: An Introduction . Chapter 18, Action Research. 8th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2007; Gorard, Stephen. Research Design: Creating Robust Approaches for the Social Sciences . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2013; Kemmis, Stephen and Robin McTaggart. “Participatory Action Research.” In Handbook of Qualitative Research . Norman Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, eds. 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2000), pp. 567-605; McNiff, Jean. Writing and Doing Action Research . London: Sage, 2014; Reason, Peter and Hilary Bradbury. Handbook of Action Research: Participative Inquiry and Practice . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2001.

Case Study Design

A case study is an in-depth study of a particular research problem rather than a sweeping statistical survey or comprehensive comparative inquiry. It is often used to narrow down a very broad field of research into one or a few easily researchable examples. The case study research design is also useful for testing whether a specific theory and model actually applies to phenomena in the real world. It is a useful design when not much is known about an issue or phenomenon.

  • Approach excels at bringing us to an understanding of a complex issue through detailed contextual analysis of a limited number of events or conditions and their relationships.
  • A researcher using a case study design can apply a variety of methodologies and rely on a variety of sources to investigate a research problem.
  • Design can extend experience or add strength to what is already known through previous research.
  • Social scientists, in particular, make wide use of this research design to examine contemporary real-life situations and provide the basis for the application of concepts and theories and the extension of methodologies.
  • The design can provide detailed descriptions of specific and rare cases.
  • A single or small number of cases offers little basis for establishing reliability or to generalize the findings to a wider population of people, places, or things.
  • Intense exposure to the study of a case may bias a researcher's interpretation of the findings.
  • Design does not facilitate assessment of cause and effect relationships.
  • Vital information may be missing, making the case hard to interpret.
  • The case may not be representative or typical of the larger problem being investigated.
  • If the criteria for selecting a case is because it represents a very unusual or unique phenomenon or problem for study, then your interpretation of the findings can only apply to that particular case.

Case Studies. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Anastas, Jeane W. Research Design for Social Work and the Human Services . Chapter 4, Flexible Methods: Case Study Design. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999; Gerring, John. “What Is a Case Study and What Is It Good for?” American Political Science Review 98 (May 2004): 341-354; Greenhalgh, Trisha, editor. Case Study Evaluation: Past, Present and Future Challenges . Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing, 2015; Mills, Albert J. , Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010; Stake, Robert E. The Art of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 1995; Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research: Design and Theory . Applied Social Research Methods Series, no. 5. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2003.

Causal Design

Causality studies may be thought of as understanding a phenomenon in terms of conditional statements in the form, “If X, then Y.” This type of research is used to measure what impact a specific change will have on existing norms and assumptions. Most social scientists seek causal explanations that reflect tests of hypotheses. Causal effect (nomothetic perspective) occurs when variation in one phenomenon, an independent variable, leads to or results, on average, in variation in another phenomenon, the dependent variable.

Conditions necessary for determining causality:

  • Empirical association -- a valid conclusion is based on finding an association between the independent variable and the dependent variable.
  • Appropriate time order -- to conclude that causation was involved, one must see that cases were exposed to variation in the independent variable before variation in the dependent variable.
  • Nonspuriousness -- a relationship between two variables that is not due to variation in a third variable.
  • Causality research designs assist researchers in understanding why the world works the way it does through the process of proving a causal link between variables and by the process of eliminating other possibilities.
  • Replication is possible.
  • There is greater confidence the study has internal validity due to the systematic subject selection and equity of groups being compared.
  • Not all relationships are causal! The possibility always exists that, by sheer coincidence, two unrelated events appear to be related [e.g., Punxatawney Phil could accurately predict the duration of Winter for five consecutive years but, the fact remains, he's just a big, furry rodent].
  • Conclusions about causal relationships are difficult to determine due to a variety of extraneous and confounding variables that exist in a social environment. This means causality can only be inferred, never proven.
  • If two variables are correlated, the cause must come before the effect. However, even though two variables might be causally related, it can sometimes be difficult to determine which variable comes first and, therefore, to establish which variable is the actual cause and which is the  actual effect.

Beach, Derek and Rasmus Brun Pedersen. Causal Case Study Methods: Foundations and Guidelines for Comparing, Matching, and Tracing . Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2016; Bachman, Ronet. The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice . Chapter 5, Causation and Research Designs. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 2007; Brewer, Ernest W. and Jennifer Kubn. “Causal-Comparative Design.” In Encyclopedia of Research Design . Neil J. Salkind, editor. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2010), pp. 125-132; Causal Research Design: Experimentation. Anonymous SlideShare Presentation; Gall, Meredith. Educational Research: An Introduction . Chapter 11, Nonexperimental Research: Correlational Designs. 8th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2007; Trochim, William M.K. Research Methods Knowledge Base. 2006.

Cohort Design

Often used in the medical sciences, but also found in the applied social sciences, a cohort study generally refers to a study conducted over a period of time involving members of a population which the subject or representative member comes from, and who are united by some commonality or similarity. Using a quantitative framework, a cohort study makes note of statistical occurrence within a specialized subgroup, united by same or similar characteristics that are relevant to the research problem being investigated, rather than studying statistical occurrence within the general population. Using a qualitative framework, cohort studies generally gather data using methods of observation. Cohorts can be either "open" or "closed."

  • Open Cohort Studies [dynamic populations, such as the population of Los Angeles] involve a population that is defined just by the state of being a part of the study in question (and being monitored for the outcome). Date of entry and exit from the study is individually defined, therefore, the size of the study population is not constant. In open cohort studies, researchers can only calculate rate based data, such as, incidence rates and variants thereof.
  • Closed Cohort Studies [static populations, such as patients entered into a clinical trial] involve participants who enter into the study at one defining point in time and where it is presumed that no new participants can enter the cohort. Given this, the number of study participants remains constant (or can only decrease).
  • The use of cohorts is often mandatory because a randomized control study may be unethical. For example, you cannot deliberately expose people to asbestos, you can only study its effects on those who have already been exposed. Research that measures risk factors often relies upon cohort designs.
  • Because cohort studies measure potential causes before the outcome has occurred, they can demonstrate that these “causes” preceded the outcome, thereby avoiding the debate as to which is the cause and which is the effect.
  • Cohort analysis is highly flexible and can provide insight into effects over time and related to a variety of different types of changes [e.g., social, cultural, political, economic, etc.].
  • Either original data or secondary data can be used in this design.
  • In cases where a comparative analysis of two cohorts is made [e.g., studying the effects of one group exposed to asbestos and one that has not], a researcher cannot control for all other factors that might differ between the two groups. These factors are known as confounding variables.
  • Cohort studies can end up taking a long time to complete if the researcher must wait for the conditions of interest to develop within the group. This also increases the chance that key variables change during the course of the study, potentially impacting the validity of the findings.
  • Due to the lack of randominization in the cohort design, its external validity is lower than that of study designs where the researcher randomly assigns participants.

Healy P, Devane D. “Methodological Considerations in Cohort Study Designs.” Nurse Researcher 18 (2011): 32-36; Glenn, Norval D, editor. Cohort Analysis . 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005; Levin, Kate Ann. Study Design IV: Cohort Studies. Evidence-Based Dentistry 7 (2003): 51–52; Payne, Geoff. “Cohort Study.” In The SAGE Dictionary of Social Research Methods . Victor Jupp, editor. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006), pp. 31-33; Study Design 101. Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library. George Washington University, November 2011; Cohort Study. Wikipedia.

Cross-Sectional Design

Cross-sectional research designs have three distinctive features: no time dimension; a reliance on existing differences rather than change following intervention; and, groups are selected based on existing differences rather than random allocation. The cross-sectional design can only measure differences between or from among a variety of people, subjects, or phenomena rather than a process of change. As such, researchers using this design can only employ a relatively passive approach to making causal inferences based on findings.

  • Cross-sectional studies provide a clear 'snapshot' of the outcome and the characteristics associated with it, at a specific point in time.
  • Unlike an experimental design, where there is an active intervention by the researcher to produce and measure change or to create differences, cross-sectional designs focus on studying and drawing inferences from existing differences between people, subjects, or phenomena.
  • Entails collecting data at and concerning one point in time. While longitudinal studies involve taking multiple measures over an extended period of time, cross-sectional research is focused on finding relationships between variables at one moment in time.
  • Groups identified for study are purposely selected based upon existing differences in the sample rather than seeking random sampling.
  • Cross-section studies are capable of using data from a large number of subjects and, unlike observational studies, is not geographically bound.
  • Can estimate prevalence of an outcome of interest because the sample is usually taken from the whole population.
  • Because cross-sectional designs generally use survey techniques to gather data, they are relatively inexpensive and take up little time to conduct.
  • Finding people, subjects, or phenomena to study that are very similar except in one specific variable can be difficult.
  • Results are static and time bound and, therefore, give no indication of a sequence of events or reveal historical or temporal contexts.
  • Studies cannot be utilized to establish cause and effect relationships.
  • This design only provides a snapshot of analysis so there is always the possibility that a study could have differing results if another time-frame had been chosen.
  • There is no follow up to the findings.

Bethlehem, Jelke. "7: Cross-sectional Research." In Research Methodology in the Social, Behavioural and Life Sciences . Herman J Adèr and Gideon J Mellenbergh, editors. (London, England: Sage, 1999), pp. 110-43; Bourque, Linda B. “Cross-Sectional Design.” In  The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods . Michael S. Lewis-Beck, Alan Bryman, and Tim Futing Liao. (Thousand Oaks, CA: 2004), pp. 230-231; Hall, John. “Cross-Sectional Survey Design.” In Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods . Paul J. Lavrakas, ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2008), pp. 173-174; Helen Barratt, Maria Kirwan. Cross-Sectional Studies: Design Application, Strengths and Weaknesses of Cross-Sectional Studies. Healthknowledge, 2009. Cross-Sectional Study. Wikipedia.

Descriptive Design

Descriptive research designs help provide answers to the questions of who, what, when, where, and how associated with a particular research problem; a descriptive study cannot conclusively ascertain answers to why. Descriptive research is used to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena and to describe "what exists" with respect to variables or conditions in a situation.

  • The subject is being observed in a completely natural and unchanged natural environment. True experiments, whilst giving analyzable data, often adversely influence the normal behavior of the subject [a.k.a., the Heisenberg effect whereby measurements of certain systems cannot be made without affecting the systems].
  • Descriptive research is often used as a pre-cursor to more quantitative research designs with the general overview giving some valuable pointers as to what variables are worth testing quantitatively.
  • If the limitations are understood, they can be a useful tool in developing a more focused study.
  • Descriptive studies can yield rich data that lead to important recommendations in practice.
  • Appoach collects a large amount of data for detailed analysis.
  • The results from a descriptive research cannot be used to discover a definitive answer or to disprove a hypothesis.
  • Because descriptive designs often utilize observational methods [as opposed to quantitative methods], the results cannot be replicated.
  • The descriptive function of research is heavily dependent on instrumentation for measurement and observation.

Anastas, Jeane W. Research Design for Social Work and the Human Services . Chapter 5, Flexible Methods: Descriptive Research. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999; Given, Lisa M. "Descriptive Research." In Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics . Neil J. Salkind and Kristin Rasmussen, editors. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2007), pp. 251-254; McNabb, Connie. Descriptive Research Methodologies. Powerpoint Presentation; Shuttleworth, Martyn. Descriptive Research Design, September 26, 2008; Erickson, G. Scott. "Descriptive Research Design." In New Methods of Market Research and Analysis . (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017), pp. 51-77; Sahin, Sagufta, and Jayanta Mete. "A Brief Study on Descriptive Research: Its Nature and Application in Social Science." International Journal of Research and Analysis in Humanities 1 (2021): 11; K. Swatzell and P. Jennings. “Descriptive Research: The Nuts and Bolts.” Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants 20 (2007), pp. 55-56; Kane, E. Doing Your Own Research: Basic Descriptive Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities . London: Marion Boyars, 1985.

Experimental Design

A blueprint of the procedure that enables the researcher to maintain control over all factors that may affect the result of an experiment. In doing this, the researcher attempts to determine or predict what may occur. Experimental research is often used where there is time priority in a causal relationship (cause precedes effect), there is consistency in a causal relationship (a cause will always lead to the same effect), and the magnitude of the correlation is great. The classic experimental design specifies an experimental group and a control group. The independent variable is administered to the experimental group and not to the control group, and both groups are measured on the same dependent variable. Subsequent experimental designs have used more groups and more measurements over longer periods. True experiments must have control, randomization, and manipulation.

  • Experimental research allows the researcher to control the situation. In so doing, it allows researchers to answer the question, “What causes something to occur?”
  • Permits the researcher to identify cause and effect relationships between variables and to distinguish placebo effects from treatment effects.
  • Experimental research designs support the ability to limit alternative explanations and to infer direct causal relationships in the study.
  • Approach provides the highest level of evidence for single studies.
  • The design is artificial, and results may not generalize well to the real world.
  • The artificial settings of experiments may alter the behaviors or responses of participants.
  • Experimental designs can be costly if special equipment or facilities are needed.
  • Some research problems cannot be studied using an experiment because of ethical or technical reasons.
  • Difficult to apply ethnographic and other qualitative methods to experimentally designed studies.

Anastas, Jeane W. Research Design for Social Work and the Human Services . Chapter 7, Flexible Methods: Experimental Research. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999; Chapter 2: Research Design, Experimental Designs. School of Psychology, University of New England, 2000; Chow, Siu L. "Experimental Design." In Encyclopedia of Research Design . Neil J. Salkind, editor. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2010), pp. 448-453; "Experimental Design." In Social Research Methods . Nicholas Walliman, editor. (London, England: Sage, 2006), pp, 101-110; Experimental Research. Research Methods by Dummies. Department of Psychology. California State University, Fresno, 2006; Kirk, Roger E. Experimental Design: Procedures for the Behavioral Sciences . 4th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2013; Trochim, William M.K. Experimental Design. Research Methods Knowledge Base. 2006; Rasool, Shafqat. Experimental Research. Slideshare presentation.

Exploratory Design

An exploratory design is conducted about a research problem when there are few or no earlier studies to refer to or rely upon to predict an outcome . The focus is on gaining insights and familiarity for later investigation or undertaken when research problems are in a preliminary stage of investigation. Exploratory designs are often used to establish an understanding of how best to proceed in studying an issue or what methodology would effectively apply to gathering information about the issue.

The goals of exploratory research are intended to produce the following possible insights:

  • Familiarity with basic details, settings, and concerns.
  • Well grounded picture of the situation being developed.
  • Generation of new ideas and assumptions.
  • Development of tentative theories or hypotheses.
  • Determination about whether a study is feasible in the future.
  • Issues get refined for more systematic investigation and formulation of new research questions.
  • Direction for future research and techniques get developed.
  • Design is a useful approach for gaining background information on a particular topic.
  • Exploratory research is flexible and can address research questions of all types (what, why, how).
  • Provides an opportunity to define new terms and clarify existing concepts.
  • Exploratory research is often used to generate formal hypotheses and develop more precise research problems.
  • In the policy arena or applied to practice, exploratory studies help establish research priorities and where resources should be allocated.
  • Exploratory research generally utilizes small sample sizes and, thus, findings are typically not generalizable to the population at large.
  • The exploratory nature of the research inhibits an ability to make definitive conclusions about the findings. They provide insight but not definitive conclusions.
  • The research process underpinning exploratory studies is flexible but often unstructured, leading to only tentative results that have limited value to decision-makers.
  • Design lacks rigorous standards applied to methods of data gathering and analysis because one of the areas for exploration could be to determine what method or methodologies could best fit the research problem.

Cuthill, Michael. “Exploratory Research: Citizen Participation, Local Government, and Sustainable Development in Australia.” Sustainable Development 10 (2002): 79-89; Streb, Christoph K. "Exploratory Case Study." In Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Albert J. Mills, Gabrielle Durepos and Eiden Wiebe, editors. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2010), pp. 372-374; Taylor, P. J., G. Catalano, and D.R.F. Walker. “Exploratory Analysis of the World City Network.” Urban Studies 39 (December 2002): 2377-2394; Exploratory Research. Wikipedia.

Field Research Design

Sometimes referred to as ethnography or participant observation, designs around field research encompass a variety of interpretative procedures [e.g., observation and interviews] rooted in qualitative approaches to studying people individually or in groups while inhabiting their natural environment as opposed to using survey instruments or other forms of impersonal methods of data gathering. Information acquired from observational research takes the form of “ field notes ” that involves documenting what the researcher actually sees and hears while in the field. Findings do not consist of conclusive statements derived from numbers and statistics because field research involves analysis of words and observations of behavior. Conclusions, therefore, are developed from an interpretation of findings that reveal overriding themes, concepts, and ideas. More information can be found HERE .

  • Field research is often necessary to fill gaps in understanding the research problem applied to local conditions or to specific groups of people that cannot be ascertained from existing data.
  • The research helps contextualize already known information about a research problem, thereby facilitating ways to assess the origins, scope, and scale of a problem and to gage the causes, consequences, and means to resolve an issue based on deliberate interaction with people in their natural inhabited spaces.
  • Enables the researcher to corroborate or confirm data by gathering additional information that supports or refutes findings reported in prior studies of the topic.
  • Because the researcher in embedded in the field, they are better able to make observations or ask questions that reflect the specific cultural context of the setting being investigated.
  • Observing the local reality offers the opportunity to gain new perspectives or obtain unique data that challenges existing theoretical propositions or long-standing assumptions found in the literature.

What these studies don't tell you

  • A field research study requires extensive time and resources to carry out the multiple steps involved with preparing for the gathering of information, including for example, examining background information about the study site, obtaining permission to access the study site, and building trust and rapport with subjects.
  • Requires a commitment to staying engaged in the field to ensure that you can adequately document events and behaviors as they unfold.
  • The unpredictable nature of fieldwork means that researchers can never fully control the process of data gathering. They must maintain a flexible approach to studying the setting because events and circumstances can change quickly or unexpectedly.
  • Findings can be difficult to interpret and verify without access to documents and other source materials that help to enhance the credibility of information obtained from the field  [i.e., the act of triangulating the data].
  • Linking the research problem to the selection of study participants inhabiting their natural environment is critical. However, this specificity limits the ability to generalize findings to different situations or in other contexts or to infer courses of action applied to other settings or groups of people.
  • The reporting of findings must take into account how the researcher themselves may have inadvertently affected respondents and their behaviors.

Historical Design

The purpose of a historical research design is to collect, verify, and synthesize evidence from the past to establish facts that defend or refute a hypothesis. It uses secondary sources and a variety of primary documentary evidence, such as, diaries, official records, reports, archives, and non-textual information [maps, pictures, audio and visual recordings]. The limitation is that the sources must be both authentic and valid.

  • The historical research design is unobtrusive; the act of research does not affect the results of the study.
  • The historical approach is well suited for trend analysis.
  • Historical records can add important contextual background required to more fully understand and interpret a research problem.
  • There is often no possibility of researcher-subject interaction that could affect the findings.
  • Historical sources can be used over and over to study different research problems or to replicate a previous study.
  • The ability to fulfill the aims of your research are directly related to the amount and quality of documentation available to understand the research problem.
  • Since historical research relies on data from the past, there is no way to manipulate it to control for contemporary contexts.
  • Interpreting historical sources can be very time consuming.
  • The sources of historical materials must be archived consistently to ensure access. This may especially challenging for digital or online-only sources.
  • Original authors bring their own perspectives and biases to the interpretation of past events and these biases are more difficult to ascertain in historical resources.
  • Due to the lack of control over external variables, historical research is very weak with regard to the demands of internal validity.
  • It is rare that the entirety of historical documentation needed to fully address a research problem is available for interpretation, therefore, gaps need to be acknowledged.

Howell, Martha C. and Walter Prevenier. From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001; Lundy, Karen Saucier. "Historical Research." In The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods . Lisa M. Given, editor. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2008), pp. 396-400; Marius, Richard. and Melvin E. Page. A Short Guide to Writing about History . 9th edition. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2015; Savitt, Ronald. “Historical Research in Marketing.” Journal of Marketing 44 (Autumn, 1980): 52-58;  Gall, Meredith. Educational Research: An Introduction . Chapter 16, Historical Research. 8th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2007.

Longitudinal Design

A longitudinal study follows the same sample over time and makes repeated observations. For example, with longitudinal surveys, the same group of people is interviewed at regular intervals, enabling researchers to track changes over time and to relate them to variables that might explain why the changes occur. Longitudinal research designs describe patterns of change and help establish the direction and magnitude of causal relationships. Measurements are taken on each variable over two or more distinct time periods. This allows the researcher to measure change in variables over time. It is a type of observational study sometimes referred to as a panel study.

  • Longitudinal data facilitate the analysis of the duration of a particular phenomenon.
  • Enables survey researchers to get close to the kinds of causal explanations usually attainable only with experiments.
  • The design permits the measurement of differences or change in a variable from one period to another [i.e., the description of patterns of change over time].
  • Longitudinal studies facilitate the prediction of future outcomes based upon earlier factors.
  • The data collection method may change over time.
  • Maintaining the integrity of the original sample can be difficult over an extended period of time.
  • It can be difficult to show more than one variable at a time.
  • This design often needs qualitative research data to explain fluctuations in the results.
  • A longitudinal research design assumes present trends will continue unchanged.
  • It can take a long period of time to gather results.
  • There is a need to have a large sample size and accurate sampling to reach representativness.

Anastas, Jeane W. Research Design for Social Work and the Human Services . Chapter 6, Flexible Methods: Relational and Longitudinal Research. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999; Forgues, Bernard, and Isabelle Vandangeon-Derumez. "Longitudinal Analyses." In Doing Management Research . Raymond-Alain Thiétart and Samantha Wauchope, editors. (London, England: Sage, 2001), pp. 332-351; Kalaian, Sema A. and Rafa M. Kasim. "Longitudinal Studies." In Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods . Paul J. Lavrakas, ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2008), pp. 440-441; Menard, Scott, editor. Longitudinal Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002; Ployhart, Robert E. and Robert J. Vandenberg. "Longitudinal Research: The Theory, Design, and Analysis of Change.” Journal of Management 36 (January 2010): 94-120; Longitudinal Study. Wikipedia.

Meta-Analysis Design

Meta-analysis is an analytical methodology designed to systematically evaluate and summarize the results from a number of individual studies, thereby, increasing the overall sample size and the ability of the researcher to study effects of interest. The purpose is to not simply summarize existing knowledge, but to develop a new understanding of a research problem using synoptic reasoning. The main objectives of meta-analysis include analyzing differences in the results among studies and increasing the precision by which effects are estimated. A well-designed meta-analysis depends upon strict adherence to the criteria used for selecting studies and the availability of information in each study to properly analyze their findings. Lack of information can severely limit the type of analyzes and conclusions that can be reached. In addition, the more dissimilarity there is in the results among individual studies [heterogeneity], the more difficult it is to justify interpretations that govern a valid synopsis of results. A meta-analysis needs to fulfill the following requirements to ensure the validity of your findings:

  • Clearly defined description of objectives, including precise definitions of the variables and outcomes that are being evaluated;
  • A well-reasoned and well-documented justification for identification and selection of the studies;
  • Assessment and explicit acknowledgment of any researcher bias in the identification and selection of those studies;
  • Description and evaluation of the degree of heterogeneity among the sample size of studies reviewed; and,
  • Justification of the techniques used to evaluate the studies.
  • Can be an effective strategy for determining gaps in the literature.
  • Provides a means of reviewing research published about a particular topic over an extended period of time and from a variety of sources.
  • Is useful in clarifying what policy or programmatic actions can be justified on the basis of analyzing research results from multiple studies.
  • Provides a method for overcoming small sample sizes in individual studies that previously may have had little relationship to each other.
  • Can be used to generate new hypotheses or highlight research problems for future studies.
  • Small violations in defining the criteria used for content analysis can lead to difficult to interpret and/or meaningless findings.
  • A large sample size can yield reliable, but not necessarily valid, results.
  • A lack of uniformity regarding, for example, the type of literature reviewed, how methods are applied, and how findings are measured within the sample of studies you are analyzing, can make the process of synthesis difficult to perform.
  • Depending on the sample size, the process of reviewing and synthesizing multiple studies can be very time consuming.

Beck, Lewis W. "The Synoptic Method." The Journal of Philosophy 36 (1939): 337-345; Cooper, Harris, Larry V. Hedges, and Jeffrey C. Valentine, eds. The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis . 2nd edition. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2009; Guzzo, Richard A., Susan E. Jackson and Raymond A. Katzell. “Meta-Analysis Analysis.” In Research in Organizational Behavior , Volume 9. (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1987), pp 407-442; Lipsey, Mark W. and David B. Wilson. Practical Meta-Analysis . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2001; Study Design 101. Meta-Analysis. The Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library, George Washington University; Timulak, Ladislav. “Qualitative Meta-Analysis.” In The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis . Uwe Flick, editor. (Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2013), pp. 481-495; Walker, Esteban, Adrian V. Hernandez, and Micheal W. Kattan. "Meta-Analysis: It's Strengths and Limitations." Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine 75 (June 2008): 431-439.

Mixed-Method Design

  • Narrative and non-textual information can add meaning to numeric data, while numeric data can add precision to narrative and non-textual information.
  • Can utilize existing data while at the same time generating and testing a grounded theory approach to describe and explain the phenomenon under study.
  • A broader, more complex research problem can be investigated because the researcher is not constrained by using only one method.
  • The strengths of one method can be used to overcome the inherent weaknesses of another method.
  • Can provide stronger, more robust evidence to support a conclusion or set of recommendations.
  • May generate new knowledge new insights or uncover hidden insights, patterns, or relationships that a single methodological approach might not reveal.
  • Produces more complete knowledge and understanding of the research problem that can be used to increase the generalizability of findings applied to theory or practice.
  • A researcher must be proficient in understanding how to apply multiple methods to investigating a research problem as well as be proficient in optimizing how to design a study that coherently melds them together.
  • Can increase the likelihood of conflicting results or ambiguous findings that inhibit drawing a valid conclusion or setting forth a recommended course of action [e.g., sample interview responses do not support existing statistical data].
  • Because the research design can be very complex, reporting the findings requires a well-organized narrative, clear writing style, and precise word choice.
  • Design invites collaboration among experts. However, merging different investigative approaches and writing styles requires more attention to the overall research process than studies conducted using only one methodological paradigm.
  • Concurrent merging of quantitative and qualitative research requires greater attention to having adequate sample sizes, using comparable samples, and applying a consistent unit of analysis. For sequential designs where one phase of qualitative research builds on the quantitative phase or vice versa, decisions about what results from the first phase to use in the next phase, the choice of samples and estimating reasonable sample sizes for both phases, and the interpretation of results from both phases can be difficult.
  • Due to multiple forms of data being collected and analyzed, this design requires extensive time and resources to carry out the multiple steps involved in data gathering and interpretation.

Burch, Patricia and Carolyn J. Heinrich. Mixed Methods for Policy Research and Program Evaluation . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2016; Creswell, John w. et al. Best Practices for Mixed Methods Research in the Health Sciences . Bethesda, MD: Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, National Institutes of Health, 2010Creswell, John W. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches . 4th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2014; Domínguez, Silvia, editor. Mixed Methods Social Networks Research . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014; Hesse-Biber, Sharlene Nagy. Mixed Methods Research: Merging Theory with Practice . New York: Guilford Press, 2010; Niglas, Katrin. “How the Novice Researcher Can Make Sense of Mixed Methods Designs.” International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches 3 (2009): 34-46; Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Nancy L. Leech. “Linking Research Questions to Mixed Methods Data Analysis Procedures.” The Qualitative Report 11 (September 2006): 474-498; Tashakorri, Abbas and John W. Creswell. “The New Era of Mixed Methods.” Journal of Mixed Methods Research 1 (January 2007): 3-7; Zhanga, Wanqing. “Mixed Methods Application in Health Intervention Research: A Multiple Case Study.” International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches 8 (2014): 24-35 .

Observational Design

This type of research design draws a conclusion by comparing subjects against a control group, in cases where the researcher has no control over the experiment. There are two general types of observational designs. In direct observations, people know that you are watching them. Unobtrusive measures involve any method for studying behavior where individuals do not know they are being observed. An observational study allows a useful insight into a phenomenon and avoids the ethical and practical difficulties of setting up a large and cumbersome research project.

  • Observational studies are usually flexible and do not necessarily need to be structured around a hypothesis about what you expect to observe [data is emergent rather than pre-existing].
  • The researcher is able to collect in-depth information about a particular behavior.
  • Can reveal interrelationships among multifaceted dimensions of group interactions.
  • You can generalize your results to real life situations.
  • Observational research is useful for discovering what variables may be important before applying other methods like experiments.
  • Observation research designs account for the complexity of group behaviors.
  • Reliability of data is low because seeing behaviors occur over and over again may be a time consuming task and are difficult to replicate.
  • In observational research, findings may only reflect a unique sample population and, thus, cannot be generalized to other groups.
  • There can be problems with bias as the researcher may only "see what they want to see."
  • There is no possibility to determine "cause and effect" relationships since nothing is manipulated.
  • Sources or subjects may not all be equally credible.
  • Any group that is knowingly studied is altered to some degree by the presence of the researcher, therefore, potentially skewing any data collected.

Atkinson, Paul and Martyn Hammersley. “Ethnography and Participant Observation.” In Handbook of Qualitative Research . Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, eds. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994), pp. 248-261; Observational Research. Research Methods by Dummies. Department of Psychology. California State University, Fresno, 2006; Patton Michael Quinn. Qualitiative Research and Evaluation Methods . Chapter 6, Fieldwork Strategies and Observational Methods. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002; Payne, Geoff and Judy Payne. "Observation." In Key Concepts in Social Research . The SAGE Key Concepts series. (London, England: Sage, 2004), pp. 158-162; Rosenbaum, Paul R. Design of Observational Studies . New York: Springer, 2010;Williams, J. Patrick. "Nonparticipant Observation." In The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods . Lisa M. Given, editor.(Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2008), pp. 562-563.

Philosophical Design

Understood more as an broad approach to examining a research problem than a methodological design, philosophical analysis and argumentation is intended to challenge deeply embedded, often intractable, assumptions underpinning an area of study. This approach uses the tools of argumentation derived from philosophical traditions, concepts, models, and theories to critically explore and challenge, for example, the relevance of logic and evidence in academic debates, to analyze arguments about fundamental issues, or to discuss the root of existing discourse about a research problem. These overarching tools of analysis can be framed in three ways:

  • Ontology -- the study that describes the nature of reality; for example, what is real and what is not, what is fundamental and what is derivative?
  • Epistemology -- the study that explores the nature of knowledge; for example, by what means does knowledge and understanding depend upon and how can we be certain of what we know?
  • Axiology -- the study of values; for example, what values does an individual or group hold and why? How are values related to interest, desire, will, experience, and means-to-end? And, what is the difference between a matter of fact and a matter of value?
  • Can provide a basis for applying ethical decision-making to practice.
  • Functions as a means of gaining greater self-understanding and self-knowledge about the purposes of research.
  • Brings clarity to general guiding practices and principles of an individual or group.
  • Philosophy informs methodology.
  • Refine concepts and theories that are invoked in relatively unreflective modes of thought and discourse.
  • Beyond methodology, philosophy also informs critical thinking about epistemology and the structure of reality (metaphysics).
  • Offers clarity and definition to the practical and theoretical uses of terms, concepts, and ideas.
  • Limited application to specific research problems [answering the "So What?" question in social science research].
  • Analysis can be abstract, argumentative, and limited in its practical application to real-life issues.
  • While a philosophical analysis may render problematic that which was once simple or taken-for-granted, the writing can be dense and subject to unnecessary jargon, overstatement, and/or excessive quotation and documentation.
  • There are limitations in the use of metaphor as a vehicle of philosophical analysis.
  • There can be analytical difficulties in moving from philosophy to advocacy and between abstract thought and application to the phenomenal world.

Burton, Dawn. "Part I, Philosophy of the Social Sciences." In Research Training for Social Scientists . (London, England: Sage, 2000), pp. 1-5; Chapter 4, Research Methodology and Design. Unisa Institutional Repository (UnisaIR), University of South Africa; Jarvie, Ian C., and Jesús Zamora-Bonilla, editors. The SAGE Handbook of the Philosophy of Social Sciences . London: Sage, 2011; Labaree, Robert V. and Ross Scimeca. “The Philosophical Problem of Truth in Librarianship.” The Library Quarterly 78 (January 2008): 43-70; Maykut, Pamela S. Beginning Qualitative Research: A Philosophic and Practical Guide . Washington, DC: Falmer Press, 1994; McLaughlin, Hugh. "The Philosophy of Social Research." In Understanding Social Work Research . 2nd edition. (London: SAGE Publications Ltd., 2012), pp. 24-47; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Metaphysics Research Lab, CSLI, Stanford University, 2013.

Sequential Design

  • The researcher has a limitless option when it comes to sample size and the sampling schedule.
  • Due to the repetitive nature of this research design, minor changes and adjustments can be done during the initial parts of the study to correct and hone the research method.
  • This is a useful design for exploratory studies.
  • There is very little effort on the part of the researcher when performing this technique. It is generally not expensive, time consuming, or workforce intensive.
  • Because the study is conducted serially, the results of one sample are known before the next sample is taken and analyzed. This provides opportunities for continuous improvement of sampling and methods of analysis.
  • The sampling method is not representative of the entire population. The only possibility of approaching representativeness is when the researcher chooses to use a very large sample size significant enough to represent a significant portion of the entire population. In this case, moving on to study a second or more specific sample can be difficult.
  • The design cannot be used to create conclusions and interpretations that pertain to an entire population because the sampling technique is not randomized. Generalizability from findings is, therefore, limited.
  • Difficult to account for and interpret variation from one sample to another over time, particularly when using qualitative methods of data collection.

Betensky, Rebecca. Harvard University, Course Lecture Note slides; Bovaird, James A. and Kevin A. Kupzyk. "Sequential Design." In Encyclopedia of Research Design . Neil J. Salkind, editor. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2010), pp. 1347-1352; Cresswell, John W. Et al. “Advanced Mixed-Methods Research Designs.” In Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social and Behavioral Research . Abbas Tashakkori and Charles Teddle, eds. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2003), pp. 209-240; Henry, Gary T. "Sequential Sampling." In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods . Michael S. Lewis-Beck, Alan Bryman and Tim Futing Liao, editors. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004), pp. 1027-1028; Nataliya V. Ivankova. “Using Mixed-Methods Sequential Explanatory Design: From Theory to Practice.” Field Methods 18 (February 2006): 3-20; Bovaird, James A. and Kevin A. Kupzyk. “Sequential Design.” In Encyclopedia of Research Design . Neil J. Salkind, ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2010; Sequential Analysis. Wikipedia.

Systematic Review

  • A systematic review synthesizes the findings of multiple studies related to each other by incorporating strategies of analysis and interpretation intended to reduce biases and random errors.
  • The application of critical exploration, evaluation, and synthesis methods separates insignificant, unsound, or redundant research from the most salient and relevant studies worthy of reflection.
  • They can be use to identify, justify, and refine hypotheses, recognize and avoid hidden problems in prior studies, and explain data inconsistencies and conflicts in data.
  • Systematic reviews can be used to help policy makers formulate evidence-based guidelines and regulations.
  • The use of strict, explicit, and pre-determined methods of synthesis, when applied appropriately, provide reliable estimates about the effects of interventions, evaluations, and effects related to the overarching research problem investigated by each study under review.
  • Systematic reviews illuminate where knowledge or thorough understanding of a research problem is lacking and, therefore, can then be used to guide future research.
  • The accepted inclusion of unpublished studies [i.e., grey literature] ensures the broadest possible way to analyze and interpret research on a topic.
  • Results of the synthesis can be generalized and the findings extrapolated into the general population with more validity than most other types of studies .
  • Systematic reviews do not create new knowledge per se; they are a method for synthesizing existing studies about a research problem in order to gain new insights and determine gaps in the literature.
  • The way researchers have carried out their investigations [e.g., the period of time covered, number of participants, sources of data analyzed, etc.] can make it difficult to effectively synthesize studies.
  • The inclusion of unpublished studies can introduce bias into the review because they may not have undergone a rigorous peer-review process prior to publication. Examples may include conference presentations or proceedings, publications from government agencies, white papers, working papers, and internal documents from organizations, and doctoral dissertations and Master's theses.

Denyer, David and David Tranfield. "Producing a Systematic Review." In The Sage Handbook of Organizational Research Methods .  David A. Buchanan and Alan Bryman, editors. ( Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2009), pp. 671-689; Foster, Margaret J. and Sarah T. Jewell, editors. Assembling the Pieces of a Systematic Review: A Guide for Librarians . Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017; Gough, David, Sandy Oliver, James Thomas, editors. Introduction to Systematic Reviews . 2nd edition. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2017; Gopalakrishnan, S. and P. Ganeshkumar. “Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis: Understanding the Best Evidence in Primary Healthcare.” Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care 2 (2013): 9-14; Gough, David, James Thomas, and Sandy Oliver. "Clarifying Differences between Review Designs and Methods." Systematic Reviews 1 (2012): 1-9; Khan, Khalid S., Regina Kunz, Jos Kleijnen, and Gerd Antes. “Five Steps to Conducting a Systematic Review.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 96 (2003): 118-121; Mulrow, C. D. “Systematic Reviews: Rationale for Systematic Reviews.” BMJ 309:597 (September 1994); O'Dwyer, Linda C., and Q. Eileen Wafford. "Addressing Challenges with Systematic Review Teams through Effective Communication: A Case Report." Journal of the Medical Library Association 109 (October 2021): 643-647; Okoli, Chitu, and Kira Schabram. "A Guide to Conducting a Systematic Literature Review of Information Systems Research."  Sprouts: Working Papers on Information Systems 10 (2010); Siddaway, Andy P., Alex M. Wood, and Larry V. Hedges. "How to Do a Systematic Review: A Best Practice Guide for Conducting and Reporting Narrative Reviews, Meta-analyses, and Meta-syntheses." Annual Review of Psychology 70 (2019): 747-770; Torgerson, Carole J. “Publication Bias: The Achilles’ Heel of Systematic Reviews?” British Journal of Educational Studies 54 (March 2006): 89-102; Torgerson, Carole. Systematic Reviews . New York: Continuum, 2003.

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  • Evaluation Research Design: Examples, Methods & Types

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As you engage in tasks, you will need to take intermittent breaks to determine how much progress has been made and if any changes need to be effected along the way. This is very similar to what organizations do when they carry out  evaluation research.  

The evaluation research methodology has become one of the most important approaches for organizations as they strive to create products, services, and processes that speak to the needs of target users. In this article, we will show you how your organization can conduct successful evaluation research using Formplus .

What is Evaluation Research?

Also known as program evaluation, evaluation research is a common research design that entails carrying out a structured assessment of the value of resources committed to a project or specific goal. It often adopts social research methods to gather and analyze useful information about organizational processes and products.  

As a type of applied research , evaluation research typically associated  with real-life scenarios within organizational contexts. This means that the researcher will need to leverage common workplace skills including interpersonal skills and team play to arrive at objective research findings that will be useful to stakeholders. 

Characteristics of Evaluation Research

  • Research Environment: Evaluation research is conducted in the real world; that is, within the context of an organization. 
  • Research Focus: Evaluation research is primarily concerned with measuring the outcomes of a process rather than the process itself. 
  • Research Outcome: Evaluation research is employed for strategic decision making in organizations. 
  • Research Goal: The goal of program evaluation is to determine whether a process has yielded the desired result(s). 
  • This type of research protects the interests of stakeholders in the organization. 
  • It often represents a middle-ground between pure and applied research. 
  • Evaluation research is both detailed and continuous. It pays attention to performative processes rather than descriptions. 
  • Research Process: This research design utilizes qualitative and quantitative research methods to gather relevant data about a product or action-based strategy. These methods include observation, tests, and surveys.

Types of Evaluation Research

The Encyclopedia of Evaluation (Mathison, 2004) treats forty-two different evaluation approaches and models ranging from “appreciative inquiry” to “connoisseurship” to “transformative evaluation”. Common types of evaluation research include the following: 

  • Formative Evaluation

Formative evaluation or baseline survey is a type of evaluation research that involves assessing the needs of the users or target market before embarking on a project.  Formative evaluation is the starting point of evaluation research because it sets the tone of the organization’s project and provides useful insights for other types of evaluation.  

  • Mid-term Evaluation

Mid-term evaluation entails assessing how far a project has come and determining if it is in line with the set goals and objectives. Mid-term reviews allow the organization to determine if a change or modification of the implementation strategy is necessary, and it also serves for tracking the project. 

  • Summative Evaluation

This type of evaluation is also known as end-term evaluation of project-completion evaluation and it is conducted immediately after the completion of a project. Here, the researcher examines the value and outputs of the program within the context of the projected results. 

Summative evaluation allows the organization to measure the degree of success of a project. Such results can be shared with stakeholders, target markets, and prospective investors. 

  • Outcome Evaluation

Outcome evaluation is primarily target-audience oriented because it measures the effects of the project, program, or product on the users. This type of evaluation views the outcomes of the project through the lens of the target audience and it often measures changes such as knowledge-improvement, skill acquisition, and increased job efficiency. 

  • Appreciative Enquiry

Appreciative inquiry is a type of evaluation research that pays attention to result-producing approaches. It is predicated on the belief that an organization will grow in whatever direction its stakeholders pay primary attention to such that if all the attention is focused on problems, identifying them would be easy. 

In carrying out appreciative inquiry, the research identifies the factors directly responsible for the positive results realized in the course of a project, analyses the reasons for these results, and intensifies the utilization of these factors. 

Evaluation Research Methodology 

There are four major evaluation research methods, namely; output measurement, input measurement, impact assessment and service quality

  • Output/Performance Measurement

Output measurement is a method employed in evaluative research that shows the results of an activity undertaking by an organization. In other words, performance measurement pays attention to the results achieved by the resources invested in a specific activity or organizational process. 

More than investing resources in a project, organizations must be able to track the extent to which these resources have yielded results, and this is where performance measurement comes in. Output measurement allows organizations to pay attention to the effectiveness and impact of a process rather than just the process itself. 

Other key indicators of performance measurement include user-satisfaction, organizational capacity, market penetration, and facility utilization. In carrying out performance measurement, organizations must identify the parameters that are relevant to the process in question, their industry, and the target markets. 

5 Performance Evaluation Research Questions Examples

  • What is the cost-effectiveness of this project?
  • What is the overall reach of this project?
  • How would you rate the market penetration of this project?
  • How accessible is the project? 
  • Is this project time-efficient? 

performance-evaluation-survey

  • Input Measurement

In evaluation research, input measurement entails assessing the number of resources committed to a project or goal in any organization. This is one of the most common indicators in evaluation research because it allows organizations to track their investments. 

The most common indicator of inputs measurement is the budget which allows organizations to evaluate and limit expenditure for a project. It is also important to measure non-monetary investments like human capital; that is the number of persons needed for successful project execution and production capital. 

5 Input Evaluation Research Questions Examples

  • What is the budget for this project?
  • What is the timeline of this process?
  • How many employees have been assigned to this project? 
  • Do we need to purchase new machinery for this project? 
  • How many third-parties are collaborators in this project? 

research designs writing assignment (evaluative)

  • Impact/Outcomes Assessment

In impact assessment, the evaluation researcher focuses on how the product or project affects target markets, both directly and indirectly. Outcomes assessment is somewhat challenging because many times, it is difficult to measure the real-time value and benefits of a project for the users. 

In assessing the impact of a process, the evaluation researcher must pay attention to the improvement recorded by the users as a result of the process or project in question. Hence, it makes sense to focus on cognitive and affective changes, expectation-satisfaction, and similar accomplishments of the users. 

5 Impact Evaluation Research Questions Examples

  • How has this project affected you? 
  • Has this process affected you positively or negatively?
  • What role did this project play in improving your earning power? 
  • On a scale of 1-10, how excited are you about this project?
  • How has this project improved your mental health? 

research designs writing assignment (evaluative)

  • Service Quality

Service quality is the evaluation research method that accounts for any differences between the expectations of the target markets and their impression of the undertaken project. Hence, it pays attention to the overall service quality assessment carried out by the users. 

It is not uncommon for organizations to build the expectations of target markets as they embark on specific projects. Service quality evaluation allows these organizations to track the extent to which the actual product or service delivery fulfils the expectations. 

5 Service Quality Evaluation Questions

  • On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with the product?
  • How helpful was our customer service representative?
  • How satisfied are you with the quality of service?
  • How long did it take to resolve the issue at hand?
  • How likely are you to recommend us to your network?

research designs writing assignment (evaluative)

Uses of Evaluation Research 

  • Evaluation research is used by organizations to measure the effectiveness of activities and identify areas needing improvement. Findings from evaluation research are key to project and product advancements and are very influential in helping organizations realize their goals efficiently.     
  • The findings arrived at from evaluation research serve as evidence of the impact of the project embarked on by an organization. This information can be presented to stakeholders, customers, and can also help your organization secure investments for future projects. 
  • Evaluation research helps organizations to justify their use of limited resources and choose the best alternatives. 
  •  It is also useful in pragmatic goal setting and realization. 
  • Evaluation research provides detailed insights into projects embarked on by an organization. Essentially, it allows all stakeholders to understand multiple dimensions of a process, and to determine strengths and weaknesses. 
  • Evaluation research also plays a major role in helping organizations to improve their overall practice and service delivery. This research design allows organizations to weigh existing processes through feedback provided by stakeholders, and this informs better decision making. 
  • Evaluation research is also instrumental to sustainable capacity building. It helps you to analyze demand patterns and determine whether your organization requires more funds, upskilling or improved operations.

Data Collection Techniques Used in Evaluation Research

In gathering useful data for evaluation research, the researcher often combines quantitative and qualitative research methods . Qualitative research methods allow the researcher to gather information relating to intangible values such as market satisfaction and perception. 

On the other hand, quantitative methods are used by the evaluation researcher to assess numerical patterns, that is, quantifiable data. These methods help you measure impact and results; although they may not serve for understanding the context of the process. 

Quantitative Methods for Evaluation Research

A survey is a quantitative method that allows you to gather information about a project from a specific group of people. Surveys are largely context-based and limited to target groups who are asked a set of structured questions in line with the predetermined context.

Surveys usually consist of close-ended questions that allow the evaluative researcher to gain insight into several  variables including market coverage and customer preferences. Surveys can be carried out physically using paper forms or online through data-gathering platforms like Formplus . 

  • Questionnaires

A questionnaire is a common quantitative research instrument deployed in evaluation research. Typically, it is an aggregation of different types of questions or prompts which help the researcher to obtain valuable information from respondents. 

A poll is a common method of opinion-sampling that allows you to weigh the perception of the public about issues that affect them. The best way to achieve accuracy in polling is by conducting them online using platforms like Formplus. 

Polls are often structured as Likert questions and the options provided always account for neutrality or indecision. Conducting a poll allows the evaluation researcher to understand the extent to which the product or service satisfies the needs of the users. 

Qualitative Methods for Evaluation Research

  • One-on-One Interview

An interview is a structured conversation involving two participants; usually the researcher and the user or a member of the target market. One-on-One interviews can be conducted physically, via the telephone and through video conferencing apps like Zoom and Google Meet. 

  • Focus Groups

A focus group is a research method that involves interacting with a limited number of persons within your target market, who can provide insights on market perceptions and new products. 

  • Qualitative Observation

Qualitative observation is a research method that allows the evaluation researcher to gather useful information from the target audience through a variety of subjective approaches. This method is more extensive than quantitative observation because it deals with a smaller sample size, and it also utilizes inductive analysis. 

  • Case Studies

A case study is a research method that helps the researcher to gain a better understanding of a subject or process. Case studies involve in-depth research into a given subject, to understand its functionalities and successes. 

How to Formplus Online Form Builder for Evaluation Survey 

  • Sign into Formplus

In the Formplus builder, you can easily create your evaluation survey by dragging and dropping preferred fields into your form. To access the Formplus builder, you will need to create an account on Formplus. 

Once you do this, sign in to your account and click on “Create Form ” to begin. 

formplus

  • Edit Form Title

Click on the field provided to input your form title, for example, “Evaluation Research Survey”.

research designs writing assignment (evaluative)

Click on the edit button to edit the form.

Add Fields: Drag and drop preferred form fields into your form in the Formplus builder inputs column. There are several field input options for surveys in the Formplus builder. 

research designs writing assignment (evaluative)

Edit fields

Click on “Save”

Preview form.

  • Form Customization

With the form customization options in the form builder, you can easily change the outlook of your form and make it more unique and personalized. Formplus allows you to change your form theme, add background images, and even change the font according to your needs. 

evaluation-research-from-builder

  • Multiple Sharing Options

Formplus offers multiple form sharing options which enables you to easily share your evaluation survey with survey respondents. You can use the direct social media sharing buttons to share your form link to your organization’s social media pages. 

You can send out your survey form as email invitations to your research subjects too. If you wish, you can share your form’s QR code or embed it on your organization’s website for easy access. 

Conclusion  

Conducting evaluation research allows organizations to determine the effectiveness of their activities at different phases. This type of research can be carried out using qualitative and quantitative data collection methods including focus groups, observation, telephone and one-on-one interviews, and surveys. 

Online surveys created and administered via data collection platforms like Formplus make it easier for you to gather and process information during evaluation research. With Formplus multiple form sharing options, it is even easier for you to gather useful data from target markets.

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Research Design 101

Everything You Need To Get Started (With Examples)

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | Reviewers: Eunice Rautenbach (DTech) & Kerryn Warren (PhD) | April 2023

Research design for qualitative and quantitative studies

Navigating the world of research can be daunting, especially if you’re a first-time researcher. One concept you’re bound to run into fairly early in your research journey is that of “ research design ”. Here, we’ll guide you through the basics using practical examples , so that you can approach your research with confidence.

Overview: Research Design 101

What is research design.

  • Research design types for quantitative studies
  • Video explainer : quantitative research design
  • Research design types for qualitative studies
  • Video explainer : qualitative research design
  • How to choose a research design
  • Key takeaways

Research design refers to the overall plan, structure or strategy that guides a research project , from its conception to the final data analysis. A good research design serves as the blueprint for how you, as the researcher, will collect and analyse data while ensuring consistency, reliability and validity throughout your study.

Understanding different types of research designs is essential as helps ensure that your approach is suitable  given your research aims, objectives and questions , as well as the resources you have available to you. Without a clear big-picture view of how you’ll design your research, you run the risk of potentially making misaligned choices in terms of your methodology – especially your sampling , data collection and data analysis decisions.

The problem with defining research design…

One of the reasons students struggle with a clear definition of research design is because the term is used very loosely across the internet, and even within academia.

Some sources claim that the three research design types are qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods , which isn’t quite accurate (these just refer to the type of data that you’ll collect and analyse). Other sources state that research design refers to the sum of all your design choices, suggesting it’s more like a research methodology . Others run off on other less common tangents. No wonder there’s confusion!

In this article, we’ll clear up the confusion. We’ll explain the most common research design types for both qualitative and quantitative research projects, whether that is for a full dissertation or thesis, or a smaller research paper or article.

Free Webinar: Research Methodology 101

Research Design: Quantitative Studies

Quantitative research involves collecting and analysing data in a numerical form. Broadly speaking, there are four types of quantitative research designs: descriptive , correlational , experimental , and quasi-experimental . 

Descriptive Research Design

As the name suggests, descriptive research design focuses on describing existing conditions, behaviours, or characteristics by systematically gathering information without manipulating any variables. In other words, there is no intervention on the researcher’s part – only data collection.

For example, if you’re studying smartphone addiction among adolescents in your community, you could deploy a survey to a sample of teens asking them to rate their agreement with certain statements that relate to smartphone addiction. The collected data would then provide insight regarding how widespread the issue may be – in other words, it would describe the situation.

The key defining attribute of this type of research design is that it purely describes the situation . In other words, descriptive research design does not explore potential relationships between different variables or the causes that may underlie those relationships. Therefore, descriptive research is useful for generating insight into a research problem by describing its characteristics . By doing so, it can provide valuable insights and is often used as a precursor to other research design types.

Correlational Research Design

Correlational design is a popular choice for researchers aiming to identify and measure the relationship between two or more variables without manipulating them . In other words, this type of research design is useful when you want to know whether a change in one thing tends to be accompanied by a change in another thing.

For example, if you wanted to explore the relationship between exercise frequency and overall health, you could use a correlational design to help you achieve this. In this case, you might gather data on participants’ exercise habits, as well as records of their health indicators like blood pressure, heart rate, or body mass index. Thereafter, you’d use a statistical test to assess whether there’s a relationship between the two variables (exercise frequency and health).

As you can see, correlational research design is useful when you want to explore potential relationships between variables that cannot be manipulated or controlled for ethical, practical, or logistical reasons. It is particularly helpful in terms of developing predictions , and given that it doesn’t involve the manipulation of variables, it can be implemented at a large scale more easily than experimental designs (which will look at next).

That said, it’s important to keep in mind that correlational research design has limitations – most notably that it cannot be used to establish causality . In other words, correlation does not equal causation . To establish causality, you’ll need to move into the realm of experimental design, coming up next…

Need a helping hand?

research designs writing assignment (evaluative)

Experimental Research Design

Experimental research design is used to determine if there is a causal relationship between two or more variables . With this type of research design, you, as the researcher, manipulate one variable (the independent variable) while controlling others (dependent variables). Doing so allows you to observe the effect of the former on the latter and draw conclusions about potential causality.

For example, if you wanted to measure if/how different types of fertiliser affect plant growth, you could set up several groups of plants, with each group receiving a different type of fertiliser, as well as one with no fertiliser at all. You could then measure how much each plant group grew (on average) over time and compare the results from the different groups to see which fertiliser was most effective.

Overall, experimental research design provides researchers with a powerful way to identify and measure causal relationships (and the direction of causality) between variables. However, developing a rigorous experimental design can be challenging as it’s not always easy to control all the variables in a study. This often results in smaller sample sizes , which can reduce the statistical power and generalisability of the results.

Moreover, experimental research design requires random assignment . This means that the researcher needs to assign participants to different groups or conditions in a way that each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to any group (note that this is not the same as random sampling ). Doing so helps reduce the potential for bias and confounding variables . This need for random assignment can lead to ethics-related issues . For example, withholding a potentially beneficial medical treatment from a control group may be considered unethical in certain situations.

Quasi-Experimental Research Design

Quasi-experimental research design is used when the research aims involve identifying causal relations , but one cannot (or doesn’t want to) randomly assign participants to different groups (for practical or ethical reasons). Instead, with a quasi-experimental research design, the researcher relies on existing groups or pre-existing conditions to form groups for comparison.

For example, if you were studying the effects of a new teaching method on student achievement in a particular school district, you may be unable to randomly assign students to either group and instead have to choose classes or schools that already use different teaching methods. This way, you still achieve separate groups, without having to assign participants to specific groups yourself.

Naturally, quasi-experimental research designs have limitations when compared to experimental designs. Given that participant assignment is not random, it’s more difficult to confidently establish causality between variables, and, as a researcher, you have less control over other variables that may impact findings.

All that said, quasi-experimental designs can still be valuable in research contexts where random assignment is not possible and can often be undertaken on a much larger scale than experimental research, thus increasing the statistical power of the results. What’s important is that you, as the researcher, understand the limitations of the design and conduct your quasi-experiment as rigorously as possible, paying careful attention to any potential confounding variables .

The four most common quantitative research design types are descriptive, correlational, experimental and quasi-experimental.

Research Design: Qualitative Studies

There are many different research design types when it comes to qualitative studies, but here we’ll narrow our focus to explore the “Big 4”. Specifically, we’ll look at phenomenological design, grounded theory design, ethnographic design, and case study design.

Phenomenological Research Design

Phenomenological design involves exploring the meaning of lived experiences and how they are perceived by individuals. This type of research design seeks to understand people’s perspectives , emotions, and behaviours in specific situations. Here, the aim for researchers is to uncover the essence of human experience without making any assumptions or imposing preconceived ideas on their subjects.

For example, you could adopt a phenomenological design to study why cancer survivors have such varied perceptions of their lives after overcoming their disease. This could be achieved by interviewing survivors and then analysing the data using a qualitative analysis method such as thematic analysis to identify commonalities and differences.

Phenomenological research design typically involves in-depth interviews or open-ended questionnaires to collect rich, detailed data about participants’ subjective experiences. This richness is one of the key strengths of phenomenological research design but, naturally, it also has limitations. These include potential biases in data collection and interpretation and the lack of generalisability of findings to broader populations.

Grounded Theory Research Design

Grounded theory (also referred to as “GT”) aims to develop theories by continuously and iteratively analysing and comparing data collected from a relatively large number of participants in a study. It takes an inductive (bottom-up) approach, with a focus on letting the data “speak for itself”, without being influenced by preexisting theories or the researcher’s preconceptions.

As an example, let’s assume your research aims involved understanding how people cope with chronic pain from a specific medical condition, with a view to developing a theory around this. In this case, grounded theory design would allow you to explore this concept thoroughly without preconceptions about what coping mechanisms might exist. You may find that some patients prefer cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) while others prefer to rely on herbal remedies. Based on multiple, iterative rounds of analysis, you could then develop a theory in this regard, derived directly from the data (as opposed to other preexisting theories and models).

Grounded theory typically involves collecting data through interviews or observations and then analysing it to identify patterns and themes that emerge from the data. These emerging ideas are then validated by collecting more data until a saturation point is reached (i.e., no new information can be squeezed from the data). From that base, a theory can then be developed .

As you can see, grounded theory is ideally suited to studies where the research aims involve theory generation , especially in under-researched areas. Keep in mind though that this type of research design can be quite time-intensive , given the need for multiple rounds of data collection and analysis.

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Ethnographic Research Design

Ethnographic design involves observing and studying a culture-sharing group of people in their natural setting to gain insight into their behaviours, beliefs, and values. The focus here is on observing participants in their natural environment (as opposed to a controlled environment). This typically involves the researcher spending an extended period of time with the participants in their environment, carefully observing and taking field notes .

All of this is not to say that ethnographic research design relies purely on observation. On the contrary, this design typically also involves in-depth interviews to explore participants’ views, beliefs, etc. However, unobtrusive observation is a core component of the ethnographic approach.

As an example, an ethnographer may study how different communities celebrate traditional festivals or how individuals from different generations interact with technology differently. This may involve a lengthy period of observation, combined with in-depth interviews to further explore specific areas of interest that emerge as a result of the observations that the researcher has made.

As you can probably imagine, ethnographic research design has the ability to provide rich, contextually embedded insights into the socio-cultural dynamics of human behaviour within a natural, uncontrived setting. Naturally, however, it does come with its own set of challenges, including researcher bias (since the researcher can become quite immersed in the group), participant confidentiality and, predictably, ethical complexities . All of these need to be carefully managed if you choose to adopt this type of research design.

Case Study Design

With case study research design, you, as the researcher, investigate a single individual (or a single group of individuals) to gain an in-depth understanding of their experiences, behaviours or outcomes. Unlike other research designs that are aimed at larger sample sizes, case studies offer a deep dive into the specific circumstances surrounding a person, group of people, event or phenomenon, generally within a bounded setting or context .

As an example, a case study design could be used to explore the factors influencing the success of a specific small business. This would involve diving deeply into the organisation to explore and understand what makes it tick – from marketing to HR to finance. In terms of data collection, this could include interviews with staff and management, review of policy documents and financial statements, surveying customers, etc.

While the above example is focused squarely on one organisation, it’s worth noting that case study research designs can have different variation s, including single-case, multiple-case and longitudinal designs. As you can see in the example, a single-case design involves intensely examining a single entity to understand its unique characteristics and complexities. Conversely, in a multiple-case design , multiple cases are compared and contrasted to identify patterns and commonalities. Lastly, in a longitudinal case design , a single case or multiple cases are studied over an extended period of time to understand how factors develop over time.

As you can see, a case study research design is particularly useful where a deep and contextualised understanding of a specific phenomenon or issue is desired. However, this strength is also its weakness. In other words, you can’t generalise the findings from a case study to the broader population. So, keep this in mind if you’re considering going the case study route.

Case study design often involves investigating an individual to gain an in-depth understanding of their experiences, behaviours or outcomes.

How To Choose A Research Design

Having worked through all of these potential research designs, you’d be forgiven for feeling a little overwhelmed and wondering, “ But how do I decide which research design to use? ”. While we could write an entire post covering that alone, here are a few factors to consider that will help you choose a suitable research design for your study.

Data type: The first determining factor is naturally the type of data you plan to be collecting – i.e., qualitative or quantitative. This may sound obvious, but we have to be clear about this – don’t try to use a quantitative research design on qualitative data (or vice versa)!

Research aim(s) and question(s): As with all methodological decisions, your research aim and research questions will heavily influence your research design. For example, if your research aims involve developing a theory from qualitative data, grounded theory would be a strong option. Similarly, if your research aims involve identifying and measuring relationships between variables, one of the experimental designs would likely be a better option.

Time: It’s essential that you consider any time constraints you have, as this will impact the type of research design you can choose. For example, if you’ve only got a month to complete your project, a lengthy design such as ethnography wouldn’t be a good fit.

Resources: Take into account the resources realistically available to you, as these need to factor into your research design choice. For example, if you require highly specialised lab equipment to execute an experimental design, you need to be sure that you’ll have access to that before you make a decision.

Keep in mind that when it comes to research, it’s important to manage your risks and play as conservatively as possible. If your entire project relies on you achieving a huge sample, having access to niche equipment or holding interviews with very difficult-to-reach participants, you’re creating risks that could kill your project. So, be sure to think through your choices carefully and make sure that you have backup plans for any existential risks. Remember that a relatively simple methodology executed well generally will typically earn better marks than a highly-complex methodology executed poorly.

research designs writing assignment (evaluative)

Recap: Key Takeaways

We’ve covered a lot of ground here. Let’s recap by looking at the key takeaways:

  • Research design refers to the overall plan, structure or strategy that guides a research project, from its conception to the final analysis of data.
  • Research designs for quantitative studies include descriptive , correlational , experimental and quasi-experimenta l designs.
  • Research designs for qualitative studies include phenomenological , grounded theory , ethnographic and case study designs.
  • When choosing a research design, you need to consider a variety of factors, including the type of data you’ll be working with, your research aims and questions, your time and the resources available to you.

If you need a helping hand with your research design (or any other aspect of your research), check out our private coaching services .

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This post is part of our dissertation mini-course, which covers everything you need to get started with your dissertation, thesis or research project. 

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Is there any blog article explaining more on Case study research design? Is there a Case study write-up template? Thank you.

Solly Khan

Thanks this was quite valuable to clarify such an important concept.

hetty

Thanks for this simplified explanations. it is quite very helpful.

Belz

This was really helpful. thanks

Imur

Thank you for your explanation. I think case study research design and the use of secondary data in researches needs to be talked about more in your videos and articles because there a lot of case studies research design tailored projects out there.

Please is there any template for a case study research design whose data type is a secondary data on your repository?

Sam Msongole

This post is very clear, comprehensive and has been very helpful to me. It has cleared the confusion I had in regard to research design and methodology.

Robyn Pritchard

This post is helpful, easy to understand, and deconstructs what a research design is. Thanks

kelebogile

how to cite this page

Peter

Thank you very much for the post. It is wonderful and has cleared many worries in my mind regarding research designs. I really appreciate .

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How to Write a Research Design – Guide with Examples

Published by Alaxendra Bets at August 14th, 2021 , Revised On October 3, 2023

A research design is a structure that combines different components of research. It involves the use of different data collection and data analysis techniques logically to answer the  research questions .

It would be best to make some decisions about addressing the research questions adequately before starting the research process, which is achieved with the help of the research design.

Below are the key aspects of the decision-making process:

  • Data type required for research
  • Research resources
  • Participants required for research
  • Hypothesis based upon research question(s)
  • Data analysis  methodologies
  • Variables (Independent, dependent, and confounding)
  • The location and timescale for conducting the data
  • The time period required for research

The research design provides the strategy of investigation for your project. Furthermore, it defines the parameters and criteria to compile the data to evaluate results and conclude.

Your project’s validity depends on the data collection and  interpretation techniques.  A strong research design reflects a strong  dissertation , scientific paper, or research proposal .

Steps of research design

Step 1: Establish Priorities for Research Design

Before conducting any research study, you must address an important question: “how to create a research design.”

The research design depends on the researcher’s priorities and choices because every research has different priorities. For a complex research study involving multiple methods, you may choose to have more than one research design.

Multimethodology or multimethod research includes using more than one data collection method or research in a research study or set of related studies.

If one research design is weak in one area, then another research design can cover that weakness. For instance, a  dissertation analyzing different situations or cases will have more than one research design.

For example:

  • Experimental research involves experimental investigation and laboratory experience, but it does not accurately investigate the real world.
  • Quantitative research is good for the  statistical part of the project, but it may not provide an in-depth understanding of the  topic .
  • Also, correlational research will not provide experimental results because it is a technique that assesses the statistical relationship between two variables.

While scientific considerations are a fundamental aspect of the research design, It is equally important that the researcher think practically before deciding on its structure. Here are some questions that you should think of;

  • Do you have enough time to gather data and complete the write-up?
  • Will you be able to collect the necessary data by interviewing a specific person or visiting a specific location?
  • Do you have in-depth knowledge about the  different statistical analysis and data collection techniques to address the research questions  or test the  hypothesis ?

If you think that the chosen research design cannot answer the research questions properly, you can refine your research questions to gain better insight.

Step 2: Data Type you Need for Research

Decide on the type of data you need for your research. The type of data you need to collect depends on your research questions or research hypothesis. Two types of research data can be used to answer the research questions:

Primary Data Vs. Secondary Data

Qualitative vs. quantitative data.

Also, see; Research methods, design, and analysis .

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  • Hire an expert from ResearchProspect today!
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Step 3: Data Collection Techniques

Once you have selected the type of research to answer your research question, you need to decide where and how to collect the data.

It is time to determine your research method to address the  research problem . Research methods involve procedures, techniques, materials, and tools used for the study.

For instance, a dissertation research design includes the different resources and data collection techniques and helps establish your  dissertation’s structure .

The following table shows the characteristics of the most popularly employed research methods.

Research Methods

Step 4: Procedure of Data Analysis

Use of the  correct data and statistical analysis technique is necessary for the validity of your research. Therefore, you need to be certain about the data type that would best address the research problem. Choosing an appropriate analysis method is the final step for the research design. It can be split into two main categories;

Quantitative Data Analysis

The quantitative data analysis technique involves analyzing the numerical data with the help of different applications such as; SPSS, STATA, Excel, origin lab, etc.

This data analysis strategy tests different variables such as spectrum, frequencies, averages, and more. The research question and the hypothesis must be established to identify the variables for testing.

Qualitative Data Analysis

Qualitative data analysis of figures, themes, and words allows for flexibility and the researcher’s subjective opinions. This means that the researcher’s primary focus will be interpreting patterns, tendencies, and accounts and understanding the implications and social framework.

You should be clear about your research objectives before starting to analyze the data. For example, you should ask yourself whether you need to explain respondents’ experiences and insights or do you also need to evaluate their responses with reference to a certain social framework.

Step 5: Write your Research Proposal

The research design is an important component of a research proposal because it plans the project’s execution. You can share it with the supervisor, who would evaluate the feasibility and capacity of the results  and  conclusion .

Read our guidelines to write a research proposal  if you have already formulated your research design. The research proposal is written in the future tense because you are writing your proposal before conducting research.

The  research methodology  or research design, on the other hand, is generally written in the past tense.

How to Write a Research Design – Conclusion

A research design is the plan, structure, strategy of investigation conceived to answer the research question and test the hypothesis. The dissertation research design can be classified based on the type of data and the type of analysis.

Above mentioned five steps are the answer to how to write a research design. So, follow these steps to  formulate the perfect research design for your dissertation .

ResearchProspect writers have years of experience creating research designs that align with the dissertation’s aim and objectives. If you are struggling with your dissertation methodology chapter, you might want to look at our dissertation part-writing service.

Our dissertation writers can also help you with the full dissertation paper . No matter how urgent or complex your need may be, ResearchProspect can help. We also offer PhD level research paper writing services.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is research design.

Research design is a systematic plan that guides the research process, outlining the methodology and procedures for collecting and analysing data. It determines the structure of the study, ensuring the research question is answered effectively, reliably, and validly. It serves as the blueprint for the entire research project.

How to write a research design?

To write a research design, define your research question, identify the research method (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed), choose data collection techniques (e.g., surveys, interviews), determine the sample size and sampling method, outline data analysis procedures, and highlight potential limitations and ethical considerations for the study.

How to write the design section of a research paper?

In the design section of a research paper, describe the research methodology chosen and justify its selection. Outline the data collection methods, participants or samples, instruments used, and procedures followed. Detail any experimental controls, if applicable. Ensure clarity and precision to enable replication of the study by other researchers.

How to write a research design in methodology?

To write a research design in methodology, clearly outline the research strategy (e.g., experimental, survey, case study). Describe the sampling technique, participants, and data collection methods. Detail the procedures for data collection and analysis. Justify choices by linking them to research objectives, addressing reliability and validity.

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Here we explore what is research problem in dissertation with research problem examples to help you understand how and when to write a research problem.

How to write a hypothesis for dissertation,? A hypothesis is a statement that can be tested with the help of experimental or theoretical research.

To help students organise their dissertation proposal paper correctly, we have put together detailed guidelines on how to structure a dissertation proposal.

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How To Write A Research Design Like A Pro

How to Write a Research Design

The overall strategy that a researcher chooses to address all the different parts of their study in a logical and clear manner is known as a research design.

So, what is research design in research paper? A research design is a general plan explaining what one looks to do so as to answer the research question. Generally, it is a detailed outline of how research or an investigation will take place including; how data will be collected, which tools will be employed and how they will be used, and the ways through with the data will be analyzed.

It lays out the method you use to collect, measure, and analyze information. It states that you do this logically and coherently to ensure that you thoroughly address the research problem with which you are dealing. There are numerous types of research design including:

Action Study Research Design Case Study Research Design Casual Research Design Cohort Research Design Cross-Sectional Research Design Correlational Research Design Descriptive Research Design Experimental Research Design Exploratory Research Design Historical Research Design Longitudinal Research Design Observational Research Design Philosophical Research Design Qualitative Research Design Quantitative Research Design Sequential Research Design

The research paper design you choose depends on the research problem. You should analyze the problem carefully and consider it from numerous perspectives. You may consider using a mixed methods research design which is a combination of any two designs listed above. But you must choose a type of research design that is strong and will make your project progress smoothly.

Example Of A Nursing Research Design

To assess the links between professional satisfaction, job satisfaction, and contributing factors using a quantitative approach, an appropriate method is to gain use questionnaires or surveys that provide numerical data from the sample. To achieve an appropriate sample, a sampling plan should be developed. In this case, the population of concern will be identified. This will be nursing staff members, possibly across a wide range of departments to gain a better insight into the links overall. A stratified sampling method would be appropriate here to ensure that the sample is made up of sub-populations that are in line with the sub-populations of the total: the strata should include gender, number of years in nursing, department, and any other factors that could be confounding variables. This will ensure that the sample is representative of the population of interest. In a population of 1000 nurses, a confidence interval of five, and a confidence level of 99%, the sample size needed is 400. Inclusion criteria will include: nursing staff working at the hospital, ability to speak the language that the survey is administered in, and those that have given informed consent. Exclusion criteria will be visiting nursing staff, staff who are not nurses, and those that do not hold relevant nursing criteria.

Sampling Plan: Qualitative

A more appropriate methodology for qualitative approaches is to use interviews or focus groups. This means that the sample size can be much smaller, often as low as ten. In this case, the sampling plan will have the same population of concern, but a different approach to sampling can be used. It may be more appropriate to use quota, self-selection sampling here, as nursing staff need to be willing to give up some time to respond. This has drawbacks, including self-selection bias, but it would be unethical to force nursing staff to participate in the project, especially considering interviews can take one hour or more. The inclusion and exclusion criteria are as above.

How to Write a Research Design Proposal

For most research problems, you will have to make some tradeoffs. One design can be strong in some areas and weak in other areas. This is the reason many students choose to select more than one design to gather all the information accurately and effectively they need to address the problem. This is one of the first things you should know about how to write research design and methods section.

  • Consider Your Practicalities and Priorities

What do we mean when we say you need to think about practicalities and priorities? Another thing to know about how to write design and methodology of the research is asking several questions before settling on one or two methodologies. You will not have the time or resources to conduct tests using several research designs, so you need to write down and answer precisely what your priorities are and the practical nature of your study.

A good place to start is at the library where you have access to other academic studies in your field. You can find similar studies and look at published samples that have been approved by experts in the field. You can also get a sense of the number of resources you have available. Pre-planning is a great way of making sure your project stays on track.

  • Determine the Kind of Information You Need

The next to know about how to write a qualitative research design is figuring out the kind of information or data you need to answer the research problem. There are two places where you get this: through primary and secondary data. In your research study, you get original data through experiments, interviews, and surveys. This is information you analyze and incorporate into your research finding.

Your study will also incorporate information gathered by someone else in previous studies. This type of data is available in libraries and online databases where you can look at national statistics, official records, and publications from academic and government sources.

  • Identify How You Are Going to Collect Information

Once you know the kind of information you need to gather (qualitative and quantitative) you need to decide where, when, and how you will gather it. How to write a research design requires you to describe your research methods. This means putting in detail the materials, procedures, tools, and techniques you will use and apply. You also need to point out the criteria you will use to choose your participants and sources. (For example, how many participants will you need to fill out services to get a good method to sample).

  • Decide How You Are Going to Analyze the Information

Another thing you need to know about how to write a research design relates to the way you are going to analyze the information you collect. The process of analysis is the last step you need to develop your research design. Numerous computer applications will sort through information and retrieve what you need to answer the research problem (For example, Access and Excel). Identify the ones you will use and state this in the research design.

  • Draft Your Research Design as You Would Other Sections

Now you can start writing the first draft. You should approach this like you would other academic assignments. Use a draft that lists all the sub-sections you need to address in the research design. Be clear and concise. The research design should not include your opinions. It must show the reader an exact description of the way you conducted your study.

  • Revise Your Research Design After Some Time Away

Hindsight is one of the best things that can come from separating yourself from your assignment for a few days. We recommend students remove themselves completely from their work to get a mental break. The distance will help them rethink their writing and make changes that improve the overall quality of an assignment.

The trick is to do stay away a few days instead of just a few hours. The time away from any piece of writing will allow for more self-evaluation that is objective. Many students will find ways to remove, add, or rearrange words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that make their assignments stronger.

  • Edit and Proofread Your Research Design for Perfection

These two activities are not interchangeable. Editing focuses on deep issues like correcting sentence constructions and word choices. A thorough editing session will improve things like clarity, readability, and tone. Proofreading focuses on details like grammar, punctuation, and misspellings. It will also look at page numbering, formatting, alignment, and visual elements.

Both activities are important stages of the writing process. A great editor will begin his or her work during the revising process. A great proofread will also begin his or her work during the editing process. While they may overlap you should always treat them as two separate tasks and designate enough time to do each without distraction.

  • Have a Colleague Review Your Work for Feedback

Having a colleague or peer review your work is an important step to the academic writing process. A person or a group of people that understands your field and the high standard of researching and writing that comes with putting together a great research paper can valuable toward your success at the collegiate and graduate levels. Even if you can only show your work to one person for a few hours, his or her feedback can help you make changes to improve the overall quality of your research design.

Here are some questions you should consider before asking someone to review your work:

Do they understand the research subject and/or topic? Do they know the professor or panel that will grade your work? Have they submitted research studies in the past? Do they have great to excellent grades when it comes to research? Are they committed to providing you constructive criticism and feedback?

What to Do If You Can’t Do the Research Design

You may not have enough time to create this section, especially when you have a short deadline. On these occasions, it is a good idea to find a template for a research design paper. You can find templates online or can refer to published research papers in academic journals. The formats are standard so as long as you apply your words to a template that matches your design approach.

If you need more information or assistance learning about how to write a research design section, our customer support team can point you to more resources or put you in contact with one of our academic writing and editing experts. Each expert has earned either a bachelor’s or master’s degree and specialize in specific disciplines. You can rest assured that you will be assigned someone that knows your field inside and outside and can give you the writing research design and methodology help that you need to excel academically.

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Evaluative Research Design Examples, Methods, And Questions For Product Managers

Looking for excellent evaluative research design examples?

If so, you’re in the right place!

In this article, we explore various evaluative research methods and best data collection techniques for SaaS product leaders that will help you set up your own research projects.

Sound like it’s worth a read? Let’s get right to it then!

  • Evaluative research gauges how well the product meets its goals at all stages of the product development process.
  • The purpose of generative research is to gain a better understanding of user needs and define problems to solve, while evaluative research assesses how successful your current product or feature is.
  • Evaluation research helps teams validate ideas and estimate how good the product or feature will be at satisfying user needs, which greatly increases the chances of product success .
  • Formative evaluation research sets the baseline for other kinds of evaluative research and assesses user needs.
  • Summative evaluation research checks how successful the outputs of the process are against its targets.
  • Outcome evaluation research evaluates if the product has had the desired effect on users’ lives.
  • Quantitative research collects and analyzes numerical data like satisfaction scores or conversion rates to establish trends and interdependencies.
  • Qualitative methods use non-numerical data to understand reasons for trends and user behavior.
  • You can use feedback surveys to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from your target audience.
  • A/B testing is a quantitative research method for choosing the best versions of a product or feature.
  • Usability testing techniques like session replays or eye-tracking help PMs and designers determine how easy and intuitive the product is to use.
  • Beta-testing is a popular technique that enables teams to evaluate the product or feature with real users before its launch .
  • Fake door tests are a popular and cost-effective validation technique.
  • With Userpilot, you can run user feedback surveys, and build user segments based on product usage data to recruit participants for interviews and beta-testing. Want to see how? Book the demo!

What is evaluative research?

Evaluative research, aka program evaluation or evaluation research, is a set of research practices aimed at assessing how well the product meets its goals .

It takes place at all stages of the product development process, both in the launch lead-up and afterward.

This kind of research is not limited to your own product. You can use it to evaluate your rivals to find ways to get a competitive edge.

Evaluative research vs generative research

Generative and evaluation research have different objectives.

Generative research is used for product and customer discovery . Its purpose is to gain a more detailed understanding of user needs , define the problem to solve, and guide product ideation .

Evaluative research, on the other hand, tests how good your current product or feature is. It assesses customer satisfaction by looking at how well the solution addresses their problems and its usability .

Why is conducting evaluation research important for product managers?

Ongoing evaluation research is essential for product success .

It allows PMs to identify ways to improve the product and the overall user experience. It helps you validate your ideas and determine how likely your product is to satisfy the needs of the target consumers.

Types of evaluation research methods

There are a number of evaluation methods that you can leverage to assess your product. The type of research method you choose will depend on the stage in the development process and what exactly you’re trying to find out.

Formative evaluation research

Formative evaluation research happens at the beginning of the evaluation process and sets the baseline for subsequent studies.

In short, its objective is to assess the needs of target users and the market before you start working on any specific solutions.

Summative evaluation research

Summative evaluation research focuses on how successful the outcomes are.

This kind of research happens as soon as the project or program is over. It assesses the value of the deliverables against the forecast results and project objectives.

Outcome evaluation research

Outcome evaluation research measures the impact of the product on the customer. In other words, it assesses if the product brings a positive change to users’ lives.

Quantitative research

Quantitative research methods use numerical data and statistical analysis. They’re great for establishing cause-effect relationships and tracking trends, for example in customer satisfaction.

In SaaS, we normally use surveys and product usage data tracking for quantitative research purposes.

Qualitative research

Qualitative research uses non-numerical data and focuses on gaining a deeper understanding of user experience and their attitude toward the product.

In other words, qualitative research is about the ‘why?’ of user satisfaction or its lack. For example, it can shed light on what makes your detractors dissatisfied with the product.

What techniques can you use for qualitative research ?

The most popular ones include interviews, case studies, and focus groups.

Best evaluative research data collection techniques

How is evaluation research conducted? SaaS PMs can use a range of techniques to collect quantitative and qualitative data to support the evaluation research process.

User feedback surveys

User feedback surveys are the cornerstone of the evaluation research methodology in SaaS.

There are plenty of tools that allow you to build and customize in-app and email surveys without any coding skills.

You use them to target specific user segments at a time that’s most suitable for what you’re testing. For example, you can trigger them contextually as soon as the users engage with the feature that you’re evaluating.

Apart from quantitative data, like the NPS or CSAT scores, it’s good practice to follow up with qualitative questions to get a deeper understanding of user sentiment towards the feature or product.

A/B testing

A/B tests are some of the most common ways of evaluating features, UI elements, and onboarding flows in SaaS. That’s because they’re fairly simple to design and administer.

Let’s imagine you’re working on a new landing page layout to boost demo bookings.

First, you modify one UI element at a time, like the position of the CTA button. Next, you launch the new version and direct half of your user traffic to it, while the remaining 50% of users still use the old version.

As your users engage with both versions, you track the conversion rate. You repeat the process with the other versions to eventually choose the best one.

Usability testing

Usability testing helps you evaluate how easy it is for users to complete their tasks in the product.

There is a range of techniques that you can leverage for usability testing :

  • Guerilla testing is the easiest to set up. Just head over to a public place like a coffee shop or a mall where your target users hang out. Take your prototype with you and ask random users for their feedback.
  • In the 5-second test, you allow the user to engage with a feature for 5 seconds and interview them about their impressions.
  • First-click testing helps you assess how intuitive the product is and how easy it is for the user to find and follow the happy path.
  • In session replays you record and analyze what the users do in the app or on the website.
  • Eye-tracking uses webcams to record where users look on a webpage or dashboard and presents it in a heatmap for ease of analysis.

As with all the qualitative and quantitative methods, it’s essential to select a representative user sample for your usability testing. Relying exclusively on the early adopters or power users can skew the outcomes.

Beta testing

Beta testing is another popular evaluation research technique. And there’s a good reason for that.

By testing the product or feature prior to the launch with real users, you can gather user feedback and validate your product-market fit.

Most importantly, you can identify and fix bugs that could otherwise damage your reputation and the trust of the wider user population. And if you get it right, your beta testers can spread the word about your product and build up the hype around the launch.

How do you recruit beta testers ?

If you’re looking at expanding into new markets, you may opt for users who have no experience with your product. You can find them on sites like Ubertesters, in beta testing communities, or through paid advertising.

Otherwise, your active users are the best bet because they are familiar with the product and they are normally keen to help. You can reach out to them by email or in-app messages .

Fake door testing

Fake door testing is a sneaky way of evaluating your ideas.

Why sneaky? Well, because it kind of involves cheating.

If you want to test if there’s demand for a feature or product, you can add it to your UI or create a landing page before you even start working on it.

Next, paid adverts or in-app messages like the tooltip below, to drive traffic and engagement.

By tracking engagement with the feature, it’s easy to determine if there’s enough interest in the functionality to justify the resources you would need to spend on its development.

Of course, that’s not the end. If you don’t want to face customer rage and fury, you must always explain why you’ve stooped down to such a mischievous deed.

A modal will do the job nicely. Tell them the feature isn’t ready yet but you’re working on it. Try to placate your users by offering them early access to the feature before everybody else.

In this way, you kill two birds with one stone. You evaluate the interest and build a list of possible beta testers .

Evaluation research questions

The success of your evaluation research very much depends on asking the right questions.

Usability evaluation questions

  • How was your experience completing this task?
  • What technical difficulties did you experience while completing the task?
  • How intuitive was the navigation?
  • How would you prefer to do this action instead?
  • Were there any unnecessary features?
  • How easy was the task to complete?
  • Were there any features missing?

Product survey research questions

  • Would you recommend the product to your colleagues/friends?
  • How disappointed would you be if you could no longer use the feature/product?
  • How satisfied are you with the product/feature?
  • What is the one thing you wish the product/feature could do that it doesn’t already?
  • What would make you cancel your subscription?

How Userpilot can help product managers conduct evaluation research

Userpilot is a digital adoption platform . It consists of three main components: engagement, product analytics, and user sentiment layers. While all of them can help you evaluate your product performance, it’s the latter two that are particularly relevant.

Let’s start with the user sentiment. With Userpilot you can create customized in-app surveys that will blend seamlessly into your product UI.

You can trigger these for all your users or target particular segments.

Where do the segments come from? You can create them based on a wide range of criteria. Apart from demographics or JTBDs, you can use product usage data or survey results. In addition to the quantitative scores, you can also use qualitative NPS responses for this.

Segmentation is also great for finding your beta testers and interview participants. If your users engage with your product regularly and give you high scores in customer satisfaction surveys , they may be happy to spare some of their time to help you.

Evaluative research enables product managers to assess how well the product meets user and organizational needs, and how easy it is to use. When carried out regularly during the product development process, it allows them to validate ideas and iterate on them in an informed way.

If you’d like to see how Userpilot can help your business collect evaluative data, book the demo!

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Research Method

Home » Evaluating Research – Process, Examples and Methods

Evaluating Research – Process, Examples and Methods

Table of Contents

Evaluating Research

Evaluating Research

Definition:

Evaluating Research refers to the process of assessing the quality, credibility, and relevance of a research study or project. This involves examining the methods, data, and results of the research in order to determine its validity, reliability, and usefulness. Evaluating research can be done by both experts and non-experts in the field, and involves critical thinking, analysis, and interpretation of the research findings.

Research Evaluating Process

The process of evaluating research typically involves the following steps:

Identify the Research Question

The first step in evaluating research is to identify the research question or problem that the study is addressing. This will help you to determine whether the study is relevant to your needs.

Assess the Study Design

The study design refers to the methodology used to conduct the research. You should assess whether the study design is appropriate for the research question and whether it is likely to produce reliable and valid results.

Evaluate the Sample

The sample refers to the group of participants or subjects who are included in the study. You should evaluate whether the sample size is adequate and whether the participants are representative of the population under study.

Review the Data Collection Methods

You should review the data collection methods used in the study to ensure that they are valid and reliable. This includes assessing the measures used to collect data and the procedures used to collect data.

Examine the Statistical Analysis

Statistical analysis refers to the methods used to analyze the data. You should examine whether the statistical analysis is appropriate for the research question and whether it is likely to produce valid and reliable results.

Assess the Conclusions

You should evaluate whether the data support the conclusions drawn from the study and whether they are relevant to the research question.

Consider the Limitations

Finally, you should consider the limitations of the study, including any potential biases or confounding factors that may have influenced the results.

Evaluating Research Methods

Evaluating Research Methods are as follows:

  • Peer review: Peer review is a process where experts in the field review a study before it is published. This helps ensure that the study is accurate, valid, and relevant to the field.
  • Critical appraisal : Critical appraisal involves systematically evaluating a study based on specific criteria. This helps assess the quality of the study and the reliability of the findings.
  • Replication : Replication involves repeating a study to test the validity and reliability of the findings. This can help identify any errors or biases in the original study.
  • Meta-analysis : Meta-analysis is a statistical method that combines the results of multiple studies to provide a more comprehensive understanding of a particular topic. This can help identify patterns or inconsistencies across studies.
  • Consultation with experts : Consulting with experts in the field can provide valuable insights into the quality and relevance of a study. Experts can also help identify potential limitations or biases in the study.
  • Review of funding sources: Examining the funding sources of a study can help identify any potential conflicts of interest or biases that may have influenced the study design or interpretation of results.

Example of Evaluating Research

Example of Evaluating Research sample for students:

Title of the Study: The Effects of Social Media Use on Mental Health among College Students

Sample Size: 500 college students

Sampling Technique : Convenience sampling

  • Sample Size: The sample size of 500 college students is a moderate sample size, which could be considered representative of the college student population. However, it would be more representative if the sample size was larger, or if a random sampling technique was used.
  • Sampling Technique : Convenience sampling is a non-probability sampling technique, which means that the sample may not be representative of the population. This technique may introduce bias into the study since the participants are self-selected and may not be representative of the entire college student population. Therefore, the results of this study may not be generalizable to other populations.
  • Participant Characteristics: The study does not provide any information about the demographic characteristics of the participants, such as age, gender, race, or socioeconomic status. This information is important because social media use and mental health may vary among different demographic groups.
  • Data Collection Method: The study used a self-administered survey to collect data. Self-administered surveys may be subject to response bias and may not accurately reflect participants’ actual behaviors and experiences.
  • Data Analysis: The study used descriptive statistics and regression analysis to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics provide a summary of the data, while regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between two or more variables. However, the study did not provide information about the statistical significance of the results or the effect sizes.

Overall, while the study provides some insights into the relationship between social media use and mental health among college students, the use of a convenience sampling technique and the lack of information about participant characteristics limit the generalizability of the findings. In addition, the use of self-administered surveys may introduce bias into the study, and the lack of information about the statistical significance of the results limits the interpretation of the findings.

Note*: Above mentioned example is just a sample for students. Do not copy and paste directly into your assignment. Kindly do your own research for academic purposes.

Applications of Evaluating Research

Here are some of the applications of evaluating research:

  • Identifying reliable sources : By evaluating research, researchers, students, and other professionals can identify the most reliable sources of information to use in their work. They can determine the quality of research studies, including the methodology, sample size, data analysis, and conclusions.
  • Validating findings: Evaluating research can help to validate findings from previous studies. By examining the methodology and results of a study, researchers can determine if the findings are reliable and if they can be used to inform future research.
  • Identifying knowledge gaps: Evaluating research can also help to identify gaps in current knowledge. By examining the existing literature on a topic, researchers can determine areas where more research is needed, and they can design studies to address these gaps.
  • Improving research quality : Evaluating research can help to improve the quality of future research. By examining the strengths and weaknesses of previous studies, researchers can design better studies and avoid common pitfalls.
  • Informing policy and decision-making : Evaluating research is crucial in informing policy and decision-making in many fields. By examining the evidence base for a particular issue, policymakers can make informed decisions that are supported by the best available evidence.
  • Enhancing education : Evaluating research is essential in enhancing education. Educators can use research findings to improve teaching methods, curriculum development, and student outcomes.

Purpose of Evaluating Research

Here are some of the key purposes of evaluating research:

  • Determine the reliability and validity of research findings : By evaluating research, researchers can determine the quality of the study design, data collection, and analysis. They can determine whether the findings are reliable, valid, and generalizable to other populations.
  • Identify the strengths and weaknesses of research studies: Evaluating research helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of research studies, including potential biases, confounding factors, and limitations. This information can help researchers to design better studies in the future.
  • Inform evidence-based decision-making: Evaluating research is crucial in informing evidence-based decision-making in many fields, including healthcare, education, and public policy. Policymakers, educators, and clinicians rely on research evidence to make informed decisions.
  • Identify research gaps : By evaluating research, researchers can identify gaps in the existing literature and design studies to address these gaps. This process can help to advance knowledge and improve the quality of research in a particular field.
  • Ensure research ethics and integrity : Evaluating research helps to ensure that research studies are conducted ethically and with integrity. Researchers must adhere to ethical guidelines to protect the welfare and rights of study participants and to maintain the trust of the public.

Characteristics Evaluating Research

Characteristics Evaluating Research are as follows:

  • Research question/hypothesis: A good research question or hypothesis should be clear, concise, and well-defined. It should address a significant problem or issue in the field and be grounded in relevant theory or prior research.
  • Study design: The research design should be appropriate for answering the research question and be clearly described in the study. The study design should also minimize bias and confounding variables.
  • Sampling : The sample should be representative of the population of interest and the sampling method should be appropriate for the research question and study design.
  • Data collection : The data collection methods should be reliable and valid, and the data should be accurately recorded and analyzed.
  • Results : The results should be presented clearly and accurately, and the statistical analysis should be appropriate for the research question and study design.
  • Interpretation of results : The interpretation of the results should be based on the data and not influenced by personal biases or preconceptions.
  • Generalizability: The study findings should be generalizable to the population of interest and relevant to other settings or contexts.
  • Contribution to the field : The study should make a significant contribution to the field and advance our understanding of the research question or issue.

Advantages of Evaluating Research

Evaluating research has several advantages, including:

  • Ensuring accuracy and validity : By evaluating research, we can ensure that the research is accurate, valid, and reliable. This ensures that the findings are trustworthy and can be used to inform decision-making.
  • Identifying gaps in knowledge : Evaluating research can help identify gaps in knowledge and areas where further research is needed. This can guide future research and help build a stronger evidence base.
  • Promoting critical thinking: Evaluating research requires critical thinking skills, which can be applied in other areas of life. By evaluating research, individuals can develop their critical thinking skills and become more discerning consumers of information.
  • Improving the quality of research : Evaluating research can help improve the quality of research by identifying areas where improvements can be made. This can lead to more rigorous research methods and better-quality research.
  • Informing decision-making: By evaluating research, we can make informed decisions based on the evidence. This is particularly important in fields such as medicine and public health, where decisions can have significant consequences.
  • Advancing the field : Evaluating research can help advance the field by identifying new research questions and areas of inquiry. This can lead to the development of new theories and the refinement of existing ones.

Limitations of Evaluating Research

Limitations of Evaluating Research are as follows:

  • Time-consuming: Evaluating research can be time-consuming, particularly if the study is complex or requires specialized knowledge. This can be a barrier for individuals who are not experts in the field or who have limited time.
  • Subjectivity : Evaluating research can be subjective, as different individuals may have different interpretations of the same study. This can lead to inconsistencies in the evaluation process and make it difficult to compare studies.
  • Limited generalizability: The findings of a study may not be generalizable to other populations or contexts. This limits the usefulness of the study and may make it difficult to apply the findings to other settings.
  • Publication bias: Research that does not find significant results may be less likely to be published, which can create a bias in the published literature. This can limit the amount of information available for evaluation.
  • Lack of transparency: Some studies may not provide enough detail about their methods or results, making it difficult to evaluate their quality or validity.
  • Funding bias : Research funded by particular organizations or industries may be biased towards the interests of the funder. This can influence the study design, methods, and interpretation of results.

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Prioritize your learning outcomes

Students can't do it all. Pick what to focus on. For the beginning researcher, research can be a complicated process with many steps to master effectively. Your assignment might want to prioritize some of those over others.

Students experience a greater cognitive load when researching because they lack domain knowledge. You can help students focus their energies by ensuring your assignment matches your priorities.

For example, to prioritize synthesizing arguments, design an assignment around reading and writing with sources, and limit the need for finding sources. To prioritize identifying the scope of research on a topic, require searching for sources.

How do I do this?

  • Determine and prioritize  learning goals specific to the research process . 
  • Imagine a student working through the assignment. Are there parts of it that demand a lot of work, but that don't match your priorities? If so, rethink the assignment.

Focus on the research and writing process

Prompts should address both the steps along the way (picking a topic, collecting data, synthesizing sources) and the completed assignment. When instructions focus only on the final product, students will view them as a checklist to complete.

For example, requiring a certain number of sources for a paper directs students' attention to the end product. Students will pick the first sources they find, rather than understanding the process of finding many possible sources, then selecting the best ones.

  • Give clear and concise directions, with explanations and examples, about why you want something a certain way.
  • Make learning objectives explicit, and provide feedback for each step of the research experience.
  • Provide opportunities for students to reflect on their learning.
  • Allow students time to explore and reframe as they research.
  • Discuss how students will know they've found enough information.

Scaffold learning

Break down and explicitly teach the different aptitudes students need to be successful. Research can overwhelm students, especially those new to the process or discipline.

  • Break your assignment down into smaller tasks to ensure that students reach learning objectives successively and successfully. 
  • Approach this as an opportunity to help students develop research skills. Don't assume students already know how to do research. Learning is iterative, so even if they've had a library research session, a review is useful.
  • Recognize the emotional toll of research and give students the time they need to experience the full spectrum of feelings, as part of the instructional design.
  • Provide worksheets, handouts, or activities that help students navigate specific aspects of the research process. 
  • Assist students over common stumbling blocks. What will get them past bottlenecks to learning in your discipline?

Create an authentic learning experience

Make your assignment relevant to real life experiences and skills. Students learn best and successfully transfer what they're learning when they connect with the assignment, feel the excitement of discovery, or solve challenges. Through disciplinary and experiential learning, students develop different perspectives from which to view the world.

  • Encourage curiosity. Give students the chance to experience some of the messiness of research, while limiting how far off track they can get through periodic check-ins.
  • Show students how to practice reading, research, and writing in your discipline. All these require interrelated, separate skills.
  • Address how students can transfer knowledge and skills.
  • Consider problem-based learning, have students examine real-world issues.

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  • How to Write an Effective Assignment Harvard University Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning

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National Research Council (US) Panel on the Evaluation of AIDS Interventions; Coyle SL, Boruch RF, Turner CF, editors. Evaluating AIDS Prevention Programs: Expanded Edition. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1991.

Cover of Evaluating AIDS Prevention Programs

Evaluating AIDS Prevention Programs: Expanded Edition.

  • Hardcopy Version at National Academies Press

1 Design and Implementation of Evaluation Research

Evaluation has its roots in the social, behavioral, and statistical sciences, and it relies on their principles and methodologies of research, including experimental design, measurement, statistical tests, and direct observation. What distinguishes evaluation research from other social science is that its subjects are ongoing social action programs that are intended to produce individual or collective change. This setting usually engenders a great need for cooperation between those who conduct the program and those who evaluate it. This need for cooperation can be particularly acute in the case of AIDS prevention programs because those programs have been developed rapidly to meet the urgent demands of a changing and deadly epidemic.

Although the characteristics of AIDS intervention programs place some unique demands on evaluation, the techniques for conducting good program evaluation do not need to be invented. Two decades of evaluation research have provided a basic conceptual framework for undertaking such efforts (see, e.g., Campbell and Stanley [1966] and Cook and Campbell [1979] for discussions of outcome evaluation; see Weiss [1972] and Rossi and Freeman [1982] for process and outcome evaluations); in addition, similar programs, such as the antismoking campaigns, have been subject to evaluation, and they offer examples of the problems that have been encountered.

In this chapter the panel provides an overview of the terminology, types, designs, and management of research evaluation. The following chapter provides an overview of program objectives and the selection and measurement of appropriate outcome variables for judging the effectiveness of AIDS intervention programs. These issues are discussed in detail in the subsequent, program-specific Chapters 3 - 5 .

  • Types of Evaluation

The term evaluation implies a variety of different things to different people. The recent report of the Committee on AIDS Research and the Behavioral, Social, and Statistical Sciences defines the area through a series of questions (Turner, Miller, and Moses, 1989:317-318):

Evaluation is a systematic process that produces a trustworthy account of what was attempted and why; through the examination of results—the outcomes of intervention programs—it answers the questions, "What was done?" "To whom, and how?" and "What outcomes were observed?'' Well-designed evaluation permits us to draw inferences from the data and addresses the difficult question: ''What do the outcomes mean?"

These questions differ in the degree of difficulty of answering them. An evaluation that tries to determine the outcomes of an intervention and what those outcomes mean is a more complicated endeavor than an evaluation that assesses the process by which the intervention was delivered. Both kinds of evaluation are necessary because they are intimately connected: to establish a project's success, an evaluator must first ask whether the project was implemented as planned and then whether its objective was achieved. Questions about a project's implementation usually fall under the rubric of process evaluation . If the investigation involves rapid feedback to the project staff or sponsors, particularly at the earliest stages of program implementation, the work is called formative evaluation . Questions about effects or effectiveness are often variously called summative evaluation, impact assessment, or outcome evaluation, the term the panel uses.

Formative evaluation is a special type of early evaluation that occurs during and after a program has been designed but before it is broadly implemented. Formative evaluation is used to understand the need for the intervention and to make tentative decisions about how to implement or improve it. During formative evaluation, information is collected and then fed back to program designers and administrators to enhance program development and maximize the success of the intervention. For example, formative evaluation may be carried out through a pilot project before a program is implemented at several sites. A pilot study of a community-based organization (CBO), for example, might be used to gather data on problems involving access to and recruitment of targeted populations and the utilization and implementation of services; the findings of such a study would then be used to modify (if needed) the planned program.

Another example of formative evaluation is the use of a "story board" design of a TV message that has yet to be produced. A story board is a series of text and sketches of camera shots that are to be produced in a commercial. To evaluate the effectiveness of the message and forecast some of the consequences of actually broadcasting it to the general public, an advertising agency convenes small groups of people to react to and comment on the proposed design.

Once an intervention has been implemented, the next stage of evaluation is process evaluation, which addresses two broad questions: "What was done?" and "To whom, and how?" Ordinarily, process evaluation is carried out at some point in the life of a project to determine how and how well the delivery goals of the program are being met. When intervention programs continue over a long period of time (as is the case for some of the major AIDS prevention programs), measurements at several times are warranted to ensure that the components of the intervention continue to be delivered by the right people, to the right people, in the right manner, and at the right time. Process evaluation can also play a role in improving interventions by providing the information necessary to change delivery strategies or program objectives in a changing epidemic.

Research designs for process evaluation include direct observation of projects, surveys of service providers and clients, and the monitoring of administrative records. The panel notes that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is already collecting some administrative records on its counseling and testing program and community-based projects. The panel believes that this type of evaluation should be a continuing and expanded component of intervention projects to guarantee the maintenance of the projects' integrity and responsiveness to their constituencies.

The purpose of outcome evaluation is to identify consequences and to establish that consequences are, indeed, attributable to a project. This type of evaluation answers the questions, "What outcomes were observed?" and, perhaps more importantly, "What do the outcomes mean?" Like process evaluation, outcome evaluation can also be conducted at intervals during an ongoing program, and the panel believes that such periodic evaluation should be done to monitor goal achievement.

The panel believes that these stages of evaluation (i.e., formative, process, and outcome) are essential to learning how AIDS prevention programs contribute to containing the epidemic. After a body of findings has been accumulated from such evaluations, it may be fruitful to launch another stage of evaluation: cost-effectiveness analysis (see Weinstein et al., 1989). Like outcome evaluation, cost-effectiveness analysis also measures program effectiveness, but it extends the analysis by adding a measure of program cost. The panel believes that consideration of cost-effective analysis should be postponed until more experience is gained with formative, process, and outcome evaluation of the CDC AIDS prevention programs.

  • Evaluation Research Design

Process and outcome evaluations require different types of research designs, as discussed below. Formative evaluations, which are intended to both assess implementation and forecast effects, use a mix of these designs.

Process Evaluation Designs

To conduct process evaluations on how well services are delivered, data need to be gathered on the content of interventions and on their delivery systems. Suggested methodologies include direct observation, surveys, and record keeping.

Direct observation designs include case studies, in which participant-observers unobtrusively and systematically record encounters within a program setting, and nonparticipant observation, in which long, open-ended (or "focused") interviews are conducted with program participants. 1 For example, "professional customers" at counseling and testing sites can act as project clients to monitor activities unobtrusively; 2 alternatively, nonparticipant observers can interview both staff and clients. Surveys —either censuses (of the whole population of interest) or samples—elicit information through interviews or questionnaires completed by project participants or potential users of a project. For example, surveys within community-based projects can collect basic statistical information on project objectives, what services are provided, to whom, when, how often, for how long, and in what context.

Record keeping consists of administrative or other reporting systems that monitor use of services. Standardized reporting ensures consistency in the scope and depth of data collected. To use the media campaign as an example, the panel suggests using standardized data on the use of the AIDS hotline to monitor public attentiveness to the advertisements broadcast by the media campaign.

These designs are simple to understand, but they require expertise to implement. For example, observational studies must be conducted by people who are well trained in how to carry out on-site tasks sensitively and to record their findings uniformly. Observers can either complete narrative accounts of what occurred in a service setting or they can complete some sort of data inventory to ensure that multiple aspects of service delivery are covered. These types of studies are time consuming and benefit from corroboration among several observers. The use of surveys in research is well-understood, although they, too, require expertise to be well implemented. As the program chapters reflect, survey data collection must be carefully designed to reduce problems of validity and reliability and, if samples are used, to design an appropriate sampling scheme. Record keeping or service inventories are probably the easiest research designs to implement, although preparing standardized internal forms requires attention to detail about salient aspects of service delivery.

Outcome Evaluation Designs

Research designs for outcome evaluations are meant to assess principal and relative effects. Ideally, to assess the effect of an intervention on program participants, one would like to know what would have happened to the same participants in the absence of the program. Because it is not possible to make this comparison directly, inference strategies that rely on proxies have to be used. Scientists use three general approaches to construct proxies for use in the comparisons required to evaluate the effects of interventions: (1) nonexperimental methods, (2) quasi-experiments, and (3) randomized experiments. The first two are discussed below, and randomized experiments are discussed in the subsequent section.

Nonexperimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs 3

The most common form of nonexperimental design is a before-and-after study. In this design, pre-intervention measurements are compared with equivalent measurements made after the intervention to detect change in the outcome variables that the intervention was designed to influence.

Although the panel finds that before-and-after studies frequently provide helpful insights, the panel believes that these studies do not provide sufficiently reliable information to be the cornerstone for evaluation research on the effectiveness of AIDS prevention programs. The panel's conclusion follows from the fact that the postintervention changes cannot usually be attributed unambiguously to the intervention. 4 Plausible competing explanations for differences between pre-and postintervention measurements will often be numerous, including not only the possible effects of other AIDS intervention programs, news stories, and local events, but also the effects that may result from the maturation of the participants and the educational or sensitizing effects of repeated measurements, among others.

Quasi-experimental and matched control designs provide a separate comparison group. In these designs, the control group may be selected by matching nonparticipants to participants in the treatment group on the basis of selected characteristics. It is difficult to ensure the comparability of the two groups even when they are matched on many characteristics because other relevant factors may have been overlooked or mismatched or they may be difficult to measure (e.g., the motivation to change behavior). In some situations, it may simply be impossible to measure all of the characteristics of the units (e.g., communities) that may affect outcomes, much less demonstrate their comparability.

Matched control designs require extraordinarily comprehensive scientific knowledge about the phenomenon under investigation in order for evaluators to be confident that all of the relevant determinants of outcomes have been properly accounted for in the matching. Three types of information or knowledge are required: (1) knowledge of intervening variables that also affect the outcome of the intervention and, consequently, need adjustment to make the groups comparable; (2) measurements on all intervening variables for all subjects; and (3) knowledge of how to make the adjustments properly, which in turn requires an understanding of the functional relationship between the intervening variables and the outcome variables. Satisfying each of these information requirements is likely to be more difficult than answering the primary evaluation question, "Does this intervention produce beneficial effects?"

Given the size and the national importance of AIDS intervention programs and given the state of current knowledge about behavior change in general and AIDS prevention, in particular, the panel believes that it would be unwise to rely on matching and adjustment strategies as the primary design for evaluating AIDS intervention programs. With differently constituted groups, inferences about results are hostage to uncertainty about the extent to which the observed outcome actually results from the intervention and is not an artifact of intergroup differences that may not have been removed by matching or adjustment.

Randomized Experiments

A remedy to the inferential uncertainties that afflict nonexperimental designs is provided by randomized experiments . In such experiments, one singly constituted group is established for study. A subset of the group is then randomly chosen to receive the intervention, with the other subset becoming the control. The two groups are not identical, but they are comparable. Because they are two random samples drawn from the same population, they are not systematically different in any respect, which is important for all variables—both known and unknown—that can influence the outcome. Dividing a singly constituted group into two random and therefore comparable subgroups cuts through the tangle of causation and establishes a basis for the valid comparison of respondents who do and do not receive the intervention. Randomized experiments provide for clear causal inference by solving the problem of group comparability, and may be used to answer the evaluation questions "Does the intervention work?" and "What works better?"

Which question is answered depends on whether the controls receive an intervention or not. When the object is to estimate whether a given intervention has any effects, individuals are randomly assigned to the project or to a zero-treatment control group. The control group may be put on a waiting list or simply not get the treatment. This design addresses the question, "Does it work?"

When the object is to compare variations on a project—e.g., individual counseling sessions versus group counseling—then individuals are randomly assigned to these two regimens, and there is no zero-treatment control group. This design addresses the question, "What works better?" In either case, the control groups must be followed up as rigorously as the experimental groups.

A randomized experiment requires that individuals, organizations, or other treatment units be randomly assigned to one of two or more treatments or program variations. Random assignment ensures that the estimated differences between the groups so constituted are statistically unbiased; that is, that any differences in effects measured between them are a result of treatment. The absence of statistical bias in groups constituted in this fashion stems from the fact that random assignment ensures that there are no systematic differences between them, differences that can and usually do affect groups composed in ways that are not random. 5 The panel believes this approach is far superior for outcome evaluations of AIDS interventions than the nonrandom and quasi-experimental approaches. Therefore,

To improve interventions that are already broadly implemented, the panel recommends the use of randomized field experiments of alternative or enhanced interventions.

Under certain conditions, the panel also endorses randomized field experiments with a nontreatment control group to evaluate new interventions. In the context of a deadly epidemic, ethics dictate that treatment not be withheld simply for the purpose of conducting an experiment. Nevertheless, there may be times when a randomized field test of a new treatment with a no-treatment control group is worthwhile. One such time is during the design phase of a major or national intervention.

Before a new intervention is broadly implemented, the panel recommends that it be pilot tested in a randomized field experiment.

The panel considered the use of experiments with delayed rather than no treatment. A delayed-treatment control group strategy might be pursued when resources are too scarce for an intervention to be widely distributed at one time. For example, a project site that is waiting to receive funding for an intervention would be designated as the control group. If it is possible to randomize which projects in the queue receive the intervention, an evaluator could measure and compare outcomes after the experimental group had received the new treatment but before the control group received it. The panel believes that such a design can be applied only in limited circumstances, such as when groups would have access to related services in their communities and that conducting the study was likely to lead to greater access or better services. For example, a study cited in Chapter 4 used a randomized delayed-treatment experiment to measure the effects of a community-based risk reduction program. However, such a strategy may be impractical for several reasons, including:

  • sites waiting for funding for an intervention might seek resources from another source;
  • it might be difficult to enlist the nonfunded site and its clients to participate in the study;
  • there could be an appearance of favoritism toward projects whose funding was not delayed.

Although randomized experiments have many benefits, the approach is not without pitfalls. In the planning stages of evaluation, it is necessary to contemplate certain hazards, such as the Hawthorne effect 6 and differential project dropout rates. Precautions must be taken either to prevent these problems or to measure their effects. Fortunately, there is some evidence suggesting that the Hawthorne effect is usually not very large (Rossi and Freeman, 1982:175-176).

Attrition is potentially more damaging to an evaluation, and it must be limited if the experimental design is to be preserved. If sample attrition is not limited in an experimental design, it becomes necessary to account for the potentially biasing impact of the loss of subjects in the treatment and control conditions of the experiment. The statistical adjustments required to make inferences about treatment effectiveness in such circumstances can introduce uncertainties that are as worrisome as those afflicting nonexperimental and quasi-experimental designs. Thus, the panel's recommendation of the selective use of randomized design carries an implicit caveat: To realize the theoretical advantages offered by randomized experimental designs, substantial efforts will be required to ensure that the designs are not compromised by flawed execution.

Another pitfall to randomization is its appearance of unfairness or unattractiveness to participants and the controversial legal and ethical issues it sometimes raises. Often, what is being criticized is the control of project assignment of participants rather than the use of randomization itself. In deciding whether random assignment is appropriate, it is important to consider the specific context of the evaluation and how participants would be assigned to projects in the absence of randomization. The Federal Judicial Center (1981) offers five threshold conditions for the use of random assignment.

  • Does present practice or policy need improvement?
  • Is there significant uncertainty about the value of the proposed regimen?
  • Are there acceptable alternatives to randomized experiments?
  • Will the results of the experiment be used to improve practice or policy?
  • Is there a reasonable protection against risk for vulnerable groups (i.e., individuals within the justice system)?

The parent committee has argued that these threshold conditions apply in the case of AIDS prevention programs (see Turner, Miller, and Moses, 1989:331-333).

Although randomization may be desirable from an evaluation and ethical standpoint, and acceptable from a legal standpoint, it may be difficult to implement from a practical or political standpoint. Again, the panel emphasizes that questions about the practical or political feasibility of the use of randomization may in fact refer to the control of program allocation rather than to the issues of randomization itself. In fact, when resources are scarce, it is often more ethical and politically palatable to randomize allocation rather than to allocate on grounds that may appear biased.

It is usually easier to defend the use of randomization when the choice has to do with assignment to groups receiving alternative services than when the choice involves assignment to groups receiving no treatment. For example, in comparing a testing and counseling intervention that offered a special "skills training" session in addition to its regular services with a counseling and testing intervention that offered no additional component, random assignment of participants to one group rather than another may be acceptable to program staff and participants because the relative values of the alternative interventions are unknown.

The more difficult issue is the introduction of new interventions that are perceived to be needed and effective in a situation in which there are no services. An argument that is sometimes offered against the use of randomization in this instance is that interventions should be assigned on the basis of need (perhaps as measured by rates of HIV incidence or of high-risk behaviors). But this argument presumes that the intervention will have a positive effect—which is unknown before evaluation—and that relative need can be established, which is a difficult task in itself.

The panel recognizes that community and political opposition to randomization to zero treatments may be strong and that enlisting participation in such experiments may be difficult. This opposition and reluctance could seriously jeopardize the production of reliable results if it is translated into noncompliance with a research design. The feasibility of randomized experiments for AIDS prevention programs has already been demonstrated, however (see the review of selected experiments in Turner, Miller, and Moses, 1989:327-329). The substantial effort involved in mounting randomized field experiments is repaid by the fact that they can provide unbiased evidence of the effects of a program.

Unit of Assignment.

The unit of assignment of an experiment may be an individual person, a clinic (i.e., the clientele of the clinic), or another organizational unit (e.g., the community or city). The treatment unit is selected at the earliest stage of design. Variations of units are illustrated in the following four examples of intervention programs.

Two different pamphlets (A and B) on the same subject (e.g., testing) are distributed in an alternating sequence to individuals calling an AIDS hotline. The outcome to be measured is whether the recipient returns a card asking for more information.

Two instruction curricula (A and B) about AIDS and HIV infections are prepared for use in high school driver education classes. The outcome to be measured is a score on a knowledge test.

Of all clinics for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in a large metropolitan area, some are randomly chosen to introduce a change in the fee schedule. The outcome to be measured is the change in patient load.

A coordinated set of community-wide interventions—involving community leaders, social service agencies, the media, community associations and other groups—is implemented in one area of a city. Outcomes are knowledge as assessed by testing at drug treatment centers and STD clinics and condom sales in the community's retail outlets.

In example (1), the treatment unit is an individual person who receives pamphlet A or pamphlet B. If either "treatment" is applied again, it would be applied to a person. In example (2), the high school class is the treatment unit; everyone in a given class experiences either curriculum A or curriculum B. If either treatment is applied again, it would be applied to a class. The treatment unit is the clinic in example (3), and in example (4), the treatment unit is a community .

The consistency of the effects of a particular intervention across repetitions justly carries a heavy weight in appraising the intervention. It is important to remember that repetitions of a treatment or intervention are the number of treatment units to which the intervention is applied. This is a salient principle in the design and execution of intervention programs as well as in the assessment of their results.

The adequacy of the proposed sample size (number of treatment units) has to be considered in advance. Adequacy depends mainly on two factors:

  • How much variation occurs from unit to unit among units receiving a common treatment? If that variation is large, then the number of units needs to be large.
  • What is the minimum size of a possible treatment difference that, if present, would be practically important? That is, how small a treatment difference is it essential to detect if it is present? The smaller this quantity, the larger the number of units that are necessary.

Many formal methods for considering and choosing sample size exist (see, e.g., Cohen, 1988). Practical circumstances occasionally allow choosing between designs that involve units at different levels; thus, a classroom might be the unit if the treatment is applied in one way, but an entire school might be the unit if the treatment is applied in another. When both approaches are feasible, the use of a power analysis for each approach may lead to a reasoned choice.

Choice of Methods

There is some controversy about the advantages of randomized experiments in comparison with other evaluative approaches. It is the panel's belief that when a (well executed) randomized study is feasible, it is superior to alternative kinds of studies in the strength and clarity of whatever conclusions emerge, primarily because the experimental approach avoids selection biases. 7 Other evaluation approaches are sometimes unavoidable, but ordinarily the accumulation of valid information will go more slowly and less securely than in randomized approaches.

Experiments in medical research shed light on the advantages of carefully conducted randomized experiments. The Salk vaccine trials are a successful example of a large, randomized study. In a double-blind test of the polio vaccine, 8 children in various communities were randomly assigned to two treatments, either the vaccine or a placebo. By this method, the effectiveness of Salk vaccine was demonstrated in one summer of research (Meier, 1957).

A sufficient accumulation of relevant, observational information, especially when collected in studies using different procedures and sample populations, may also clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of a treatment or intervention. The process of accumulating such information can be a long one, however. When a (well-executed) randomized study is feasible, it can provide evidence that is subject to less uncertainty in its interpretation, and it can often do so in a more timely fashion. In the midst of an epidemic, the panel believes it proper that randomized experiments be one of the primary strategies for evaluating the effectiveness of AIDS prevention efforts. In making this recommendation, however, the panel also wishes to emphasize that the advantages of the randomized experimental design can be squandered by poor execution (e.g., by compromised assignment of subjects, significant subject attrition rates, etc.). To achieve the advantages of the experimental design, care must be taken to ensure that the integrity of the design is not compromised by poor execution.

In proposing that randomized experiments be one of the primary strategies for evaluating the effectiveness of AIDS prevention programs, the panel also recognizes that there are situations in which randomization will be impossible or, for other reasons, cannot be used. In its next report the panel will describe at length appropriate nonexperimental strategies to be considered in situations in which an experiment is not a practical or desirable alternative.

  • The Management of Evaluation

Conscientious evaluation requires a considerable investment of funds, time, and personnel. Because the panel recognizes that resources are not unlimited, it suggests that they be concentrated on the evaluation of a subset of projects to maximize the return on investment and to enhance the likelihood of high-quality results.

Project Selection

Deciding which programs or sites to evaluate is by no means a trivial matter. Selection should be carefully weighed so that projects that are not replicable or that have little chance for success are not subjected to rigorous evaluations.

The panel recommends that any intensive evaluation of an intervention be conducted on a subset of projects selected according to explicit criteria. These criteria should include the replicability of the project, the feasibility of evaluation, and the project's potential effectiveness for prevention of HIV transmission.

If a project is replicable, it means that the particular circumstances of service delivery in that project can be duplicated. In other words, for CBOs and counseling and testing projects, the content and setting of an intervention can be duplicated across sites. Feasibility of evaluation means that, as a practical matter, the research can be done: that is, the research design is adequate to control for rival hypotheses, it is not excessively costly, and the project is acceptable to the community and the sponsor. Potential effectiveness for HIV prevention means that the intervention is at least based on a reasonable theory (or mix of theories) about behavioral change (e.g., social learning theory [Bandura, 1977], the health belief model [Janz and Becker, 1984], etc.), if it has not already been found to be effective in related circumstances.

In addition, since it is important to ensure that the results of evaluations will be broadly applicable,

The panel recommends that evaluation be conducted and replicated across major types of subgroups, programs, and settings. Attention should be paid to geographic areas with low and high AIDS prevalence, as well as to subpopulations at low and high risk for AIDS.

Research Administration

The sponsoring agency interested in evaluating an AIDS intervention should consider the mechanisms through which the research will be carried out as well as the desirability of both independent oversight and agency in-house conduct and monitoring of the research. The appropriate entities and mechanisms for conducting evaluations depend to some extent on the kinds of data being gathered and the evaluation questions being asked.

Oversight and monitoring are important to keep projects fully informed about the other evaluations relevant to their own and to render assistance when needed. Oversight and monitoring are also important because evaluation is often a sensitive issue for project and evaluation staff alike. The panel is aware that evaluation may appear threatening to practitioners and researchers because of the possibility that evaluation research will show that their projects are not as effective as they believe them to be. These needs and vulnerabilities should be taken into account as evaluation research management is developed.

Conducting the Research

To conduct some aspects of a project's evaluation, it may be appropriate to involve project administrators, especially when the data will be used to evaluate delivery systems (e.g., to determine when and which services are being delivered). To evaluate outcomes, the services of an outside evaluator 9 or evaluation team are almost always required because few practitioners have the necessary professional experience or the time and resources necessary to do evaluation. The outside evaluator must have relevant expertise in evaluation research methodology and must also be sensitive to the fears, hopes, and constraints of project administrators.

Several evaluation management schemes are possible. For example, a prospective AIDS prevention project group (the contractor) can bid on a contract for project funding that includes an intensive evaluation component. The actual evaluation can be conducted either by the contractor alone or by the contractor working in concert with an outside independent collaborator. This mechanism has the advantage of involving project practitioners in the work of evaluation as well as building separate but mutually informing communities of experts around the country. Alternatively, a contract can be let with a single evaluator or evaluation team that will collaborate with the subset of sites that is chosen for evaluation. This variation would be managerially less burdensome than awarding separate contracts, but it would require greater dependence on the expertise of a single investigator or investigative team. ( Appendix A discusses contracting options in greater depth.) Both of these approaches accord with the parent committee's recommendation that collaboration between practitioners and evaluation researchers be ensured. Finally, in the more traditional evaluation approach, independent principal investigators or investigative teams may respond to a request for proposal (RFP) issued to evaluate individual projects. Such investigators are frequently university-based or are members of a professional research organization, and they bring to the task a variety of research experiences and perspectives.

Independent Oversight

The panel believes that coordination and oversight of multisite evaluations is critical because of the variability in investigators' expertise and in the results of the projects being evaluated. Oversight can provide quality control for individual investigators and can be used to review and integrate findings across sites for developing policy. The independence of an oversight body is crucial to ensure that project evaluations do not succumb to the pressures for positive findings of effectiveness.

When evaluation is to be conducted by a number of different evaluation teams, the panel recommends establishing an independent scientific committee to oversee project selection and research efforts, corroborate the impartiality and validity of results, conduct cross-site analyses, and prepare reports on the progress of the evaluations.

The composition of such an independent oversight committee will depend on the research design of a given program. For example, the committee ought to include statisticians and other specialists in randomized field tests when that approach is being taken. Specialists in survey research and case studies should be recruited if either of those approaches is to be used. Appendix B offers a model for an independent oversight group that has been successfully implemented in other settings—a project review team, or advisory board.

Agency In-House Team

As the parent committee noted in its report, evaluations of AIDS interventions require skills that may be in short supply for agencies invested in delivering services (Turner, Miller, and Moses, 1989:349). Although this situation can be partly alleviated by recruiting professional outside evaluators and retaining an independent oversight group, the panel believes that an in-house team of professionals within the sponsoring agency is also critical. The in-house experts will interact with the outside evaluators and provide input into the selection of projects, outcome objectives, and appropriate research designs; they will also monitor the progress and costs of evaluation. These functions require not just bureaucratic oversight but appropriate scientific expertise.

This is not intended to preclude the direct involvement of CDC staff in conducting evaluations. However, given the great amount of work to be done, it is likely a considerable portion will have to be contracted out. The quality and usefulness of the evaluations done under contract can be greatly enhanced by ensuring that there are an adequate number of CDC staff trained in evaluation research methods to monitor these contracts.

The panel recommends that CDC recruit and retain behavioral, social, and statistical scientists trained in evaluation methodology to facilitate the implementation of the evaluation research recommended in this report.

Interagency Collaboration

The panel believes that the federal agencies that sponsor the design of basic research, intervention programs, and evaluation strategies would profit from greater interagency collaboration. The evaluation of AIDS intervention programs would benefit from a coherent program of studies that should provide models of efficacious and effective interventions to prevent further HIV transmission, the spread of other STDs, and unwanted pregnancies (especially among adolescents). A marriage could then be made of basic and applied science, from which the best evaluation is born. Exploring the possibility of interagency collaboration and CDC's role in such collaboration is beyond the scope of this panel's task, but it is an important issue that we suggest be addressed in the future.

Costs of Evaluation

In view of the dearth of current evaluation efforts, the panel believes that vigorous evaluation research must be undertaken over the next few years to build up a body of knowledge about what interventions can and cannot do. Dedicating no resources to evaluation will virtually guarantee that high-quality evaluations will be infrequent and the data needed for policy decisions will be sparse or absent. Yet, evaluating every project is not feasible simply because there are not enough resources and, in many cases, evaluating every project is not necessary for good science or good policy.

The panel believes that evaluating only some of a program's sites or projects, selected under the criteria noted in Chapter 4 , is a sensible strategy. Although we recommend that intensive evaluation be conducted on only a subset of carefully chosen projects, we believe that high-quality evaluation will require a significant investment of time, planning, personnel, and financial support. The panel's aim is to be realistic—not discouraging—when it notes that the costs of program evaluation should not be underestimated. Many of the research strategies proposed in this report require investments that are perhaps greater than has been previously contemplated. This is particularly the case for outcome evaluations, which are ordinarily more difficult and expensive to conduct than formative or process evaluations. And those costs will be additive with each type of evaluation that is conducted.

Panel members have found that the cost of an outcome evaluation sometimes equals or even exceeds the cost of actual program delivery. For example, it was reported to the panel that randomized studies used to evaluate recent manpower training projects cost as much as the projects themselves (see Cottingham and Rodriguez, 1987). In another case, the principal investigator of an ongoing AIDS prevention project told the panel that the cost of randomized experimentation was approximately three times higher than the cost of delivering the intervention (albeit the study was quite small, involving only 104 participants) (Kelly et al., 1989). Fortunately, only a fraction of a program's projects or sites need to be intensively evaluated to produce high-quality information, and not all will require randomized studies.

Because of the variability in kinds of evaluation that will be done as well as in the costs involved, there is no set standard or rule for judging what fraction of a total program budget should be invested in evaluation. Based upon very limited data 10 and assuming that only a small sample of projects would be evaluated, the panel suspects that program managers might reasonably anticipate spending 8 to 12 percent of their intervention budgets to conduct high-quality evaluations (i.e., formative, process, and outcome evaluations). 11 Larger investments seem politically infeasible and unwise in view of the need to put resources into program delivery. Smaller investments in evaluation may risk studying an inadequate sample of program types, and it may also invite compromises in research quality.

The nature of the HIV/AIDS epidemic mandates an unwavering commitment to prevention programs, and the prevention activities require a similar commitment to the evaluation of those programs. The magnitude of what can be learned from doing good evaluations will more than balance the magnitude of the costs required to perform them. Moreover, it should be realized that the costs of shoddy research can be substantial, both in their direct expense and in the lost opportunities to identify effective strategies for AIDS prevention. Once the investment has been made, however, and a reservoir of findings and practical experience has accumulated, subsequent evaluations should be easier and less costly to conduct.

  • Bandura, A. (1977) Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change . Psychological Review 34:191-215. [ PubMed : 847061 ]
  • Campbell, D. T., and Stanley, J. C. (1966) Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Design and Analysis . Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
  • Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (1988) Sourcebook presented at the National Conference on the Prevention of HIV Infection and AIDS Among Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the United States (August).
  • Cohen, J. (1988) Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences . 2nd ed. Hillsdale, NJ.: L. Erlbaum Associates.
  • Cook, T., and Campbell, D. T. (1979) Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis for Field Settings . Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
  • Federal Judicial Center (1981) Experimentation in the Law . Washington, D.C.: Federal Judicial Center.
  • Janz, N. K., and Becker, M. H. (1984) The health belief model: A decade later . Health Education Quarterly 11 (1):1-47. [ PubMed : 6392204 ]
  • Kelly, J. A., St. Lawrence, J. S., Hood, H. V., and Brasfield, T. L. (1989) Behavioral intervention to reduce AIDS risk activities . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 57:60-67. [ PubMed : 2925974 ]
  • Meier, P. (1957) Safety testing of poliomyelitis vaccine . Science 125(3257): 1067-1071. [ PubMed : 13432758 ]
  • Roethlisberger, F. J. and Dickson, W. J. (1939) Management and the Worker . Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
  • Rossi, P. H., and Freeman, H. E. (1982) Evaluation: A Systematic Approach . 2nd ed. Beverly Hills, Cal.: Sage Publications.
  • Turner, C. F., editor; , Miller, H. G., editor; , and Moses, L. E., editor. , eds. (1989) AIDS, Sexual Behavior, and Intravenous Drug Use . Report of the NRC Committee on AIDS Research and the Behavioral, Social, and Statistical Sciences. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. [ PubMed : 25032322 ]
  • Weinstein, M. C., Graham, J. D., Siegel, J. E., and Fineberg, H. V. (1989) Cost-effectiveness analysis of AIDS prevention programs: Concepts, complications, and illustrations . In C.F. Turner, editor; , H. G. Miller, editor; , and L. E. Moses, editor. , eds., AIDS, Sexual Behavior, and Intravenous Drug Use . Report of the NRC Committee on AIDS Research and the Behavioral, Social, and Statistical Sciences. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. [ PubMed : 25032322 ]
  • Weiss, C. H. (1972) Evaluation Research . Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

On occasion, nonparticipants observe behavior during or after an intervention. Chapter 3 introduces this option in the context of formative evaluation.

The use of professional customers can raise serious concerns in the eyes of project administrators at counseling and testing sites. The panel believes that site administrators should receive advance notification that professional customers may visit their sites for testing and counseling services and provide their consent before this method of data collection is used.

Parts of this section are adopted from Turner, Miller, and Moses, (1989:324-326).

This weakness has been noted by CDC in a sourcebook provided to its HIV intervention project grantees (CDC, 1988:F-14).

The significance tests applied to experimental outcomes calculate the probability that any observed differences between the sample estimates might result from random variations between the groups.

Research participants' knowledge that they were being observed had a positive effect on their responses in a series of famous studies made at General Electric's Hawthorne Works in Chicago (Roethlisberger and Dickson, 1939); the phenomenon is referred to as the Hawthorne effect.

participants who self-select into a program are likely to be different from non-random comparison groups in terms of interests, motivations, values, abilities, and other attributes that can bias the outcomes.

A double-blind test is one in which neither the person receiving the treatment nor the person administering it knows which treatment (or when no treatment) is being given.

As discussed under ''Agency In-House Team,'' the outside evaluator might be one of CDC's personnel. However, given the large amount of research to be done, it is likely that non-CDC evaluators will also need to be used.

See, for example, chapter 3 which presents cost estimates for evaluations of media campaigns. Similar estimates are not readily available for other program types.

For example, the U. K. Health Education Authority (that country's primary agency for AIDS education and prevention programs) allocates 10 percent of its AIDS budget for research and evaluation of its AIDS programs (D. McVey, Health Education Authority, personal communication, June 1990). This allocation covers both process and outcome evaluation.

  • Cite this Page National Research Council (US) Panel on the Evaluation of AIDS Interventions; Coyle SL, Boruch RF, Turner CF, editors. Evaluating AIDS Prevention Programs: Expanded Edition. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1991. 1, Design and Implementation of Evaluation Research.
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Faculty Toolkit: Designing Research Assignments

It's Complicated: What Students Say About Research and Writing Assignments from Project Information Literacy

How Librarians Can Help

Librarians are available to consult with faculty and instructors to create or revise effective research assignments and classroom activities that foster critical thinking, evaluation skills, and promote lifelong learning.

Librarians can help you:

  • Understand students' research capabilities.
  • Create, revise, or offer suggestions on your research-based assignments.
  • Talk about alternatives to traditional research papers or presentations.
  • Identify and discuss library resources suitable for an online class research guide
  • Provide individualized training on library resources.

Provide Tools & Support

  • Provide copies of research assignments to your librarian so we are better prepared to assist your students when they need help.
  • Consider putting materials on reserve that will be needed by large numbers of students to ensure all students will have access to them.

Consider Alternatives to the Research Paper

  • Explore the library as an "Ethnographer" (Library Discovery Tour not to be confused with a scavenger hunt)
  • Generate a shared bibliography of readings (see " How to get students to find and read 94 articles before the next class ")
  • Compare disciplinary perspectives on the same topic
  • Find and compare articles on oil spills in the news and the scientific literature
  • Read a short article from the popular press (provided by professor) dealing with results of original research. Locate the original research findings on which the article was based, discuss the relationship between the popular article and the original research, and critique the accuracy of the popular article
  • Find facts to support or contradict an editorial
  • Research the publications and career of a prominent scholar
  • Compile an annotated bibliography
  • Prepare a literature review
  • Find book reviews on a text used in class
  • Evaluate a web site
  • Find and summarize recent news related to a class topic, discuss in class (one-time or recurring).
  • Research a topic and present findings as a poster session for classmates or larger group.
  • Research a topic or event using information published in different decades. Compare and discuss what changes occurred in the literature and why.

Tips for Designing Library Research Assignments

  • Address Learning Goals Related to the Research Process . Consider what research skills you would like students to develop in completing the assignment and discuss with your students the importance of developing those skills.
  • Be Clear about Your Expectations . Remember that your students may not have prior experience with scholarly journals, monographs, or academic libraries. Spend time in class discussing how research is produced and disseminated in your discipline and how you expect your students to participate in academic discourse in the context of your class.
  • Scaffolding your Assignment Brings Focus to the Research Process . Breaking a complex research assignment down into a sequence of smaller, more manageable parts has a number of benefits: it models how to approach a research question and effective time management, it gives students the opportunity to focus on and master key research skills, it provides opportunities for feedback, and it can be an effective deterrent to plagiarism.
  • Devote Class Time to Discussion of the Assignment in Progress . Periodic discussions in class can help students reflect on the research process and its importance, encourage questions, and help students develop a sense that what they are doing is a transferable process that they can use for other assignments.
  • Criteria for Assessment . In your criteria for assessment (i.e. written instructions, rubrics), make expectations related to the research process explicit. For example, are there specific expectations for the types of resources students should use and how they should be cited? Research shows that students tend to use more scholarly sources when faculty provide them with clear guidelines regarding the types of sources that should be used.
  • Test Your Assignment . In testing an assignment yourself, you may uncover practical roadblocks (e.g., too few copies of a book for too many students, a source is no longer available online). Librarians can help with testing your assignment, suggest strategies for mitigating roadblocks (i.e. place books on reserve for your students, suggest other resources), or design customized supporting materials (i.e. handouts or web pages).
  • Collaborate with Librarians . Librarians can help you design an effective research assignment that helps students develop the research skills you value and introduces your students to the most useful resources. We also can work with you to develop and teach a library instruction session for your students that will help them learn the strategies they will need in order to complete your assignment.
  • Make sure they know how and where to get help from librarians.
  • Librarians will meet with students to help them develop their topics and teach them how to find and evaluate sources.

Some content is adapted from University of Wisconsin - Madison Libraries

Common Problems to Avoid

  • Waiting until a couple days before the class to ask for an instruction session doesn't allow librarians adequate time to prepare and reserve a classroom.
  • Sending (or bringing) an entire class to the Library for research time without notice. The Tioga Library Building is for Quiet Study.  In the Snoqualmie Building, there is a limited number of computer workstations and small group study spaces. The staffing at the Reference desk cannot adequately accommodate working with classes.
  • Assigning Scavenger hunts - Roaming around the library looking for trivia is not research and is often seen as busy work by students that is disconnected from their research assignments.
  • Be sure the library has the resources your students need!  Avoid requiring students to use resources the library does not own or have in your preferred format (e.g. print journal articles) and cannot obtain within a reasonable timeframe.
  • Avoid having each student research the same topic.  This tends to stretch library resources too thin, especially when printed materials or limited connections to a key database are involved.
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Writing Resources

Designing your writing assignment.

When designing a writing assignment, bear the following questions in mind:

Examining Your Goals for the Assignment

  • How exactly does this assignment fit with the objectives of your course?
  • Should this assignment relate only to the class and the texts for the class, or should it also relate to the world beyond the classroom?
  • What do you want the students to learn or experience from this writing assignment?
  • Should this assignment be an individual or a collaborative effort?
  • What do you want students to show you in this assignment? To demonstrate mastery of concepts or texts? To demonstrate logical and critical thinking? To develop an original idea? To learn and demonstrate the procedures, practices and tools of your field of study?

Defining the Writing Task

  • Is the assignment sequenced so that students (1) write a draft, (2) receive feedback (from you, fellow students or staff members) and (3) then revise it? Such a procedure has been proven to accomplish at least two goals: it improves the student’s writing and it discourages plagiarism.
  • Does the assignment include so many sub-questions that students will be confused about the major issue they should examine? Can you give more guidance about what the paper’s main focus should be? Can you reduce the number of sub-questions?
  • What is the purpose of the assignment (e.g., review knowledge already learned, find additional information, synthesize research, examine a new hypothesis)? Making the purpose(s) of the assignment explicit helps students write the kind of paper you want.
  • What is the required form (e.g., expository essay, lab report, memo, business report)?
  • What mode is required for the assignment (e.g., description, narration, analysis, persuasion, a combination of two or more of these)?

Defining the Audience for the Paper

  • Can you define a hypothetical audience to help students determine which concepts to define and explain? When students write only to the instructor, they may assume that little, if anything, requires explanation. Defining the whole class as the intended audience will clarify this issue for students.
  • What is the probable attitude of the intended readers toward the topic itself? Toward the student writer’s thesis? Toward the student writer?
  • What is the probable educational and economic background of the intended readers?

Defining the Writer’s Role

  • Can you make explicit what persona you wish the students to assume? For example, a very effective role for student writers is that of a "professional in training" who uses the assumptions, the perspective and the conceptual tools of the discipline.

Defining Your Evaluative Criteria

  • Depth of coverage
  • Organization
  • Critical thinking
  • Original thinking
  • Use of research
  • Logical demonstration
  • Appropriate mode of structure and analysis (e.g., comparison, argument)
  • Correct use of sources
  • Grammar and mechanics
  • Professional tone
  • Correct use of course-specific concepts and terms

Resource adapted from the University of San Francisco Writing Center.

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Coursera Quantitative Methods Assignments (2016)

rkiyengar/coursera-quant-methods

Folders and files, repository files navigation, coursera_quantitative_methods.

This repo contains files related to the Quantitative Methods course on Coursera.

University of Texas

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Information Literacy Toolkit

  • Assignment design rubric for research assignments
  • Welcome to the Toolkit
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Assessment Resource Description

Undergraduates learn best from assignments that provide concrete and specific guidance on research methods. Librarians can help you design assignments that will guide your students toward effective research, and this rubric is one tool we use to do that.

Apply the assignment design rubric to your assignment to ensure that it has:

  • Clear expectations about source requirements
  • A clear rationale and context for resource requirements
  • Focus on the research process
  • Library engagement
  • Request a tailored assignment or session with a librarian
  • Toolkit Feedback If you use toolkit materials or notice an omission, please give us feedback.
  • Assignment Design Rubric - Google Drive Link
  • Assignment Design Rubric - Download Link

Updated 7/21

  • Last Updated: Feb 26, 2024 8:25 AM
  • URL: https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/toolkit

Creative Commons License

IMAGES

  1. Evaluation Essay

    research designs writing assignment (evaluative)

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  3. Writing Assignment:

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  4. PPT

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  5. 10 Parts Of A Common Research Paper

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  6. 009 Essay Example Critical Evaluation Critically Evaluate Analysis

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VIDEO

  1. WRITING THE CHAPTER 3|| Research Methodology (Research Design and Method)

  2. Workshop on "Research Methodology & Project Writing"

  3. RESEARCH DESIGNS-EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGN

  4. evaluative and narrative writing for grade 12

  5. Quantitative Research Designs 📊🔍: Know Your Options #shorts #research

  6. What to avoid in writing the methodology section of your research

COMMENTS

  1. What Is a Research Design

    Step 1: Consider your aims and approach Step 2: Choose a type of research design Step 3: Identify your population and sampling method Step 4: Choose your data collection methods Step 5: Plan your data collection procedures Step 6: Decide on your data analysis strategies Other interesting articles Frequently asked questions about research design

  2. Research Design

    Step 1: Consider your aims and approach Step 2: Choose a type of research design Step 3: Identify your population and sampling method Step 4: Choose your data collection methods Step 5: Plan your data collection procedures Step 6: Decide on your data analysis strategies Frequently asked questions Introduction Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5

  3. Types of Research Designs

    The research design refers to the overall strategy and analytical approach that you have chosen in order to integrate, in a coherent and logical way, the different components of the study, thus ensuring that the research problem will be thoroughly investigated.

  4. Step 3 of EBP: Part 1—Evaluating Research Designs

    Research design is the first methodological issue a clinical social worker must identify in appraising the quality of a research study. A research design is the orienting plan that shapes and organizes a research project. Different research designs are used for research projects with distinct goals and purposes.

  5. Evaluation Research Design: Examples, Methods & Types

    Also known as program evaluation, evaluation research is a common research design that entails carrying out a structured assessment of the value of resources committed to a project or specific goal. It often adopts social research methods to gather and analyze useful information about organizational processes and products.

  6. PDF Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments

    student-developed research project that includes the research proposal and/or original student research is a widely used construc-tivist assignment. Projects like these provide students with experiences beyond those usually found in a potentially lecture-heavy course that relies on students memorizing research terms and definitions. I have

  7. What Is Research Design? 8 Types + Examples

    In this article, we'll clear up the confusion. We'll explain the most common research design types for both qualitative and quantitative research projects, whether that is for a full dissertation or thesis, or a smaller research paper or article. Research Design: Quantitative Studies

  8. PDF RESEARCH DESIGNS FOR PROGRAM EVALUATIONS

    The ideal evaluation would have been one where people would have been randomly assigned either to a program or to a control group, the program was implemented, and after some predetermined period of exposure to the program, quantitative comparisons were made between the two groups.

  9. How to Write a Research Design

    Step 2: Data Type you Need for Research. Decide on the type of data you need for your research. The type of data you need to collect depends on your research questions or research hypothesis. Two types of research data can be used to answer the research questions: Primary Data Vs. Secondary Data.

  10. Research Design

    This will guide your research design and help you select appropriate methods. Select a research design: There are many different research designs to choose from, including experimental, survey, case study, and qualitative designs. Choose a design that best fits your research question and objectives.

  11. Research design

    Updated December 14, 2021. A research design is a meticulously calculated and organized blueprint that lays out the methods of a research investigation. A study design is necessary to obtain reliable and well-founded results. It helps ensure that the research process becomes smoother, effortless, well structured, and well defined.

  12. How to Write a Research Design: Guide For Students

    Identify the ones you will use and state this in the research design. Draft Your Research Design as You Would Other Sections; Now you can start writing the first draft. You should approach this like you would other academic assignments. Use a draft that lists all the sub-sections you need to address in the research design. Be clear and concise.

  13. Evaluative Research Design Examples, Methods, And Questions ...

    Evaluative research, aka program evaluation or evaluation research, is a set of research practices aimed at assessing how well the product meets its goals. It takes place at all stages of the product development process, both in the launch lead-up and afterward. This kind of research is not limited to your own product.

  14. Evaluating Research

    Definition: Evaluating Research refers to the process of assessing the quality, credibility, and relevance of a research study or project. This involves examining the methods, data, and results of the research in order to determine its validity, reliability, and usefulness.

  15. Research Guides: Research Assignment Design: Overview

    Students experience a greater cognitive load when researching because they lack domain knowledge. You can help students focus their energies by ensuring your assignment matches your priorities. For example, to prioritize synthesizing arguments, design an assignment around reading and writing with sources, and limit the need for finding sources ...

  16. Design and Implementation of Evaluation Research

    Evaluation has its roots in the social, behavioral, and statistical sciences, and it relies on their principles and methodologies of research, including experimental design, measurement, statistical tests, and direct observation. What distinguishes evaluation research from other social science is that its subjects are ongoing social action programs that are intended to produce individual or ...

  17. Designing Research Assignments

    It's Complicated: What Students Say About Research and Writing Assignments from Project Information Literacy How Librarians Can Help Librarians are available to consult with faculty and instructors to create or revise effective research assignments and classroom activities that foster critical thinking, evaluation skills, and promote lifelong ...

  18. Building A Research Design Assignment

    Building A Research Design Assignment Research Design Course Research and Program Evaluation (COUC 515) 76Documents Students shared 76 documents in this course University Liberty University Academic year:2022/2023 Uploaded by: Anonymous Student This document has been uploaded by a student, just like you, who decided to remain anonymous.

  19. Designing Your Writing Assignment

    Journals on Writing Research and Pedagogy ... Designing Your Writing Assignment. When designing a writing assignment, bear the following questions in mind: ... Defining Your Evaluative Criteria. If possible, explain the relative weight in grading assigned to the quality of writing and the assignment's content:

  20. Quantitative Methods

    Research Designs - Writing Assignment (Evaluative) ... In the previous two modules we discussed research designs and methods to measure and manipulate our variables of interest and disinterest. Before a researcher can move on to the testing phase and can actually collect data, there is just one more procedure that needs to be decided on ...

  21. GitHub

    README Coursera_Quantitative_Methods This repo contains files related to the Quantitative Methods course on Coursera. Coursera Quantitative Methods Assignments (2016). Contribute to rkiyengar/coursera-quant-methods development by creating an account on GitHub.

  22. Assignment design rubric for research assignments

    Undergraduates learn best from assignments that provide concrete and specific guidance on research methods. Librarians can help you design assignments that will guide your students toward effective research, and this rubric is one tool we use to do that. Apply the assignment design rubric to your assignment to ensure that it has: