Medical Sociology:

Research Design

Prof. Dr. Saime Özçürümez

Spring 2023-2024
These slides are prepared for study purposes for the students Medical Sociology Module at the Faculty of
Dentistry, Başkent University. They cannot be quoted, reproduced, sahred or distributed without the
permission of Prof. Dr. Saime Özçürümez.
 The Selection of a Research Approach

Three research approaches are advanced: (a) qualitative, (b) quantitative, and
(c) mixed methods.

Qualitative and quantitative approaches should not be viewed as rigid,

distinct categories, opposites, or dichotomies.
• Instead, they represent different ends on a continuum (Creswell, 2015; Newman & Benz, 1998).

Mixed methods research resides in the middle of this continuum because it

incorporates elements of both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
The Selection of a Research Approach

Often the distinction between qualitative research and quantitative research is framed

• in terms of using words (qualitative) rather than numbers (quantitative).

A more complete way to view the gradations of differences between them is in

• the basic philosophical assumptions

• the types of research strategies used in the research (e.g., quantitative experiments or qualitative case studies), and
• the specific methods employed in conducting these strategies (e.g., collecting data quantitatively on instruments
versus collecting qualitative data through observing a setting).

Exper!ments
 • In planning a study, researchers need to think through
• the philosophical worldview
• the research design that is related to this worldview,
• the specific methods or procedures

The Selection
of a Research
Approach

A Framework for Research—The

Interconnection of Worldviews,
Design, and Research Methods
Definitions of • Quantitative research is an approach for testing
objective theories by examining the relationship
key terms among variables.
 • Qualitative research is an approach to exploring and
understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to
a social or human problem.

Definitions of • The process of research involves

• emerging questions and procedures,

key terms • data typically collected in the participant’s setting,

• data analysis inductively building from particulars to
general themes, and
• the researcher making interpretations of the meaning
of the data.
 • Mixed methods research is an approach to inquiry
• involving collecting both quantitative and
qualitative data,
• integrating the two forms of data, and
Definitions of • using distinct designs that may involve
philosophical assumptions and theoretical
key terms frameworks.
The core assumption of this form of inquiry
is that the integration of qualitative and
quantitative data yields additional insight
beyond the information provided by either
the quantitative or qualitative data alone.
Research Designs

The researcher not only selects a

also decides on a type of study
qualitative, quantitative, or mixed within these three choices.
methods study to conduct;

Research designs are types of inquiry within qualitative,

quantitative, and mixed methods approaches that provide
specific direction for procedures in a research study.

as computer technology has

advanced our data analysis and
The designs available to the ability to analyze complex
researcher have grown over the models, and
years as individuals have articulated
new procedures for conducting
social science research.
Research Designs: Quantitative design

Survey research provides a

quantitative or numeric
Experimental research seeks to
description of trends, attitudes,
determine if a specific treatment
or opinions of a population by influences an outcome.
studying a sample of that
population.

Experiments include true

experiments, with the random
assignment of subjects to
treatment conditions, and quasi-
experiments that use
nonrandomized assignments.
Research Designs: Qualitative design
The historic origin for qualitative research comes from anthropology, sociology, the humanities,
and evaluation.

Narrative research Phenomenological research

is a design of inquiry from the humanities in is a design of inquiry coming from philosophy
which the researcher studies the lives of and psychology in which the researcher
individuals and asks one or more individuals to describes the lived experiences of individuals
provide stories about their lives. T about a phenomenon as described by
participants.
 Research Designs: Qualitative design

Grounded theory Ethnography Case studies

is a design of inquiry from sociology is a design of inquiry coming from are a design of inquiry found in many
in which the researcher derives a anthropology and sociology in which fields, especially evaluation, in which
general, abstract theory of a process, the researcher studies the shared the researcher develops an in-depth
action, or interaction grounded in patterns of behaviors, language, and analysis of a case, often a program,
the views of participants. actions of an intact cultural group in event, activity, process, or one or
a natural setting over a prolonged more individuals.
period of time.
Research Designs: Mixed methods design

Mixed method research involve

Triangulating data sources—a
combining or integrating
means for seeking convergence
qualitative and quantitative
across qualitative and quantitative
research and data in a research
methods—was born.
study.

Qualitative data tends to be open-

ended without predetermined
responses while quantitative data
usually includes closed-ended
responses such as those found on
questionnaires or psychological
instruments.
 Research Designs: Mixed methods design
Note that…

-
Triangulation is the idea that looking at In social research we build on the Social researchers use several types of
something from multiple points of view principle that we learn more by observing triangulation:
E improves accuracy. from multiple perspectives than by
looking from only a single perspective.
d
The most common type is triangulation of measure,
meaning that we take multiple measures of the same
phenomena.
Another type is called triangulation of observers.
Multiple observers bring alternative perspectives,
backgrounds, and social characteristics.
Triangulation of theory requires using multiple
theoretical perspectives to plan a study or interpret
the data. Each theoretical perspective has assumptions
and concepts. They operate a lens through which to
view the social world.
Triangulation of method mixes the qualitative and
quantitative research approaches and data. A study
that combines both tends to be richer and more
comprehensive.

Source: Neuman, 2014: 166-7.

Research Designs: Mixed methods design

is a form of mixed methods design in which the researcher converges or merges quantitative and qualitative data in
Convergent mixed order to provide a comprehensive analysis of the research problem. In this design, the investigator typically collects
methods both forms of data at roughly the same time and then integrates the information in the interpretation of the overall
results.

Explanatory is one in which the researcher first conducts quantitative research, analyzes the results and then builds on the
results to explain them in more detail with qualitative research. It is considered explanatory because the initial
sequential mixed quantitative data results are explained further with the qualitative data. It is considered sequential because the
methods initial quantitative phase is followed by the qualitative phase.

Exploratory is the reverse sequence from the explanatory sequential design. In the exploratory sequential approach, the
sequential mixed researcher first begins with a qualitative research phase and explores the views of participants. The data are then
methods analyzed, and the information used to build into a second, quantitative phase.
Research Methods

• As shown in the Table, it is useful

• to consider the full range of
possibilities for data collection and
• to organize these methods, for
example, by their degree of
predetermined nature, their use of
closed-ended versus open-ended
questioning, and their focus on
numeric versus non-numeric data
analysis.
 Criteria for Selecting a Research Approach:
The Research Problem & Questions
Quantitative For example, if the problem calls for (a) the identification of factors that influence an outcome, (b) the utility of an
Certain types of social research
intervention, orproblems callthe
(c) understanding forbestspecific
predictors approaches.
of outcomes, then a quantitative approach is best.

Approach It is also the best approach to use to test a theory or explanation.

Qualitative On the other hand, if a concept or phenomenon needs to be explored and understood because little research has been
done on it or because it involves an understudied sample, then it merits a qualitative approach.

Approach Qualitative research is especially useful when the researcher does not know the important variables to examine. This type
of approach may be needed because the topic is new, the subject has never been addressed with a certain sample or
group of people, and existing theories do not apply with the particular sample or group under study.

Mixed A mixed methods design is useful when the quantitative or qualitative approach, each by itself, is inadequate to best
understand a research problem and the strengths of both quantitative and qualitative research (and its data) can provide

Methods
the best understanding. For example, a researcher may want to both generalize the findings to a population as well as
develop a detailed view of the meaning of a phenomenon or concept for individuals. In this research, the inquirer first
explores generally to learn what variables to study and then studies those variables with a large sample of individuals.
 • In planning a research project, researchers
need to identify whether they will employ a
qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods
approach.
• This approach is based on bringing together a

Summary… worldview or assumptions about research, a

specific design, and research methods.
• Decisions about choice of an approach are
further influenced by the research problem or
issue being studied, the personal experiences
of the researcher, and the audience for whom
the researcher writes.