UNIT-4

RESEARCH DESIGN
 Concept of Research Design
• After selecting the issues of research, a researcher formulates plan and
framework for completing his/her research work since beginning till the end
is known as research design.
• Research Design incorporates the blue print for the collection,
measurement and analysis of data.
• Research Design is the overall program of the research. It starts from
problem selection, measurement tools, data collection, selection of
methods for analysis of data, draw conclusions and generalization of
findings based on the availability of resources and tools.
• According to Kerlinger F.N., "Research design is the plan, structure and
strategy of investigations conceived so as to obtain answer of research
questions and to control variance."
• According to C.R. Kothari, "Research design is the conceptual structure
within which research is conducted. It constitutes the blue print for the
collection, measurement and qualities of data."
• From the analysis of above definitions, the following facts are found in the
research design. It is a framework of research which helps to collection,
 Types of Research Design
1. Exploratory Research Design:-- An exploratory research is defined as "a study
undertaken in areas where very little prior knowledge or information is available on
the subject under investigation".
• It is thus the initial research conducted to study and define the nature of a problem.
• An exploratory study is undertaken when we do not know much about the situation
at hand. In such cases, extensive preliminary work needs to be done to gain
familiarity with the phenomenon in the situation.
• The purpose of exploratory research is to achieve new insights into a phenomenon.
• The major emphasis in those studies is the discovery of new insights or ideas.
• Exploratory research is useful when there is a need for a more in-
depth understanding of a complex issue, event, or phenomenon.
• It can be used to develop hypotheses for further study, identify key
issues, generate ideas, and gain an understanding of an unfamiliar
situation.
 Types of Research Design
• It is an important method of finding out what is happening, to see new insights, to ask questions,
and to assess phenomena in a new light.
• Exploratory research is particularly useful if we wish to clarify our understanding of a problem.
• In exploratory research , the focus is initially broad and becomes progressively narrower as the
research progresses.
• It is important to note that doing a study for the first time in a particular issue does not make the
research exploratory in nature.
• Only when knowledge is insufficient and a deeper understanding is needed, the study becomes
exploratory.
1.What additional features of car can attract new customers?
2.What types of new technology can make mobile banking more safety?
3.What are the important factors that are responsible for the increase in
temperature on earth with global warming?
4.How to solve the problem of land sliding with the help of modern technology?
5.Can we solve the problem of air pollution without shutting industrial setup and
new technology equipment?
 Types of Research Design
• Descriptive Research:-- Descriptive research is a fact-finding operation
searching for adequate information.
• It is a type of study, which is generally conducted to assess the opinions,
behaviours, or characteristics of a given population and to describe the
situation and events occurring at present.
• Descriptive research is a process of accumulating facts.
• Descriptive research can be either quantitative or qualitative.
• This research involves gathering data that describes events and then
organizes, tabulates, and describes the data collection.
• Descriptive statistics (Descriptive and inferential statistic) is used to reduce
the data to manageable form.
• Descriptive research, like other types of research, can include multiple
variables for analysis.
• What is the average height of BBA level student?
• What is average profit per month in a year of business?
• What is per capita income of the people?
Purposes of Descriptive Studies
• To collect detailed factual information that describes
existing phenomena.
• To identify problems or justify current conditions and
practices.
• To make comparisons and evaluations.
• To determine what others are doing with similar
problems or situations and benefit from their experience
in making future plans and decisions.
 Types of Research Design
• Diagnostic research design is a type of research design that seeks to identify
the underlying cause of a certain condition or phenomenon. It is used to
evaluate the frequency with which something occurs and its interaction
with other elements. This type of research design can answer questions
such as “why does this happen?” and “what are the causes of this issue?”
• The primary goal of diagnostic research design is to provide
insights into why something happens or doesn’t happen.
• This type of research can uncover new opportunities for
improvement or areas where existing strategies are not
working effectively.
• It can also help organizations understand how their
customers think and behave, allowing them to make more
informed decisions about product development and
marketing strategies.
Steps in diagnostic research design
• Emergence of problem
• A diagnosis of its causes
• Formulation of all possible avenues of remediation
• Recommendations for a possible solution.
 Experimental Research
 The researcher controls all other variables and conducts research
considering to a few variables through observation or experiment is
known as experimental research.
 In this research, variables under study are free and all other variables
are controlled.
 It is used to provide a stronger basis for the existence of causal
relationship between dependent and independent variables.
 The main aim of this research is to see the relationship between
variables and formulating hypothesis.
 It can be used in laboratory and work field. Work field has real life
situation.
 Control of other variables except variables under study.
• It seek to find out the answer of the question
• Do changes in variable A cause systematic change in variable B ?
• Researcher manipulate (independent or test variable )one variable
whose effect has to be tested on the dependent variable.

TrainingtotoEmployees
Training employees Increase
Increasein
inefficiency
efficiency

Age, Mental ability,

Training Methods
• Correlational Research:-- This research is used to ascertain the extent to
which two variables (dependent and independent) are related.
• In a correlational research, the researcher's main interest is to determine
whether two or more variables co-vary, and if so, to establish the
direction, magnitude, and form of the observed relationships.
• Variables thus may be closely related, moderately related, or completely
unrelated.
• In general, the magnitude of a correlation depends upon the extent which
an increase in one variable is accompanied by an increase in the other. For
example:- --
1.These two variables "smoking" and "long diseases" were found to co-vary
together.
2. Relation between income and saving
There are three types of correlations:
• Positive correlation exists when an increase in one variable is accompanied by
an increase in another. For example, increase in benefits to workers increases
productivity.
• Negative correlation exists when two variables are inversely related. An
increase in one variable would result in a decrease in another. For example, an
increase in absence rate of employees could result in decrease in production.
• No correlation exists when no discriminable correspondence prevails between
high and low ranks. Example:- Height of the person and income level.
• Correlations range over a scale, which extends from a perfect negative (-1.0)
correlation to no correlation (0.0) to a perfect positive correlation (+1.0).
• The correlation technique is thus a valuable research tool. This indicates how
strongly pairs of variables are related.
 Concept of Qualitative Research

There is no universal definition of qualitative research. In the literature

of social science research, such terms as interpretive, naturalistic,
ethnographic (samuha adhyan), and inductive research are employed
to designate the broad collection of approaches that we call simply
qualitative research.
• Qualitative research is a method that focuses on obtaining data
through open-ended and conversational communication.
• Uwe Flick (2010): "Qualitative research is an investigation of the
subjective meaning or the social production of issues, events, or
practices by collecting non-standardized data and analyzing texts and
images rather than numbers and statistics".
• John Creswell (2011): "Qualitative research is an inquiry process of
understanding based on distinct methodological traditions of inquiry
that explore a social or human problem".
• This approach to research involves the exploration and interpretation of the
perceptions, opinions, aspirations, behaviours, concerns, motivation, culture,
or lifestyles of small samples of individuals.
• It is highly focused, exploring in depth, the attitudes of people.
• This type of in-depth analysis provides insights into the problem under
investigation.
• Hence, qualitative research is all about exploring issues, understanding
phenomenon, and answering questions.
• Qualitative research is particularly valuable in providing rich descriptions of
complex phenomena.
 Features of Qualitative Research

• The features of qualitative research is that its emphasis on words rather

than numbers.
• Understanding the meaning of the events, situations, and actions of the
participants who are involved with their lives and experiences.
• Understanding the particular context within which the participants act, role
of context is very important in Qualitative Research.
• Qualitative researchers typically study a relatively small number of
individuals or situations and preserve the individuality of each of these in
their analyses, rather than collecting data from large samples.
• Use multiple sources of evidence rather than replying on a single source
alone.
• Multiple realities.
 Qualitative Research Design
• Case study (घटना अध्ययन) :-- Case study research design is an
important type of research design.
• It is in-depth study of a single case.
• It examine many features of the case
• Case can be related with any individual, group, organization, event or
others.
• Most of the case study research are qualitative in nature.
• If any person want to get detailed or intensive knowledge about any
person, group, event etc. this type of research design is used.
• Generally unstructured interview and observation methods are used for
collecting required data.
• A generalization drawn from a single case cannot be applied to all
cases.
ऐतिहासिक अनुसन्धान
ढांचा
 Design of Qualitative Research
• Ethnography(समूह अध्ययन) :-- Ethnography research is based almost entirely
on fieldwork and requires the complete immersion of the anthropologist in the
culture and everyday life of the people who are the subject of his study.
• Ethnography is a qualitative research method used to study cultures,
communities, and social practices.
• The goal is to understand how people live, interact, and make sense of their
world from their own perspectives.
• It focuses a specific field site such as school community and organization in
which a group of people share common culture.
• Generally, data are collected using participant observation, interview with
informants, artifacts or documents collection and survey with questionnaire.
• The collected qualitative data are analysed.
• It tries to understand the beliefs and practices of a cultural group.
 Design of Qualitative Research
• Phenomenological studies (गतिबिधि अध्ययन):-- Phenomenological study is a
qualitative research method focused on understanding how people experience a
phenomenon.
• It explores lived experiences from the first-person point of view, aiming to uncover the
essence of a particular experience.
• The goal of phenomenological studies is to describe the meaning that experiences
hold for each subject.
• This type of research is used to study areas in which there is little knowledge.
• In phenomenological research, respondents are asked to describe their experiences as
they perceive them.
• They may write about their experiences, but information is generally obtained through
interviews.
• Only when the researcher puts aside her or his own ideas about the phenomenon is it
possible to see the experience from the eyes of the person who has lived the
experience.
 Design of Qualitative Research
• Grounded Theory (धरातलीय सिद्धान्त):-- Grounded theory is a
qualitative method that enables to study a particular phenomenon or
process and discover new theories that are based on the collection and
analysis of real world data.
• The main purpose of grounded theory is to derive a theory from the data
collected in a natural setting.
• It focuses on a process including human actions and interactions and how
they result from and influence one another.
• It collects data through interview and observations.
• Data are analysed in grounded theory through systematic methods of
coding the data into categories and identifying interrelationship.
 Steps in formulating Research Problem (Unit 3)
• Identify a broad field or subject area of interest to you:-- It is essential to do this at the very
beginning, before starting out on your research journey. Ask yourself, "What is it that really
interests me as a professional?" . This will help you to find an interesting topic, and one which
may be of use to you in the future. For example, if you are a social work student, inclined to
work in the area of youth welfare, refugees or domestic violence after graduation, you might
take to research in one of these areas. Or if you are studying marketing you might be interested
in researching consumer behaviour.
• Dissect the broad area into subareas:-- At the outset, you will realise that all the broad areas
mentioned above-youth welfare, refugees, domestic violence, consumer behaviour etc. have
many aspects. For example, there are many aspects and issues in the area of domestic
violence( causes, impact, impact on child of DV etc) . The more you think or read about an area
the more subareas you will identify. For instance, you can go through the broad area of
alcoholism.

• Select what is of most interest to you. It is neither advisable nor feasible to study all subareas.
From your list, select issues, questions or subareas about which you are passionate. Your
interest should be the most important determinant for selection, even though there are other
considerations.
• Raise research questions:-- At this step ask yourself, "What is it that I want to find out about in this
subarea?' Make a list of whatever questions come to mind relating to your chosen subarea and if you
think there are too many to be manageable.

• Formulate objectives:-- Both your main objectives and your subobjectives now need to be formulated,
based on your research questions. The main difference between objectives and research questions is
the way in which they are written. Research questions are obviously that questions. Objectives
transform these questions into behavioural aims by using action-oriented phrases such as 'to find out',
'to determine', 'to ascertain' and 'to examine. Some researchers prefer to reverse the process; that is,
they start from objectives and formulate research questions from them. Some researchers are satisfied
only with research questions, and do not formulate objectives at all. If you prefer to have only research
questions or only objectives, this is fine.
• Assess your objectives:-- Now examine your objectives to ascertain the feasibility of achieving them
through your research endeavour. Consider them in the light of the time, resources (financial and
human) and technical expertise at your disposal.
• Double-check:-- Go back and give final consideration to whether or not you are sufficiently interested in
the study, and have adequate resources to undertake it. Ask yourself, 'Am I really enthusiastic about
this study?' and 'Do I really have enough resources to undertake it?" Answer these questions
thoughtfully and realistically. If your answer to one of them is 'no', reassess your objectives.