Good Example Of Research Paper On Hypothetical Research Designs

Introduction

Developing a research design for any study is essential as it serves as a framework that provides guidance for the various facets of the study (Creswell, 2003). The quality of the research findings depend on the soundness of the research design. In addition, the research design allows researchers to develop their research plans based on well-established ideas that are grounded in literature and that are recognized by experts in the field. According to Creswell (2003), the researcher must determine the answers to three questions when developing the research design. These include 1.) what knowledge claims the researcher is making, including the theoretical perspective; 2.) what inquiry strategies will inform the procedures; and 3.) what methods of data collection and analysis will be used.
Two of the frameworks with which research designs can be established are the quantitative and qualitative methods, although a third method – the mixed method – consists of a combination of the quantitative and qualitative methods. In this regard, this paper will discuss hypothetical research designs using the two frameworks and how appropriate they are for the hypothetical research question defined.

Research Question

For the purpose of this paper, the hypothetical research question is, “how can students’ interest in studying be increased?” This question will become the basis for the research design as it should enable the researchers to obtain the answer to the research question.

Quantitative Research Design

Quantitative methods aim to present the research findings in numerical format (Lodico, Spaulding, & Voegtle, 2010). They use measurement and observation and the test of theories. In addition, they can be either experimental or non-experimental where the experimental approach is used for determining cause-effect relationships while the nonexperimental approach is used for describing the preexisting groups or for determining whether a relationship exists between variables.
This method will enable the researcher to determine some of the things that will make students more interested in studying in that the items with the highest scores in the survey would be indicative of such. The strengths of this method include the objectivity of its results, considering that they are quantified. This lends credibility and validity to the findings. In addition, the collection of data through the use of surveys enables a large number of participants to be involved, which increases the generalizerability of the results. However, one of the limitations of this method is that the participants will be limited to the choices in the survey and will not be able to provide other ideas. They will also not be able to provide explanations for their answers. As such, the interpretation of the results may lack context. Nonetheless, the results may be used as basis for further research.

Qualitative Research Design

The qualitative method of research is a non-numerical method that entails the use of distinctive epistemological and methodological theories, such as ethnography, phenomenology, or grounded theory for the investigation of people’s understanding of their lives and social context (Holloway, 2005). It aims to explore the meanings that people attach to their experiences and identities, and it also describes the processes and social structures that influence the
formations of these meanings.
A thematic analysis will be used for analyzing the data. This is a systematic approach for analyzing qualitative data, which involves the identification of themes or patterns of cultural meaning, coding, the classification of data into themes, and the interpretation of the resulting thematic structures through the identification of commonalities, explanatory principles, theoretical constructs, overarching patterns, and relationships (Mills, Durepos & Wiebe, 2010).
This method is appropriate in that it will enable the researcher to get a better understanding of the participants’ experiences. The researcher will also be able to ask follow-up questions to ensure that the participants’ answers are understood in the proper context and to get clarifications. In addition, unlike in the survey method, the participants in a focus group can volunteer information or new ideas, which the researcher may have not thought about, or which the researcher may have failed to ask. Unlike the quantitative method or the survey, which was able to answer only the “what” questions (i.e. what makes studying interesting for students; “what makes studying uninteresting for students,” and others), the focus group will enable the researcher to ask why and how questions, such as “why does Object A make studying interesting for you?” or “how can studying in school become more interesting for you?” In the same regard, the use of a thematic analysis may enable the researcher to identify themes that may not have been found in previous research. As such, this method can also serve a good method for exploratory research.
However, one of its limitations is that the analysis and interpretation of the data can become subjective as there are no hard and fast rules for analyzing and interpreting qualitative data in the same way that there are for analyzing and interpreting numerical data. In this regard, the findings may not carry the same degree of credibility and validity that quantitative results do. In addition, the data gathering and data analysis process would require many resources, both in terms of time and human resource, which limits the number of participants that can be involved. In this regard, the findings may not be as generalizeable as those of a quantitative research.

Conclusion

This paper presented two research designs based on the quantitative and qualitative methods. The research designs were based on the research question on how students’ interest in studying can be increased. To address this question, the quantitative method employed survey questionnaires that used the Likert scale for gathering data. Descriptive statistics was used for the analysis. On the other hand, the qualitative research design made use of focus groups for gathering data, which were coded and analyzed using the thematic analysis.
The strengths and limitations of both designs were discussed, and based on this comparison, it can be concluded that the qualitative method is more appropriate for the research question, as it involved the study or understanding of human behavior, social interactions, and the participants’ attribution of meaning to various activities. Unlike the quantitative method that limits the participants’ responses to the questions, the qualitative method provides the participants with more opportunities for expressing their ideas, in turn enabling the researcher to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the research topic. In addition, the qualitative method would enable the researcher to answer how or why questions, which more closely match the nature of the study’s research question.

References

Boone, H. N., Jr. & Boone, D. A. (2012, April). Analyzing Likert data. Journal of Extension,
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Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
Approaches (2nd ed.). CA: Sage Publications.
Holloway, I. (2005). Qualitative research in health care. UK: McGraw-Hill Education.
Kamberelis, ,G. & Dimitriadis, G. (2013). Focus groups: From structured interviews to
collective conversations. Routledge.
Lodico, M. G., Spaulding, D. T. & Voegtle, K. H. (2010). Methods in educational research:
Mills, A. J., Durepos, G. & Wiebe, E. (2010). Encyclopedia of case study research: L - Z; index,
volume 2. SAGE.