Research Phase II : planning a research study

Step II: conceptualising a research design

An extremely important feature of research is the use of appropriate methods. Research involves systematic, controlled, valid and rigorous exploration and description of what is not known and establishment of associations and causation that permit the accurate prediction of outcomes under a given set of conditions. It also involves identifying gaps in knowledge, verification of what is already known and identification of past errors and limitations. The strength of what you find largely rests on how it was found.

The main function of a research design is to explain how you will find answers to your research questions. The research design sets out the specific details of your enquiry. A research design should include the following: the study design per se and the logistical arrangements that you propose to undertake, the measurement procedures, the sampling strategy, the frame of analysis and the time-frame. (You should not be confused between study design and research design. Note that the study design is one part of the research design. It is the design of the study itself, whereas the research design also includes other parts which constitute the research process.)

For any investigation, the selection of an appropriate research design is crucial in ena­bling you to arrive at valid findings, comparisons and conclusions. A faulty design results in misleading findings and is therefore tantamount to wasting human and financial resources. In scientific circles, the strength of an empirical investigation is primarily evaluated in the light of the research design adopted. When selecting a research design it is important to ensure that it is valid, workable and manageable. Chapter 7 provides details about the research design most commonly used in quantitative and qualitative research.

There is an enormous variety of study designs and you need to be acquainted with some of the most common ones. Chapter 8 explains some of these designs. Select or develop the design that is most suited to your study. You must have strong reasons for selecting a particular design; you must be able to justify your selection; and you should be aware of its strengths, weaknesses and limitations. In addition, you will need to explain the logistical details needed to implement the suggested design.

Step III: constructing an instrument for data collection

Anything that becomes a means of collecting information for your study is called a ‘research tool’ or a ‘research instrument’, for example observation forms, interview schedules, question­naires and interview guides.

The construction of a research instrument is the first ‘practical’ step in carrying out a study. You will need to decide how you are going to collect data for the proposed study and then construct a research instrument for data collection. Chapter 9 details the various methods of data collection for qualitative and quantitative studies and the process of developing a research instrument.

If you are planning to collect data specifically for your study (primary data), you need either to construct a research instrument or to select one that has already been con­structed. Chapter 10 deals with methods for collecting data using attitudinal scales. The concepts of validity and reliability in relation to a research instrument are discussed in Chapter 11.

If you are using secondary data (information already collected for other purposes), you will need to identify what information is needed and then develop a form to extract the required data. In order to determine what information is required, you need to go through the same process as for primary data, described above.

Field testing (or pre-testing) a research tool is an integral part of instrument construction. As a rule, the pre-test of a research instrument should not be carried out on the sample of your study population but on a similar population which you are not proposing to study. This is covered in greater detail in Chapter 9.

If you are planning to use a computer for data analysis, you may wish to provide space for coding the data on the research instrument. This is explained in Chapter 15.

Step IV: selecting a sample

The accuracy of your findings largely depends upon the way you select your sample. The basic objective of any sampling design is to minimise, within the limitation of cost, the gap between the values obtained from your sample and those prevalent in the study population.

The underlying premise in sampling is that a relatively small number of units, if selected in a manner that they genuinely represent the study population, can provide — with a suf­ficiently high degree of probability — a fairly true reflection of the sampling population that is being studied.

When selecting a sample you should attempt to achieve two key aims of sampling the avoidance of bias in the selection of a sample; and the attainment of maximum precision for a given outlay of resources.

There are three categories of sampling design (Chapter 12): random/probability sampling designs, non-random/non-probability sampling designs and ‘mixed’ sampling design.

There are several sampling strategies within the first two categories. You need to be acquainted with these sampling designs — the strengths and weaknesses of each and the situa­tions in which they can or cannot be applied — in order to select the one most appropriate for your study. The type of sampling strategy you use will influence your ability to make gener­alisations from the sample findings about the study population, and the type of statistical tests you can apply to the data.

Step V: writing a research proposal

Having done all the preparatory work, the next step is to put everything together in a way that provides adequate information about your research study, for your research supervisor and others. This overall plan, called a research proposal, tells a reader about your research problem and how you are planning to investigate. Broadly, a research proposal’s main function is to detail the operational plan for obtaining answers to your research questions. In doing so it ensures — and reassures the readers of — the validity of the methodology to obtain answers accurately and objectively.

Universities and other institutions may have differing requirements regarding the style and content of a research proposal, but the majority of institutions would require most of what is set out here. Requirements may also vary within an institution, from discipline to discipline or from supervisor to supervisor. However, the guidelines set out in Chapter 13 provide a framework which will be acceptable to most.

A research proposal must tell you, your research supervisor and a reviewer the following information about your study:

• what you are proposing to do;
• how you plan to proceed;
• why you selected the proposed strategy.

Therefore it should contain the following information about your study (Chapter 13):

• a statement of the objectives of the study;
• a list of hypotheses, if you are testing any;
• the study design you are proposing to use;
• the setting for your study;
• the research instrument(s) you are planning to use;
• information on sample size and sampling design;
• information on data processing procedures;
• an outline of the proposed chapters for the report;
• the study’s problems and limitations; and
• the proposed time-frame.

Source: Kumar Ranjit (2012), Research methodology: a step-by-step guide for beginners, SAGE Publications Ltd; Third edition.