LESSON 4

RESEARCH
DESIGNS
DR. SUNSUN J. CARNAZO
SUBJECT PROFESSOR
Methodology contains
 Research Design
 Participants of the Study
 Locale of the Study
 Research Instrument
 Validity of the Research Instrument
 Reliability of the Research Instrument
 Data Gathering Procedure
 Statistical Treatment of Data for Quantitative
Data Analysis Procedure for Qualitative
* Ethical Considerations
If you want to build a
house, what will the
architect ask you first?
It’s all about the ….

• DESIGN
A decision to make….

RESEARCH
DESIGN
….a tool for crafting a TITLE & SOP’s
Research designs are plans
and the procedures for
research that span the
decisions from broad
assumptions to detailed
methods of data collection
and analysis.
 RESEARCH DESIGNS
 The overall decision involves which design
should be used to study a topic.
 Informing this decision should be:
 - the worldview assumptions the researcher
brings to the study;
 - procedures of inquiry (called strategies);
and
 - specific methods of data collection,
analysis, and interpretation.
THE THREE TYPES OF DESIGNS
Qualitative research is a means
for exploring and understanding the
meaning individuals or groups ascribe
to a social or human problem.
 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.
Qualitative Research Designs
 Theprocess of research involves
emerging questions and procedures.
 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.
Qualitative Research Designs
The final written report has a
flexible structure.
Those who engage in this form of
inquiry support a way of looking at
research that honors an inductive
style, a focus on individual
meaning, and the importance of
rendering the complexity of a
situation (adapted from Creswell. 2007).
 Example Titles for Qualitative
Research

 1.Character and Competence: The 2C's

of Leadership Excellence of the Most
Outstanding Principals
 2.Education in the Eyes of Indigenous
Peoples Parents
 3.The Lived Experiences of Beginning
Teachers in Far Flung Schools
+
Strengths of Qualitative
Research

◼Research done in natural settings

◼Emphasis on informant interpretations and
meanings
◼Seek deep understanding of informant’s
world
◼ “Thick Description” (Clifford Geertz)

◼High levels of flexibility in research process

+
Weaknesses of Qualitative
Research
◼ Problems of reliability - The difficulty of replicating
findings

◼ Subjectivity” of nature of data collection and analysis

◼ Observations may be selectively reported making it

impossible to gauge the extent to which they are typical

◼ Risk of collecting meaningless and useless

information from participants.
+
Weaknesses of Qualitative
Research

◼Problems of objectivity vs detachment

(particularly in participant observation but also
applies to other methods)

◼Problems of ethics: Entering the personal world

of the participant
◼Very time consuming
 Quantitative research is a
means for testing objective
theories by examining the
relationship among
variables.
 These variables, in turn, can
be measured typically on
instruments, so that
numbered data can be
analyzed using statistical
procedures.
Quantitative Research Designs

The final written report has a set

structure consisting of introduction
literature and theory, methods.
results, and discussion (Creswell.
2008).
Quantitative Research Designs
 Like qualitative researchers, those who
engage in this form of inquiry have
assumptions about:
- testing theories deductively,
- building in protections against bias,
 - controlling for alternative explanations,
and
 - being able to generalize and replicate
the findings.
 Example Titles for Quantitative
Research

 1.Reading Comprehension and Problem

Solving Skills of the Elementary Pupils
 2.Mathematical Skills and Attitudes of
the Learners in the Elementary
 3.Spirituality and Management Potentials
of the Principals in the Public Elementary
Schools
Strengths of Quantitative
Research
◼It can deal with large numbers of cases

◼It
is capable of examining complex
patterns of interactions between
variables

◼Itcan make possible the verification of

the presence of cause and effect
relationships between variables
+
Weaknesses of Quantitative
Research
◼ Lack of in-depth information
◼ Ignores individual perspectives and experiences
◼ Limited with topics we know little about
◼ Can be built on pre-existing biases of the researcher
◼ The case of questionnaires:
◼ Language used
◼ Ordering of questions
◼ Forced response formats; what if ‘it depends…’?
◼ Missing data
◼ Sampling issues
◼ Response rates
◼ Lies, lies and damn statistics; torturing your data until it confesses
Mixed methods research is
an approach to inquiry that
combines or associates both
qualitative and quantitative
forms.
 It involves philosophical
assumptions, the use of
qualitative and quantitative
approaches, and the mixing of
both approaches in a study.
Example titles in Mixed
Research
 1.
Reading Anxiety and Coping of
the Junior High School Students
 2.
Perception and Experiences in the
Guidance and Counseling Office of
the Senior High School Students
 3.
Project Double Barrel: Impact and
Experiences of the Drug
Surrenderees
+ When to Use a Mixed Methods
Approach
◼ A purely quantitative approach or a purely qualitative approach
is insufficient to fully understand the problem

◼ We need to explore before we administer instruments

◼ We need to explain our statistical results by talking to people

◼ We need to see if our quantitative results and our qualitative

results match

◼ We need to enhance our experiments by talking with people

◼ We need to develop new instruments by gathering qualitative

data
Research Methods
Qualitative
NarrativeInquiry
Ethnography
Phenomenology
Grounded Theory
Case Study
1. Narrative Inquiry
 Narrative Inquiry: begins with the
experiences as expressed in lived and told
stories of individuals

 Can take the form of biographical studies,

life histories or oral histories.

 Collecting stories and “re-storying” them

What is narrative research?
In narrative research,
researchers describe the
lives of individuals, collect
and tell stories about
people’s lives, and write
narratives of individual
experiences.
What is narrative research?
As a distinct form of qualitative
research, a narrative typically
focuses on studying a single
person, gathering data
through the collection of
stories, reporting individual
experiences, and discussing
the meaning of those
experiences for the individual.
“Narrative” might be the term
assigned to any text or discourse,
or, it might be text used within the
context of a mode of inquiry in
qualitative research (Chase,
2005), with a specific focus on the
stories told by individuals
(Polkinghorne, 1995).
 Theprocedures for implementing this
research consist of focusing on studying
one or two individuals, gathering data
through the collection of their stories,
reporting individual experiences, and
chronologically ordering (or using life
course stages) the meaning of those
experiences.
Types of Narrative Studies
 Polkinghorne (1995) takes this approach
and distinguishes between “analysis of
narratives”, using paradigm thinking to
create descriptions of themes that hold
across stories or taxonomies of types of
stories, and “narrative analysis,” in
which researchers collect descriptions
of events or happenings and then
configure them into a story using a plot
line.
A second approach is to emphasize
the variety of forms found in
narrative research practices (see,
e.g., Casey, 1995/1996).
A biographical study is a form of
narrative study in which the
researcher writes and records the
experiences of another person’s life.
 Autobiography is written and recorded by
the individuals who are the subject of the
study (Ellis, 2004).
A life history portrays an individual’s entire
life, while a personal experience story is a
narrative study of an individual’s personal
experience found in single or multiple
episodes, private situations, or communal
folklore (Denzin, 1989a).
An oral history consists of
gathering personal reflections of
events and their causes and
effects from one individual or
several individuals (Plummer,
1983).
How do you use narrative
designs?
 When individuals are willing to tell their
stories
 Want to report personal experiences in
a particular setting
 Want a close bond with participants
 When participants want to process their
stories
 When you have a chronology of events
 When you want to write in a literary way
and develop the micro picture
Key Characteristics of
Narrative Designs
Individualexperiences
Chronology of the experiences
Collecting individual stories
Restorying
Coding for themes
Context or setting
Collaboration with participants
Steps in narrative research
Build in past, Build in place Describe their Analyze story
Present, future or setting story for
themes
Have them Collect other
Tell story Field texts
Restory or retell
The individual’s Collaborate with
Collect stories from story
the individual that participant storyteller in
Reflect personal experience all phases of research

Purposefully select an Write a story about the

individual to learn participant’s personal
about the phenomenon and social experiences

Identify a phenomenon
Validate the accuracy of
that addresses
the report
an educational problem
Potential issues in narrative
research
 Story authentic? (“Faking the data”
possible)
 Is the story “real?” (Participants may not
be able to tell the “real story”)
 Who “owns” the story? (Does the
researcher have permission to share it?)
 Is participant’s voice lost?
 Does the researcher gain at the expense
of the participant?
Example:

 Title: UNIQUE STORY OF A PHILOMATH

UNFOLD: A NARRATIVE OF A SENIOR
CITIZEN IN THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
 By Dr. Joanne Abalayan , 2020
2. Phenomenology

Phenomenology is s 20th century

philosophical movement dedicated
to describing the structure of
experience as they present
themselves to consciousness
,without resources to theory
,deduction, or assumptions from
other discipline such as the natural
sciences.
Phenomenology

 Describesthe meaning of the lived

experience about a concept or a
phenomenon for several individuals.
 Seeks to achieve a deep understanding
of the phenomenon by rigorous,
systematic examination of it.
 Itspurpose is to describe the essences of
lived experiences
Phenomenology…as a
Methodology
 …is focused on the subjective experience of individuals
or groups.
 …is personal. The world as experienced by the
individual, not relationships between people.
 …uses small, purposive samples of 3-10 participants
that have experienced the phenomenon.
 …attempts to describe accurately a phenomenon from
the person’s perspective.
Phenomenology as a
Methodology
 …is where art and science collide? The interpretation of
lived experience and daily life. Understanding meaning
from the world around us.
 …assumes that “There is a structure and essence to
shared experiences that can be narrated” (Marshall 2006 p. 104)
 …assumes that the only things we can know, are those
that are directly observable and experienced. The only
reality we can know is the one we directly experience.
 Philosophical Tenets
•Whatever is known must appear in
consciousness
•Consciousness provides access to
the world
•All phenomenologists believe in
multiple realities constructed by
individuals within the social context
of their lives
Advantages

• in-depth understanding of individual

phenomena.
• in-depth understanding of individual
phenomena.
•Reach data
•Unique perspective
 Strengths of
phenomenology

 Efficient and Economical (only in terms of data

generation or maybe not at all. . .)
 Direct Interaction with Participants
 Allows
the researcher to ask for clarification and to ask
immediate follow-up/probing questions
 Allows
the researcher to observe nonverbal responses
which can be supportive or contradictory to the verbal
responses

 Data is in the participants’ own words

 More Strengths

 Synergy: participants react to and build upon

the responses of other participants.
 Flexible research tool
 Applicable to a wide range of settings and individuals.
 Results are easy to understand (in terms of
people’s direct opinions and statements)
Therefore, it is useful
for…
• A person | student who wants to understand
human experience.

• finding a universal meaning of an experience.

• The reduction of context specific information to a

more general understanding of the phenomenon is
desired.

• A researcher who is willing to become closely

entwined with the research.
 Disadvantages

•The subjectivity of the data leads to

difficulties in establishing reliability and
validity of approaches and
information.
•It is difficult to detect or to prevent
researcher induced bias.
•There can be difficulty in ensuring pure
bracketing - this can lead to interference
in the interpretation of the data.
 Weakness of
phenomenology

 Findings are difficult to generalize to a larger

population
 Small number of participants who are often
attained in a convenient manner
 Individual responses are not always independent
of one another
 Dominant or opinionated participants may
overshadow the thoughts of the other group
members (only if group interviews are performed).
 Data is often difficult to analyze and summarize.
 Researcher may give too much credit to the results
(immediacy of a personal opinion)
 Disadvantages
•The presentation of results -the highly
qualitative nature of the results can make
them difficult to present in a manner that
is usable by practitioners.
•Phenomenology does not produce
generalizable data. Because the
samples are generally very small, can we
ever say that the experiences are
typical?
Examples:
 THE
BITTER SWEET JOURNEY OF THE UNIQUE
EXPLORED: THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF
LEARNERS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL
NEEDS By: Dr. Lira Varona, 2020
 EXPLORING THE HUES OF RAINBOW
LEADERSHIP: THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF
LGBTQ LEADERS by Dr. Analyn Villamor,
2020
3. Ethnography
 Ethnography (Greek ethnos=folk/people
and graphien=writing) is a qualitative
research method often used in the social
sciences, particularly in anthropology and
in sociology.
 Itis often employed for gathering
empirical data on human
societies/cultures.
Ethnography
Data collection is often done
through participant observation,
interviews, questions etc.
Ethnography aims to describe the
nature of those who studied
through writing.
Ethnography focuses on the culture
of group of people.
Ethnography is a qualitative
research method that is used by
anthropologist to describe a culture.
Culture has many definitions but
usually consists of origin, values,
roles and material items associated
with a particular group of people.
 As previously mentioned there are two
basic research approach in anthropology
emic and etic.
 The emic approach to research involve
studying behaviour from within the
culture.
 The etic approach involve studying
behavior from outside the culture and
examining similarities and difference
across culture.
Steps of Ethnographic Research
Identification culture to be studied
Identifying the significant variables within the culture
Literature review
Gaining entrance

Cultural immersion
Acquiring informants

Gathering data

Analysis of data

Description of the culture

Theory development
Role of Researcher
•Is the primary data collection tool
•Enters the world for an extended period of
time, asking questions, observing,
participating, & collecting whatever data
are available
•Observe behavior but go beyond it to
inquire about the meaning of it
Role of Researcher
•Researcher’s role is to make
inferences from their observations &
then to test these inferences over
time with their population until they
are confident they have an
adequate description of the culture
•Must set aside biases & explicate
beliefs
Advantages:
•Ethnography immerses the project team in
participants’ lives and enables a
relationship to develop with research
participants over the period of study;
•Ethnography provides a rich source of
visual data and helps to reveal
unarticulated needs;
Advantages:
•Ethnography captures behavior in the
different contexts of everyday life;
•Ethnography places a human face on
data through real-life stories that teams
can relate to and remember;
•Ethnography provides understanding
behind ‘statistics’;
Advantages:
•Ethnography allows emotional behavior to
be captured;
•By carrying out research in the everyday
life environments of participants it helps to
identify discrepancies between what
people say they do and what they
actually do.
Disadvantages

•Investigate complex issue

•A voice for understanding
•Expansive and difficult
•Ethics
4. Grounded Theory
 Grounded theory is an inductive
technique developed for health –related
topics by Glaser and Strauss (1999).
 Itemerged from the discipline of
sociology.
 The term grounded means that the theory
developed from the research is
“grounded” or has it s roots in the data
from which it was derived.
Role of Researcher
•Studies the behavior & the social setting
that influences the interaction
•Is a participant & observer
•No effort is made by researcher to put
aside assumptions.
• On the contrary the researcher uses past

experiences and assumptions to better

understand the processes being
observed.
Advantages
•The researcher should not predetermine a
priori about what he or she will find, and
what and how social phenomena should
be viewed.
•The value of Grounded Theory is that it
avoids making assumptions and instead
adopts a more neutral view of human
action in a social context.
Advantages
•"Grounded theory provides a
methodology to develop an
understanding of social
phenomena that is not pre-formed
or pre- theoretically developed
with existing theories and
paradigms."
Disadvantages

•Grounded theory fails to recognize

the embeddedness of the
researcher and thus obscures the
researcher's considerable agency in
data construction and
interpretation.