Choosing Research Design: A Practical Guide for Research Project

Research is a systematic process that focuses on different aspects for the generation of innovative concepts. The quality of research is a thing that cannot be compromised at any cost. In order to make your research reliable, you have to work on the research methods, approach and techniques. Another major factor is related to data collection. In data collection, you have to decide if primary data is best for research or secondary. All these aspects are necessary to address. In the research field, you can work on these fundamental factors with the help of research design. It has different types, and you must select the most relevant type to your study area. As per its importance, this article aims to discuss research design in detail.

What is Research Design?

As a good researcher, you have to start your research with a constructive framework. The framework plays an important role as a guide map. In this framework, you have to mention all major and minor steps of research. It includes sample size, targeted area and audience as well. Furthermore, you need to mention the research approach in detail. Also, the research methods should be there based on the problem statement. This detailed framework is named as research design. The purpose behind the research design is to set a single direction for study.

There are 5 designs of research, and there are some common characteristics of all designs. There must be a problem statement in every type of design. Also, it must address the data collection technique along with research methods. Furthermore, a research design should work on analysis techniques and details of the time required for different milestones.

What are 5 Types of Research Designs?

Following are 5 main types that you can use as a design of research:

Experimental Research Design

It works well for studies with cause and effect. In this type, you have to define the best suitable variables for your research study. After that, define which variable is dependent and which one is independent. In this way, you can easily evaluate the effects of variables. It is a scientific investigation of a research problem that focuses on experiments. Based on the available condition, the type of experiment also varies. The experiment can be controlled to generate reliable research results. By controlling the variables, you can better identify the changing patterns of data. The manipulation of experimental results is also easy in this research design. However, due to a little complexity of this research design, most of the researchers prefer to hire the best dissertation writing service UK.

Explanatory Research Design

It helps when the study aims to explore innovative ideas. With the help of this type, you can fill the research gap. In a literature review, you can find some limitations of research. These limitations are the research gaps for future studies. When you target these gaps, the aim of the study is to target the unexplored areas. So, you have to explain different levels of research by collecting new data and analysis. It is better not to rely on the old data. With new sets of data, you can develop a strong understanding by having fair-minded resources. In explanatory research design, the major challenge is to avoid biasness. Thus, you must be careful about it.

Descriptive Research Design

A descriptive design in research is effective for qualitative studies. This design aims to determine and evaluate the trends of data. Also, you can better describe the characteristics of a research problem. With the help of this design, you can get insights into a problem. Researchers advise using this research design when you have to investigate a hidden aspect of the problem.

It can work well for quantitative as well as qualitative research. In both cases, it plays a pivotal role in the generation of reliable results. For data collection, this design of research focuses on questionnaires and case studies.

Correlational Research Design

By the name of this design, you can remember its key elements. It is a non-experimental design that works best for quantitative research. In this type, you need to find the relationships between different variables of the study. For comparison, there should be more than one set of data.

At the time of working on relationships, you have to focus on the direction of a relationship. There are two possibilities for the relationships of variables. The first possibility is for a positive relationship between variables. The positive relationship only exists when a change in all variables is the same. For example, an increase in one variable causes the same rate of increase in other variables. This is a positive correlation in both of variables. In contrast, the second possibility refers to an increase in one variable that causes a decrease in the other one. This correlation in the opposite direction is negative.

Diagnostic Research Design

The last type related to the research design is the diagnostic one. The simplest way to understand this design consists of three steps;

• The first step is about problem examination. The background information provides you best knowledge for examination.
• The second step is a diagnosis of the problem. In this step, you need to determine the core point that pinches out the challenges.
• The last step is of solution. With the right and systematic procedure, you must identify the best solutions to the study problem.

Final Thoughts

Research design is a complete package to conduct the whole project. Each element of design is necessary to address logically. Based on the type of design, the way to address any element can vary, but you cannot skip the element. For example, the way of data collection can be different in different designs, but you cannot complete your research without it. That is how every element has a strong connection with the other one. Keep these aspects clear to you. Also, the above-mentioned types of design can help you meet the best results for your study.