Research design is a topic that is rarely touched upon in marketing and management courses. As a result, students are not adequately prepared for research assignments that require proper attention to research limitations. In most cases, students do not possess the skills required to conduct rigorous data analysis and evaluate it from a theoretical perspective. This article addresses some of the most common questions related to various types of research designs, their characteristics, pros and cons and their uses in marketing and management research.
What Is Research Design?
Whenever a researcher starts doing any research, he formulates the structure of his study. He selects the research methods and techniques to be applied. This overall structure and planning are known as research design. The design makes the researcher able to perform his research according to his strategies for accurate results and to make his study successful. The research topic explains the type of the research design and methods, whether it is experimental, correlational or semi-experimental.
Characteristics Of The Research Design:
Research is a process of answering the questions that a researcher formulates at the start of his study. So every process must have some characteristics. While performing any research, you have to consider characteristics for successful research. Therefore, in this context, experts of a PhD dissertation writing service have determined some key characteristics for it. A brief description of all those characteristics is as follows:
Controlled:
In reality, various factors can affect the result of your research. So the word controlled infers that you need to plan your research in such a way that you can minimize the effect of other factors on your research. It is easy to achieve in physical sciences, as all the experiments are held in the laboratory. While in social sciences, it is very difficult because these researches are based on human issues, and you have to deal with them. Similarly, it is impossible to control external factors in hospitality and tourism.
Rigorous:
Carefully ensure that you use relevant, suitable and defensible methods and techniques to perform your research.
Systematic:
Word systematic means that the method you chose to perform your research study must be in a logical sequence. The different steps of the experiment or method should not be random.
Validity and verifiable:
Validity means using that measuring tool which gives the expected results. Whatever you performed or your outcomes need to be valid and verified by other researchers.
Empirical:
Make sure you collect data and material from real-life experiments and observations of your surrounding. Whatever you conclude, they must establish a strong indication of your material.
Critical:
Ensure that the method or technique you chose for your research is free from the downside and must resist critical inspection.
Neutrality:
Whenever you plan to research some problem or topic, you make assumptions about the collected data, or you may create hypotheses about the relationship between variables. The expected results need to be neutral and unbiased.
Reliability:
If the same research performs various times, it can give the same results again. It can only happen when your research is reliable. So for reliability, your research design has to contain the research questions that can maintain your results.
Generalization:
Generalization ensures that your research can conduct on any part of the inhabitants or community with equal precision. The findings of your research design must be appropriate to the whole community, not only the specific group of people.
Types Of Research Design:
Choosing it is another critical task you decide according to your research study. Based on the method and purpose of research, it is classified into five types: descriptive design, correlational design, experimental design, diagnostic design, and explanatory design. Let’s discuss them briefly one by one.
Descriptive Research Design:
This design is completely hypothetical. The researcher defines his study in-depth, accumulates data, performs analysis, and displays his outcome in a presentable way. This design relates the observations, case studies, and surveys.
Correlation Research Design:
As the name infers, the researcher uses this to understand the relationship between two variables. In this design, the researcher needs at least two data groups. This study can be used as an observational study.
Experimental Research Design:
A researcher uses this design to see the cause and effect relation between two or more objects. He determines the change in the dependent variable due to a change in the independent variable. Usually, in this design, the researcher can solve the problem by changing the variables and determining the change produced by them.
Diagnostic Research Design:
In this design, the researcher determines the main factors that cause the problem. You examine the fundamental reasons for the same problem and conditions appearing. This design consists of three phases, the problem inception phase, the problem diagnosis phase, and the problem-solution phase.
Explanatory Research Design:
As the name infers, this is used to explain, explore, and expand the studies. The researchers use this design to explore a phenomenon. The researcher goes through extensive literature, case-studies and finds the gaps to address in his research. Using this research method, the researcher explores the unexplored areas related to his subject.
Tips To Format A Research Design:
The research paper writing help provides the authentic Format of the research design should be based on these points:
- Establish research priorities
- Decide on what type of data you need for research (Qualitative or Quantitative)
- Decide on the data collection techniques
- Know the procedure of data analysis (Qualitative analyses or Quantitative analyses)
- Hire a dissertation writing service wherever you feel necessary.
Conclusion:
It is important to contemplate the study characteristics before designing a research design. The objective of the study, the resources available, and the constraints that may hinder the effective completion of the research are all points to be considered. Information on different types like descriptive, survey, experimental and quasi-experimental research design will help you develop an appropriate study plan.
