Research Design

What is Research Design?
Importance of Research Design.
Feature of Good Research Design.

Research Design

A research design is the set of methods and procedures used in collecting and analyzing measures of the variables specificed in the research problem research study. The design of a study defines the study type (descriptive, correlational, semi-experimental, experimental, review, meta-analytic) and sub-type (e.g., descriptive-longitudinal case study), research problem, hypotheses, independent and dependent variables, experimental design, and, if applicable, data collection methods and a statistical analysis plan. Research design is the framework that has been created to find answers to research questions.

The formidable problem that follows the task of defining the research problem is the preparation of the design of the research project, popularly known as the “research design”. Decisions regarding what, where, when, how much, by what means concerning an inquiry or a research study constitute a research design. “A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure.” In fact, the research design is the conceptual structure within which research is conducted.

Importance of Research Design

Research design is needed because it facilitates the smooth sailing of the various research operations, thereby making research as efficient as possible yielding maximal information with minimal expenditure of effort, time and money. Just as for better, economical and attractive construction of a house, we need a blueprint (or what is commonly called the map of the house) well thought out and prepared by an expert architect, similarly we need a research design or a plan in advance of data collection and analysis for our research project. Research design stands for advance planning of the methods to be adopted for collecting the relevant data and the techniques to be used in their analysis, keeping in view the objective of the research and the availability of staff, time and money. Preparation of the research  design  should  be  done  with  great  care  as  any  error  in  it  may  upset  the  entire  project.

Research design, in fact, has a great bearing on the reliability of the results arrived at and as such

constitutes the firm foundation of the entire edifice of the research work.

Even then the need for a well thought out research design is at times not realised by many. The importance which this problem deserves is not given to it. As a result many researches do not serve the  purpose  for  which  they  are  undertaken.  In  fact,  they  may  even  give  misleading  conclusions. Thoughtlessness  in  designing  the  research  project  may  result  in  rendering  the  research  exercise futile. It is, therefore, imperative that an efficient and appropriate design must be prepared before starting research operations. The design helps the researcher to organize his ideas in a form whereby it will be possible for him to look for flaws and inadequacies. Such a design can even be given to others for their comments and critical evaluation. In the absence of such a course of action, it will be difficult for the critic to provide a comprehensive review of the proposed study.

Feature of a Good Research Design

A good design is often characterised by adjectives like flexible, appropriate, efficient, economical and  so  on.  Generally,  the  design  which  minimises  bias  and  maximises  the  reliability  of  the  data collected and analysed is considered a good design. The design which gives the smallest experimental error is supposed to be the best design in many investigations. Similarly, a design which yields maximal information  and  provides  an  opportunity  for  considering  many  different  aspects  of  a  problem  is considered most appropriate and efficient design in respect of many research problems. Thus, the question of good design is related to the purpose or objective of the research problem and also with the nature of the problem to be studied. A design may be quite suitable in one case, but may be found wanting in one respect or the other in the context of some other research problem. One single design cannot serve the purpose of all types of research problems.

A research design appropriate for a particular research problem, usually involves the consideration
of the following factors:

(i)  the means of obtaining information;

(ii) the availability and skills of the researcher and his staff, if any;

(iii) the objective of the problem to be studied;

(iv) the nature of the problem to be studied; and

(v)  the availability of time and money for the research work.