Research Methods | Definitions, Types, Examples - Scribbr

Research methods are ways of collecting and analyzing data. Common methods include surveys, experiments, interviews and observations. Havealanguageexpertimproveyourwriting Proofreading&Editing Checkyourpaperforplagiarismin10minutes Dothecheck GenerateyourAPAcitationsforfree! APACitationGenerator Home KnowledgeBase Methodology MethodologyAnintroductiontoresearchmethodsResearchapproachesInductivevs.deductiveQualitativevs.quantitativeQualitativevs.quantitativeQuantitativeresearchQualitativeresearchMixedMethodsresearchTypesofresearchcomparedResearchdesignsResearchdesignstepbystepDescriptiveCorrelationalExperimentalQuasi-experimentalCross-sectionalLongitudinalCasestudyEthnographicExploratoryExplanatoryVariablesandhypothesesTypesofvariablesIndependentvsdependentExplanatoryvsresponseMediatorvsmoderatorExtraneousvariablesConfoundingvariablesControlvariablesCorrelationvscausationOperationalizationWritinghypothesesReliabilityandvalidityReliabilityvsvalidityTypesofreliabilityTypesofvalidityInternalandexternalvalidityInternalvs.externalInternalvalidityExternalvalidityRandomandsystematicerrorSamplingPopulationvssampleSamplingmethodsProbabilityvsnon-probabilitysamplingSimplerandomsamplingSystematicsamplingStratifiedsamplingClustersamplingMultistagesamplingSamplingbiasCollectingdataStep-by-stepSurveysDoingsurveyresearchDesigningquestionnairesLikertscalesExperimentsDesigninganexperimentControlledexperimentsControlgroupsRandomassignmentBlindingBetween-subjectsdesignWithin-subjectsdesignPreparingdataDatacleansingTranscribinginterviewsAnalyzingdataStatisticalanalysisContentanalysisDiscourseanalysisThematicanalysisTextualanalysisFocusgroupsWritingupmethodsMethodologyinathesisMethodsinAPAstyleResearchethicsPeerreview Interestingtopics Researchpaper Researchbias Collegeessay APAStyle6thedition Applyingtograduateschool Statistics ChicagoStyle Languagerules Methodology MLAStyle Academicwriting Startingtheresearchprocess Dissertation Essay Tips APAStyle7thedition APAcitationexamples Citingsources Plagiarism Havealanguageexpertimproveyourwriting Proofreading&Editing Checkyourpaperforplagiarismin10minutes Dothecheck GenerateyourAPAcitationsforfree! APACitationGenerator Anintroductiontoresearchmethods Researchmethodsarespecificproceduresforcollectingandanalyzingdata.Developingyourresearchmethodsisanintegralpartofyourresearchdesign.Whenplanningyourmethods,therearetwokeydecisionsyouwillmake. First,decidehowyouwillcollectdata.Yourmethodsdependonwhattypeofdatayouneedtoansweryourresearchquestion: Qualitativevs.quantitative:Willyourdatataketheformofwordsornumbers? Primaryvs.secondary:Willyoucollectoriginaldatayourself,orwillyouusedatathathasalreadybeencollectedbysomeoneelse? Descriptivevs.experimental:Willyoutakemeasurementsofsomethingasitis,orwillyouperformanexperiment? Second,decidehowyouwillanalyzethedata. Forquantitativedata,youcanusestatisticalanalysismethodstotestrelationshipsbetweenvariables. Forqualitativedata,youcanusemethodssuchasthematicanalysistointerpretpatternsandmeaningsinthedata. TableofcontentsMethodsforcollectingdataExamplesofdatacollectionmethodsMethodsforanalyzingdataExamplesofdataanalysismethodsFrequentlyaskedquestionsaboutresearchmethods Methodsforcollectingdata Dataistheinformationthatyoucollectforthepurposesofansweringyourresearchquestion.Thetypeofdatayouneeddependsontheaimsofyourresearch. Qualitativevs.quantitativedata Yourchoiceofqualitativeorquantitativedatacollectiondependsonthetypeofknowledgeyouwanttodevelop. Forquestionsaboutideas,experiencesandmeanings,ortostudysomethingthatcan’tbedescribednumerically,collectqualitativedata. Ifyouwanttodevelopamoremechanisticunderstandingofatopic,oryourresearchinvolveshypothesistesting,collectquantitativedata. Pros Cons Qualitative Flexible–youcanoftenadjustyourmethodsasyougotodevelopnewknowledge. Canbeconductedwithsmallsamples. Can’tbeanalyzedstatisticallyorgeneralizedtobroaderpopulations. Difficulttostandardizeresearch. Quantitative Canbeusedtosystematicallydescribelargecollectionsofthings. Generatesreproducibleknowledge. Requiresstatisticaltrainingtoanalyzedata. Requireslargersamples. Youcanalsotakeamixedmethodsapproach,whereyouusebothqualitativeandquantitativeresearchmethods. Primaryvs.secondarydata Primarydataisanyoriginalinformationthatyoucollectforthepurposesofansweringyourresearchquestion(e.g.throughsurveys,observationsandexperiments).Secondarydataisinformationthathasalreadybeencollectedbyotherresearchers(e.g.inagovernmentcensusorpreviousscientificstudies). Ifyouareexploringanovelresearchquestion,you’llprobablyneedtocollectprimarydata.Butifyouwanttosynthesizeexistingknowledge,analyzehistoricaltrends,oridentifypatternsonalargescale,secondarydatamightbeabetterchoice. Pros Cons Primary Canbecollectedtoansweryourspecificresearchquestion. Youhavecontroloverthesamplingandmeasurementmethods. Moreexpensiveandtime-consumingtocollect. Requirestrainingindatacollectionmethods. Secondary Easierandfastertoaccess. Youcancollectdatathatspanslongertimescalesandbroadergeographicallocations. Nocontroloverhowdatawasgenerated. Requiresextraprocessingtomakesureitworksforyouranalysis. Descriptivevs.experimentaldata Indescriptiveresearch,youcollectdataaboutyourstudysubjectwithoutintervening.Thevalidityofyourresearchwilldependonyoursamplingmethod. Inexperimentalresearch,yousystematicallyinterveneinaprocessandmeasuretheoutcome.Thevalidityofyourresearchwilldependonyourexperimentaldesign. Toconductanexperiment,youneedtobeabletovaryyourindependentvariable,preciselymeasureyourdependentvariable,andcontrolforconfoundingvariables.Ifit’spracticallyandethicallypossible,thismethodisthebestchoiceforansweringquestionsaboutcauseandeffect. Pros Cons Descriptive Allowsyoutodescribeyourresearchsubjectwithoutinfluencingit. Accessible–youcangathermoredataonalargerscale. Nocontroloverconfoundingvariables. Can’testablishcauseandeffectrelationships. Experimental Morecontroloverconfoundingvariables. Canestablishcauseandeffectrelationships. Youmightinfluenceyourresearchsubjectinunexpectedways. Usuallyrequiresmoreexpertiseandresourcestocollectdata. Examplesofdatacollectionmethods Researchmethodsforcollectingdata Researchmethod Primaryorsecondary? Qualitativeorquantitative? Whentouse Experiment Primary Quantitative Totestcause-and-effectrelationships. Survey Primary Quantitative Tounderstandgeneralcharacteristicsofapopulation. Interview/focusgroup Primary Qualitative Togainmorein-depthunderstandingofatopic. Observation Primary Either Tounderstandhowsomethingoccursinitsnaturalsetting. Literaturereview Secondary Either Tosituateyourresearchinanexistingbodyofwork,ortoevaluatetrendswithinaresearchtopic. Casestudy Either Either Togainanin-depthunderstandingofaspecificgrouporcontext,orwhenyoudon’thavetheresourcesforalargestudy. Here'swhystudentsloveScribbr'sproofreadingservices Trustpilot Discoverproofreading&editing Methodsforanalyzingdata Yourdataanalysismethodswilldependonthetypeofdatayoucollectandhowyouprepareitforanalysis. Datacanoftenbeanalyzedbothquantitativelyandqualitatively.Forexample,surveyresponsescouldbeanalyzedqualitativelybystudyingthemeaningsofresponsesorquantitativelybystudyingthefrequenciesofresponses. Qualitativeanalysismethods Qualitativeanalysisisusedtounderstandwords,ideas,andexperiences.Youcanuseittointerpretdatathatwascollected: Fromopen-endedsurveyandinterviewquestions,literaturereviews,casestudies,andothersourcesthatusetextratherthannumbers. Usingnon-probabilitysamplingmethods. Qualitativeanalysistendstobequiteflexibleandreliesontheresearcher’sjudgement,soyouhavetoreflectcarefullyonyourchoicesandassumptions. Quantitativeanalysismethods Quantitativeanalysisusesnumbersandstatisticstounderstandfrequencies,averagesandcorrelations(indescriptivestudies)orcause-and-effectrelationships(inexperiments). Youcanusequantitativeanalysistointerpretdatathatwascollectedeither: Duringanexperiment. Usingprobabilitysamplingmethods. Becausethedataiscollectedandanalyzedinastatisticallyvalidway,theresultsofquantitativeanalysiscanbeeasilystandardizedandsharedamongresearchers. Examplesofdataanalysismethods Researchmethodsforanalyzingdata Researchmethod Qualitativeorquantitative? Whentouse Statisticalanalysis Quantitative Toanalyzedatacollectedinastatisticallyvalidmanner(e.g.fromexperiments,surveys,andobservations). Meta-analysis Quantitative Tostatisticallyanalyzetheresultsofalargecollectionofstudies. Canonlybeappliedtostudiesthatcollecteddatainastatisticallyvalidmanner. Thematicanalysis Qualitative Toanalyzedatacollectedfrominterviews,focusgroupsortextualsources. Tounderstandgeneralthemesinthedataandhowtheyarecommunicated. Contentanalysis Either Toanalyzelargevolumesoftextualorvisualdatacollectedfromsurveys,literaturereviews,orothersources. Canbequantitative(i.e.frequenciesofwords)orqualitative(i.e.meaningsofwords). Frequentlyaskedquestionsaboutresearchmethods What’sthedifferencebetweenquantitativeandqualitativemethods? Quantitativeresearchdealswithnumbersandstatistics,whilequalitativeresearchdealswithwordsandmeanings. Quantitativemethodsallowyoutosystematicallymeasurevariablesandtesthypotheses.Qualitativemethodsallowyoutoexploreconceptsandexperiencesinmoredetail. Whatismixedmethodsresearch? Inmixedmethodsresearch,youusebothqualitativeandquantitativedatacollectionandanalysismethodstoansweryourresearchquestion. Whatissampling? Asampleisasubsetofindividualsfromalargerpopulation.Samplingmeansselectingthegroupthatyouwillactuallycollectdatafrominyourresearch.Forexample,ifyouareresearchingtheopinionsofstudentsinyouruniversity,youcouldsurveyasampleof100students. Instatistics,samplingallowsyoutotestahypothesisaboutthecharacteristicsofapopulation. HowdoIdecidewhichresearchmethodstouse? Theresearchmethodsyouusedependonthetypeofdatayouneedtoansweryourresearchquestion. Ifyouwanttomeasuresomethingortestahypothesis,usequantitativemethods.Ifyouwanttoexploreideas,thoughtsandmeanings,usequalitativemethods. Ifyouwanttoanalyzealargeamountofreadily-availabledata,usesecondarydata.Ifyouwantdataspecifictoyourpurposeswithcontroloverhowitisgenerated,collectprimarydata. Ifyouwanttoestablishcause-and-effectrelationshipsbetweenvariables,useexperimentalmethods.Ifyouwanttounderstandthecharacteristicsofaresearchsubject,usedescriptivemethods. What’sthedifferencebetweenmethodandmethodology? Methodologyreferstotheoverarchingstrategyandrationaleofyourresearchproject.Itinvolvesstudyingthemethodsusedinyourfieldandthetheoriesorprinciplesbehindthem,inordertodevelopanapproachthatmatchesyourobjectives. Methodsarethespecifictoolsandproceduresyouusetocollectandanalyzedata(forexample,experiments,surveys,andstatisticaltests). Inshorterscientificpapers,wheretheaimistoreportthefindingsofaspecificstudy,youmightsimplydescribewhatyoudidinamethodssection. Inalongerormorecomplexresearchproject,suchasathesisordissertation,youwillprobablyincludeamethodologysection,whereyouexplainyourapproachtoansweringtheresearchquestionsandciterelevantsourcestosupportyourchoiceofmethods. Isthisarticlehelpful? 2809 242 Youhavealreadyvoted.Thanks:-) Yourvoteissaved:-) Processingyourvote... Otherstudentsalsoliked Developingstrongresearchquestions Researchquestionsgiveyourprojectaclearfocus.Theyshouldbespecificandfeasible,butcomplexenoughtomeritadetailedanswer. 1818 Howtocreatearesearchdesign Theresearchdesignisastrategyforansweringyourresearchquestions.Itdetermineshowyouwillcollectandanalyzeyourdata. 3260 Astep-by-stepguidetodatacollection Datacollectionisthesystematicprocessofgatheringobservationsormeasurementsinresearch.Itcanbequalitativeorquantitative. 959 AguidetodatacleansingAguidetoethicalconsiderationsinresearchAguidetoethnographyAguidetoexperimentaldesignAguidetoexplanatoryresearchAguidetoexploratoryresearchAguidetooperationalizationAquickguidetotextualanalysisAstep-by-stepguidetodatacollectionAnintroductiontoclustersamplingAnintroductiontocorrelationalresearchAnintroductiontomixedmethodsresearchAnintroductiontomultistagesamplingAnintroductiontoqualitativeresearchAnintroductiontoquantitativeresearchAnintroductiontoquasi-experimentaldesignsAnintroductiontosamplingmethodsAnintroductiontosimplerandomsamplingConstructingaconceptualframeworkControlgroupsinscientificresearchControlvariablesexplainedCorrelationvscausationDescriptiveresearchDesigningaquestionnaireDesigningandanalyzingLikertscalesExplanatoryandresponsevariablesHowdoyouincorporateaninterviewintoadissertation?HowtocreatearesearchdesignHowtodoacasestudyHowtodosurveyresearchHowtodothematicanalysisHowtoperformsystematicsamplingHowtotranscribeaninterviewHowtousestratifiedsamplingHowtowriteahypothesisIndependentanddependentvariablesInductivevs.deductivereasoningInternalvsexternalvalidityMediatorvsmoderatorvariablesPopulationvssample:what'sthedifference?Qualitativevs.quantitativeresearchRandomassignmentinexperimentsRandomvs.systematicerrorReliabilityvsvalidity:what'sthedifference?Samplingbias:Whatisitandwhydoesitmatter?ThefourtypesofvalidityThemaintypesofresearchcomparedTypesofreliabilityandhowtomeasurethemUnderstandingconfoundingvariablesUnderstandingexternalvalidityUnderstandingextraneousvariablesUnderstandinginternalvalidityUnderstandingtypesofvariablesWhatisabetween-subjectsdesign?Whatisacontrolledexperiment?Whatisacross-sectionalstudy?Whatisadouble-blindstudy?Whatisafocusgroup?Whatisalongitudinalstudy?Whatisawithin-subjectsdesign?Whatiscontentanalysisandhowcanyouuseitinyourresearch?Whatisdiscourseanalysis?Whatispeerreview? Whatisyourplagiarismscore? ScribbrPlagiarismChecker