Wondering where to start your research project? Here are 7 steps to research design that you can apply today!
As we explained last week, Motivated Academics are curious to brainstorm and test new research ideas. But once you come up with your research idea and develop your hypothesis, how do you know what type of research design to use so that you collect reliable data? That’s where research design comes into the academic picture!
I want to emphasise one thing – the generation of new research ideas is one of the most crucial aspects that you will need to learn as an academic. Each research project and scholarly paper depends on your ideas. But great ideas without efficient research design process and research execution are just that – great ideas without meaningful outputs.
That’s why Motivated Academics are eager to TEST their innovative concepts and ideas to make sure these bring tangible benefits to the economy, society and environment we all live in.
How do you test your ideas then? Well, that’s what research design is for!
What is research design?
Let me first define what’s research design. According to Oxford Reference, a research design is “a detailed proposal relating to a defined piece of [research] endeavour, which includes a definition of a problem, subject, or hypothesis for investigation; the background and context to the investigation; the proposed means and methods of the investigation; the work plan and timetable; details of the proposed investigators, management arrangements, and quality control procedures; and a table of costs.”
This definition was originally presented for archaeological endeavours and activities, but I believe it can be extended to any research area. At the end of the day, it is all about defining the design of a scientifically sound method that will allow you to produce a sufficient amount of data to test your hypothesis.
How to design your research in 6 simple steps?
Now that you know what research design is, let me share a simple 7-step framework that will help you develop a well-planned research design. I’ll try to support this research design with example where possible.
Step 1: Reflect on your hypothesis
The hypothesis you’ve developed for your research includes a piece of crucial information about your research question and variables that you want to evaluate.
Therefore, your research design should start by reflecting on your research hypothesis. You should be able to answer the following questions:
- what variables or parameters you should investigate?
- what information do you need to collect in your research to test your hypothesis?
- how much data do you need to test your hypothesis?
This information is crucial in the next step.
Step 2: Decide on research approach
Now there are two main approaches to your research approach: qualitative approach or quantitative approach.
The qualitative approach aims to characterise the relationships between the dependent and independent variables using mathematical tools to correlate the observations from your data. This usually generates quantitative data that are numerical and help you evaluate different case studies.
The quantitative approach aims to characterise the relationship between the dependent and independent variables using observations and non-mathematical data (pictures, recordings, text, transcripts, interviews, focus groups) to draw insights and conclusions.
You can also use mixed methods that combine both qualitative and quantitative approaches. With this approach to research, you can get more comprehensive answers to your research problem and you can deduct more informed conclusions.
Step 3: Select the type of research design
Wondering what are 4 types of research design? Here is the answer.
For quantitative research design, you can use experimental design, quasi-experimental design, correlational design, and descriptive design for your quantitative research. Here’s a brief overview of these research design types:
An experimental design seeks to determine a cause and effect correlation of variables that you study. Your experimental research design usually involves independent and dependent variables, and you are trying to understand how the change in the independent variable influences the dependent variables. The samples you use are often randomised. Your experiments are usually