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Research Design and Methodology
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CMM 325 TOPIC 6RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
Topic Objectives
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
• Understand what is meant by research design.
• Describe different research designs.
• Understand what is meant by research methodology.
• Describe different research methodologies.
• Select the most appropriate design and methodology for a research topic.
• Complete writing Chapter 3 of the research project.
Introduction
Choosing your research design is an important part of the research process. The
chosen research design will likely influence the later stages in your research, especially
how you decide to collect and analyze your data.
In research texts, the term research design is defined in different ways. Some
researchers sometimes use the terms ‘research design’ and ‘methodology’
interchangeably. You will also find in the literature that there is a lack of consensus as to
what constitutes a research design.
A key consideration when selecting a research design(s) is how much time you intend
spending on your research. This is the time-bound or time horizon associated with your
study. In essence, there are two options here – cross-sectional and longitudinal. We
consider both options and explain how they relate to different types of research design.
Next, the chapter explores ways to combine different types of research design and
comparative research designs. The chapter concludes by looking at whether there is
one ‘best’ research design, how to select your research design and examples of
research design.
What is research design?
Research design means all the issues involved in planning and executing a research
project – from identifying a problem through to reporting and publishing the results
Dr. Kimani Mburu © 2022 1
, (Punch (2014). This definition refers to planning. In this sense, research design is part
of the planning process.
It is also defined as the blueprint which directs you in finding your way towards
executing your plan for your research methodology (Van Wyk & Taole 2015). Hence,
research design is not just about planning, but helps to direct other elements of
research methodology. For example, your choice of research design is related to other
elements of methodology, namely, research philosophy, research approach, research
strategy, data collection, and analytical techniques.
Research design, therefore, relates to the choices and decisions you make about your
research questions. Research designs are related to the following type of research
questions (in brackets).
- Exploratory (Why)
- Descriptive (Who, Where, What, When, Which, How)
- Causal or experimental (Cause-and-effect)
- Case study (How, Why)
- Action research (How)
- Cross-sectional (Who, What, Where, How many, How much)
- Longitudinal (Who, What, Where, How many, How much)
- Comparative (How, Why, What)
- Archival (Who, What, Where, How many, How much)
Sometimes research designs are understood as types of research as shown below.
Examples:
Dr. Kimani Mburu © 2022 2
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