Descriptive Research Design Observing a Phenomenon
Table Of Content
The observational method is generally used in psychological, social, and market research to obtain data that explains how people behave in real-life settings. They want to start selling shoes for boys of the same age group as well and therefore want to gather information on the kind of shoes boys want to wear. They decide to conduct market research & choose the observational method to learn about different shoes boys wear nowadays. However, before identifying why a phenomenon occurred, it is integral to answer other questions first. You need to have answers to the “what,” “when,” “how,” and “where” before you can understand the “why.” This is where descriptive research comes in.
Why Use Voxco for Descriptive Research Design?
Consider a researcher working on climate change adaptation, who wants to understand water management trends in an arid village in a specific study area. She must conduct a demographic survey of the region, gather population data, and then conduct descriptive research on this demographic segment. The study will then uncover details on “what are the water management practices and trends in village X.” Note, however, that it will not cover any investigative information about “why” the patterns exist. It entails gathering data and analyzing it to see whether there is a relationship between the two variables in the study. This section was developed by the researcher based on the literature [1, 10, 11, 14, 16, 20, 49, 50]. If you are working with quantitative and qualitative data, you must employ a range of different quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques to analyze the data collected.
Ensure adequate sample size
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Quantitative data, such as narrative data collected as part of a case study, may be used to organize, classify, and used to identify patterns of behaviors, attitudes, and other characteristics of groups. Several QD design features and techniques have been described in the literature.First, researchers generally draw from a naturalistic perspective and examine a phenomenonin its natural state (Sandelowski, 2000). Second, QDhas been described as less theoretical compared to other qualitative approaches (Neergaard et al., 2009), facilitating flexibility incommitment to a theory or framework when designing and conducting a study (Sandelowski, 2000, 2010).
Risk of sampling error
This descriptive methodology focuses more on the “what” of the research subject than the “why” of the research subject. Suppose an apparel brand wants to understand the fashion purchasing trends among New York’s buyers, then it must conduct a demographic survey of the specific region, gather population data, and then conduct descriptive research on this demographic segment. Descriptive research design aims to systematically obtain information to describe a phenomenon, situation, or population. This involves gathering information from many people using a questionnaire and interview. This method involves analyzing qualitative data by assigning codes to segments of data based on their meaning or content.
Sample survey
For a more detailed consideration of the quality criteria in qualitative studies, readers are referred to the seminal work of Lincoln and Guba (1985) in which the four key criteria of credibility, dependability, confirmability and transferability are discussed. At the very least, researchers need to be clear about the methodological decisions taken during the study so readers can judge the trustworthiness of the study and ultimately the findings (Hallberg, 2013). Being aware of personal assumptions and the role they play in the research process is also an important quality criterion (Colorafi and Evans, 2016) and these assumptions can be made explicit through the use of researcher reflexivity in the study (Bradshaw et al., 2017). Data collection methods in qualitative descriptive research are diverse and aim to discover the who, what and where of phenomena (Sandelowski, 2000). Although semi-structured individual face-to-face interviews are the most commonly used data collection approaches (Kim et al., 2017), focus groups, telephone interviews and online approaches are also used.
However, some argue that although saturation is often reported, it is rarely demonstrated in qualitative descriptive research reports (Caelli et al., 2003; Malterud et al., 2016). If data saturation is used to determine sample size, it is suggested that greater emphasis be placed on demonstrating how saturation was reached and at what level to provide more credibility to sample sizes (Caelli et al., 2003). Sample size calculation should be an estimate until saturation has been achieved through the concurrent processes of data collection and analysis.
What Are Some Examples of Descriptive Research Questions?
Since the respondents are in a comfortable environment, the characteristics observed are natural and effective. In a descriptive research design, the researcher can choose to be either a complete observer, an observer as a participant, a participant as an observer, or a full participant. For example, in a supermarket, a researcher can from afar monitor and track the customers’ selection and purchasing trends. The observational method is the most effective method to conduct this research, and researchers make use of both quantitative and qualitative observations. To understand the descriptive research meaning, data collection methods, examples and application, we need a deeper understanding of its features.
Applications of Descriptive Research Design
Ecological (also sometimes called as correlational) study design involves looking for association between an exposure and an outcome across populations rather than in individuals. For instance, a study in the United States found a relation between household firearm ownership in various states and the firearm death rates during the period 2007–2010.[9] Thus, in this study, the unit of assessment was a state and not an individual. However, this design does carry a risk of bias, i.e., the results of the study may not represent the true situation in the population. The myopia study included only those children who attended school, and the prevalence of myopia could have been different in those did not attend school (e.g., those with severe myopia may not be able to see the blackboard and hence may have been more likely to drop out of school). The measurement bias in this study would relate to the accuracy of measurement and the cutoff used. If the investigators had used a cutoff of −0.25 D (instead of −0.50 D) to define myopia, the prevalence would have been higher.
Advantages of Descriptive Research Design
When studying human behaviour based on a factor or event, the researcher observes the characteristics, behaviour, and reaction, then use it to conclude. A company willing to sell to its target market needs to first study the behaviour of the market. During the major scientific classification of plants, animals, and periodic table elements, the characteristics and components of each subject are evaluated and used to determine how they are classified. Correlative surveys are used to determine whether the relationship between 2 variables is positive, negative, or neutral. That is, if 2 variables say X and Y are directly proportional, inversely proportional or are not related to each other. This method is employed in biological sciences for the classification of plants and animals.
In other words, it does not involve changing the study variables and does not seek to establish cause-and-effect relationships. A case study can be used to describe the characteristics of a specific subject (such as a person, group, event, or organisation). Instead of gathering a large volume of data to identify patterns across time or location, case studies gather detailed data to identify the characteristics of a narrowly defined subject. Qualitative observation doesn’t involve measurements or numbers but instead just monitoring characteristics.
For instance, if I asked you how often you pick your nose, you will likely deny you have ever done so. These characteristics in the population sample can be identified, observed and measured to guide decisions. Market researchers use descriptive research for a range of commercial purposes to guide key decisions.
Using descriptive research you can identify patterns in the characteristics of a group to essentially establish everything you need to understand apart from why something has happened. Descriptive research provides a comprehensive picture of the characteristics, behaviors, and attributes of a particular population or phenomenon, which can be useful in informing future research and policy decisions. The primary purpose of descriptive research is to describe the characteristics, behaviors, and attributes of a particular population or phenomenon. Coming to the characteristics of descriptive research, this approach is characterized by its focus on observing and documenting the features of a subject.
There are different examples of descriptive research, that may be highlighted from its types, uses, and applications. A random sample of potential participants of the test may be asked to use the 2 different methods, and factors like failure rates, time factors, and others will be evaluated to arrive at the best method. For example, a researcher wants to determine the qualification of employed professionals in Maryland. He uses a survey as his research instrument, and each item on the survey related to qualifications is subjected to a Yes/No answer. Maybe the individual is a would-be senator and wants to know who they're representing or a surveyor who is looking to see if there is a need for a mental health program.
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