2. MEANING OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGNS
In a quantitative research where you do a great deal of abstraction
and scientific or logical thinking, a research design is a part of your
study. By means of your research design, you can make these aspects of
your research clear: your methods or techniques in finding answers to
your research questions and in collecting data.
Preparing the design of your research work takes place after
finalizing your mind on these major aspects of your research: research
topic, background of the study, research questions, hypotheses, and
research strategy like case study, experimentation, survey and action
research, among others, that would introduce you to different data
collecting techniques of interview, observation, and questionnaire.
Simply stated, quantitative research focuses on numbers, statistics, and
relationships between variables (Lapan et al., 2012; Edmonds & Kennedy,
2013; Punch, 2014).
3. TYPES OF QUANTITATIVE EASEARCH DESIGN
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGN
2. Types
There are two types of experimental research designs: the true experimental
design and the quasi-experimental design (De Mey & Smith, 2013; Creswell, 2014).
a. True Experimental Design
- As a true experimental design is its random selection of participants. It is
a bias-free selection that ensures objectivity of results. This design is the best way to
examine causal relationships.
b. Quasi-experimental Design
-The term quasi (pronounced as kwahz-eye) means partly, partially,
pseudo, or almost. The none-adherence of this research design to random selection of
participants is the reason it got the name, quasi-experimental research, which means a
research with the capacity to yield findings that are seemingly or more or less true.
Prone to bias caused by your purposive rather than random selection of participants,
quasi-experimental design is incapable of establishing caused-effect relationship.
4. TYPES OF QUANTITATIVE EASEARCH DESIGN
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGN
1. Definition
Experimental research design is a quantitative research design that
bases its research method on a scientific activity called experiment, in which a test
or examination of a thing under a manipulated or controlled environment is done to
determine its validity or truthfulness. This design involved two groups of subjects:
the experimental group on which the condition, treatment, or intervention is
applied; and the control group that is not given any treatment or condition.
Following this experimental design, you conduct two kinds of tests: pre-tests
for both groups and post-test for experimental or treatment group to see the
difference between them based on the effects of the treatment or condition given to
the experimental group (Yin, 2012; Picardie & Masick, 2014).
5. Different types of Research Design
Matched comparison group design
In types quasi-experimental design, instead of selecting participants for the
control group, you get a set of participants that shows close similarities with the
experimental or treatment group based on one or more important variables.
Time-series quasi-experimental design
Your act of controlling the variables in this case is through multiple
observations of the subjects before and after the treatment or condition applied to
the experimental group. The purpose of serial observations is to see the connection
between the pre-test and the post-test based on the treatment or condition that
takes place.
Counter-balanced quasi-experimental design
Here, control is applied to one group to examine the effects of all treatment
and conditions to control variables. For instance, negative results coming from three-
time observations are counterbalanced or given weight that is with positive results
from four-or five-time observations.
Single-subjects quasi-experimental design
This design is used when the population is so large that you find it difficult to
choose a group to study.
6. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGN
The true experimental and quasi-experimental designs follow the same stages in research
designing. Their difference lies only in the participant-selecting process, where the first is
randomized and the second is purposive (Lapan et al., 2012; Walliman, 2014).
1. Clear knowledge of the research objectives that enables you to decide not only on the
kind of research you have to do but also on the manner you have to follow in
conducting the research.
2. Formulation of hypotheses to state your guesses of what may not be true (null
hypotheses) or may be true (alternative hypotheses) about results.
3. Method of testing your hypotheses or examining their validity, like deciding whether
you have to follow the experimental design or the quasi-experimental design.
4. Choice of which instrument to use in collecting data, that is, whether to use interview,
observation, or questionnaire.
5. Process of selecting the subjects to determine the control group and the experimental
group.
6. Performance of experimentation that allows control of the cropping up of extraneous
variables and of the experimenter bias.
7. Collecting and analysis of data.
7. NON-EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGN
1.DEFINITION
Non-experimental design is a quantitative research
design that is capable of giving qualitative and quantitative
data, but more on qualitative data. Hence, this is often
used in the field of social sciences. Unlike the experimental
design that allows manipulation or control of some aspects
of the research, non-experimental research design shuns
controlling variables. Instead, it involves variables the way
they naturally exist on earth.
8. NON-EXPERIMENTAL RESEACRH DESIGNS
2. TYPES
The following are the types of non-experimental research designs
(Schreiber& Ashner-Self, 2011: Letherby et al., 2013; Creswell, 2014)
Descriptive- depicts an image or a picture of an individual or a group.
Comparative- states the differences or similarities between or among people,
things, objects, etc.
Correlative- shows the extent and direction of variable relationships, that is,
whether a negative or positive relationship exists between among them.
Survey- describes the attitude, preferences, views, feelings, opinions, and other
behavioral patterns of a big number of people for arriving at a certain conclusion about
societal concerns and issues.
Ex Post Facto- translate itself into these English words “that which is done
afterwards,” and has the purpose of deriving data from things that are by nature taking
place, so as to obtain explanations about past events (Litchman, 2013)