DESCRIPTIVE
RESEARCH
What is descriptive research?
This research is the most commonly used and
the basic reason for carrying out descriptive research is to identify the cause
of something that is happening. For instance, this research could be used
in order to find out what age group is buying a particular brand of cola,
whether a company’s market share differs between geographical regions or to
discover how many competitors a company has in their marketplace. However, if
the research is to return useful results, whoever is conducting the research
must comply with strict research requirements in order to obtain the most
accurate figures/results possible.
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Descriptive Research
Overview |
This chapter discusses the types of quantitative study that fall under the broad heading of descriptive quantitative research. This type of research involves either identifying the characteristics of an observed phenomenon or exploring possible correlations among two or more phenomena. In every case, descriptive research examines a situation as it is. It does not involve changing or modifying the situation under investigation, nor is it intended to detect cause–effect relationships. Examples of descriptive research that yields quantitative data are correlation studies, developmental designs, observation studies, and survey research. The emphasis is on survey research.
Descriptive
research
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Descriptive
research, also known as statistical
research, describes data and characteristics about the population or phenomenon being studied.
Descriptive research answers the questions who, what, where,
when and how.
Although
the data description is factual, accurate and systematic, the research cannot
describe what caused a situation. Thus, descriptive research cannot be used to
create a causal
relationship, where one variable affects another. In other words,
descriptive research can be said to have a low requirement for internal
validity.
The
description is used for frequencies, averages and
other statistical calculations. Often the best approach, prior to writing
descriptive research, is to conduct a survey investigation. Qualitative research often has the aim of description
and researchers may follow-up with examinations of why the observations exist
and what the implications of the findings are.
What si causal research?
Casual Research explores the effect of one
thing on another and more specifically, the effect of one variable on another.
The research is used to measure what impact a specific change will have on
existing norms and allows market researchers to predict hypothetical scenarios
upon which a company can base its business plan. For example, if a clothing
company currently sells blue denim jeans, casual research can measure the
impact of the company changing the product design to the colour white.
Following the research, company bosses will be able to decide whether changing
the colour of the jeans to white would be profitable. To summarise, casual research
is a way of seeing how actions now will affect a business in the future
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What is Exploratory Research?
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This genre of research simply allows the
marketer to gain a greater understanding of something that s/he doesn’t know
enough about. For example, just because we know that 3G phones exist, it
doesn’t necessarily mean that we understand how they work. Exploratory
research can help in this instance. Differing mainly in design from descriptive
research, exploratory research is used principally to gain a deeper
understanding of something. The design is far more flexible and dynamic than
that of descriptive
research.
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Descriptive
research is used to obtain information concerning the current status of the
phenomena to describe "what exists" with respect to variables or
conditions in a situation. The methods involved range from the survey which
describes the status quo, the correlation study which investigates the
relationship between variables, to developmental studies which seek to
determine changes over time.
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Statement of the problem
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Identification of information needed to solve the problem
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Selection or development of instruments for gathering the
information
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Identification of target population and determination of
sampling procedure
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Design of procedure for information collection
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Collection of information
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Analysis of information
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Generalizations and/or predictions
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Survey
Studies
Survey
studies assess the characteristics of whole populations of people or
situations.
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School Surveys - Used to gather data concerned with internal or external
characteristics of a school system
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Job Analysis
- Used to gather information to be used in structuring a training program for
a particular job
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Documentary Analysis - Closely akin to historical research; deals with
documenting present situations
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Public Opinion Surveys - Used to enhance the decision making process by
government officials
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Community Surveys - Used to gather data concerned with internal or external
characteristics of a community
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Interrelationship
Studies
Interrelationship
Studies trace relationships among the facts obtained to gain a deeper insight
into the situation
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Case Studies
- Probes in depth into an individual situation or personality with the intent
of diagnosing a particular condition and recommending corrective measures
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Causal Comparative Studies - Compares the likeness and difference among phenomena to
determine if certain factors or circumstances tend to accompany certain
events, conditions, or processes
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Correlation Studies - Determine the extent of the relationship between two or
more variables
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Developmental
Studies
Developmental
studies are concerned with the existing status and interrelationships of
phenomena and changes that take place as a function of time
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Growth Studies - May be either longitudinal or cross-sectional. The
longitudinal technique is the most satisfactory for studying human
development. The cross-sectional technique is more commonly used because it
is less expensive.
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Trend Studies
- Used to make predictions from social trends, economic conditions,
technological advances, etc. to future status
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Model or System Development - Creative development of a model or system (paradigm)
based on a thorough determination of the present situation or system and the
goals sought
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Evaluation
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Critical Examination of Source Materials - Descriptive studies cannot
produce useful findings if the investigation is based on erroneous information
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Technical Terminology - An absence of clearly assigned meanings for terms
results in ambiguous communications which cannot provide a solid foundation
for scientific understanding
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Formulation of Hypotheses - Ambiguously formulated overgeneralized or logically
unsound hypotheses lead to erroneous conclusions
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Observation and Experimentation - Experimentation involves the
manipulation of independent variables under controlled laboratory conditions
and direct observation of the results. Observing the phenomena as they exist
may be the only way to examine and analyze the factors that are associated
with their occurrences in a natural situation
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Generalization and Prediction - Universal generalizations that permit highly accurate
predictions may be ideal, but even the physical scientists are less certain
today than they once were of their ability to predict in certain areas except
in terms of scientific probability.
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SELF
ASSESSMENT
1.
Define descriptive research.
2. List
eight steps involved in a descriptive investigation.
3.
State the purpose of survey studies.
4. Name
five types of survey studies.
5.
State the purpose of interrelationship studies.
6. Name
three types of interrelationship studies.
7.
State the purpose of developmental studies.
8. Name
three types of developmental studies.
9.
Discuss five methods of evaluating descriptive research.
Descriptive
Research
Descriptive
research involves the collection of data in order to test hypotheses or to
answer questions concerning the current status of the subjects of the study.
Conducting
a Descriptive Research Study
The
process of conducting a descriptive research study would include the following:
- State the hypotheses or
questions you hope to answer with your descriptive study.
- Define subjects.
- Develop the instrumentation for
your study. Usually this involves selecting or more often developing a
questionnaire.
- Validate the questionnaire.
- Prepare a cover letter
- Pretest the questionnaire
- Plan how you will deal with
non-respondents and with items not completed.
- Description and analysis of
results.
Common
Types of Self-report Research
Some of
the common types of self-report research are:
- Survey research - a survey is
an attempt to collect data from members of a population in order to
determine the current status of that population with respect to one or
more variables.
- Sample survey - simple random
sample or stratified random sample.
- Census survey - entire
population is surveyed
- Developmental studies
- Cross sectional approach - different
ages of subjects are studied at the same time.
- Longitudinal approach - follow
up a single group of subjects.
- Follow-up studies
- Sociometric studies
An
Example of Questionnaire Development
The
teacher or other educator conducting descriptive research will frequently need
to develop a questionnaire to gather the data for the descriptive research
study.
Jon
Enderle and Susan Severson, the authors of the Enderle-Severson Transition
Rating Scale(ESTR), wished to gather information directly from students in
regard to their perceptions of their transition planning for the next stage in
their development. They also wished to gather this information around the same
areas measured by the ESTR Scale (Jobs and Job Training, Recreation and
Leisure, Home Living, Community Participation, and Post Secondary Training and
Learning Opportunities). They developed a series of open-ended questions and
check boxes for each of the areas of the ESTR scale.
Click Here
to Display the Future Outcomes/Goals Assessment Scale
A
Hypothetical Example of a Questionnaire For A Descriptive Research Study
You are an
educational researcher who is interested in the relationship between classroom
size and teacher characteristics such as gender and height. To get some
preliminary data that might shed some light on this question you decide to do a
descriptive study in regard to some of the variables that might be of
importance to you. You decide that you need to get information from teachers
about themselves, about their classroom, and about how they were assigned to
their particular classroom.
You need
to specify the following information for your descriptive study (as you need to
do to complete Assignment 10) for Ed 603.
- The research problem for the
study
- The subjects for the study
- Specific questions to be
answered by the questionnaire
- The questionnaire developed to
answer the questions
The
research problem for the study
What is
the height, room size, and gender for elemenary classroom teachers in a Midwest
urban school district?
The
subjects for the study
The
subjects for the study will be all of the classroom teachers in five elementary
schools, randomly selected from among all of the elementary schools in an urban
midwest school district.
Specific
questions to be answered by the questionnaire
- What is your teaching
assignment in your school?
- What room are you assigned to
teach in?
- How was this room assigned to
you?
- What is the lenght of your
assigned classroom?
- What is the width of your
assigned classroom?
- How many students are assigned
to your classroom?
- What is your gender?
- What is your height?
- How many have you been
teaching?
- How many years have you been
teaching in your present school?
Questionnaire
developed to answer these questions
ELEMENTARY
TEACHER SURVEY
The
Education Department of Local U is conducting a survey of the elementary
teachers in your school district. Please complete the following questionnaire.
Your responses to this questionnaire will be kept confidential.
- What is your primary teaching
assignment?
- _____Kindergarten Teacher
- _____First Grade Teacher
- _____Second Grade Teacher
- _____Third Grade Teacher
- _____Fourth Grade Teacher
- _____Fifth Grade Teacher
- _____Sixth Grade Teacher
- _____Other (please specify)
___________________________
- What is your gender (male or
female)? __________
- How tall are you?
_______inches.
- How long have you been
teaching? _____years.
- How long have you been teaching
in your current school? _____years.
- What is the room number of your
classroom? __________
- How was this room assignmed to
you?
- _____I selected it.
- _____The principal assigned it
to me.
- _____The principal assigned it
to me in consultation.
- _____The room assignment was
specified by the grade I teach.
- _____Other (please
specify)____________________________
- What is the length of your
classroom? _____Feet _____Inches
- What is the width of your
classroom? _____Feet _____inches
- How many windows does your classroom
have, excluding window in door? _____
- How many students are assigned
to your classroom? _____
