RESEARCH DESIGN: A SIMPLIFIED

DEFINITION FOR BEGINNING

RESEARCHERS
FEBRUARY 12, 2017 REGONIEL, PATRICK A

What is a research design? To understand what these two words mean, there is a need
to have a clear understanding of what is research and design.

This brief article defines the research design and its role in preparing a good research
paper.

The Meaning of Research Design

As Zigmund (1999) puts it, research literally means to search again. It means the
researcher has to look again at existing information to explain a subject or topic of
interest. There is a need to know more about a given phenomenon in all its dimensions.

The design is essentially a plan to show the final product even before it is built or made.
An example is a houses blueprint that describes the details of how a building should
look.
An example of a blueprint.

Thus, bringing together these two concepts, research design is the plan that guides
data collection to achieve the objectives of research, i.e., to generate new information
based on existing ones. The plan details the procedure and instruments for data
collection, how the variables associated with the phenomenon should be measured, and
the statistical analysis to be applied to the data obtained.

The plan should systematically answer the problem statement or research questions.
A one-to-one correspondence between problem statement and the instruments or
methods to use to resolve the problem avoids missing out the required data for analysis.

A matrix or a table with headings such as problem statement, data collection instrument,
and statistical analysis ensures efficient collection of data (see table below). Gathering
data more than is needed is both costly and time wasting. And gathering less than
required data prevents meaningful analysis thus failure to address the research
problem.

Data Collection
Problem Statement Instrument Statistical Analysis

What is the profile of

coastal residents living
within the government
defined tsunami danger
zone? Survey form Descriptive statistics

How shall local

government units
respond to tsunami if it None required;
does occur? Key informant interview qualitative

What is the expected

tsunami inundation
area? GIS modeling software None required

Researchers, therefore, should not start their study without adequately figuring out what
type of data or information is needed to meet the objectives of their research. Failure to
do so means unnecessarily spending more time and money in conducting the
investigation. The probability of making illogical or irrelevant conclusions will be high.
Reference
Zikmund, W. G. (1999). Essentials of marketing research. South Western Educational
Publishing.

Cite this article as: Regoniel, Patrick A. (February 12, 2017). Research Design: A Simplified
Definition for Beginning Researchers. In SimplyEducate.Me. Retrieved
from http://simplyeducate.me/2017/02/12/research-design/