PRIMER: Describe & Define Current Research Study Methods
For those delving into
a Phd Program
I have had some questions from readers starting their own PhD adventure. The question I always get is how and what should I choose as dissertation topic?
ANSWER: Pick something you’re passionate about first. If you do not care about the problem, then it will be harder to work through the PhD process.
What are the Three Approaches to Research?
The three research approaches are (1) qualitative, (2) quantitative, and (3) mixed methods (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
Name and Define Them.
Qualitative: Qualitative is characterized as an inductive reasoning approach. It moves from a specific issue or question and attempts to generalize a solution or pathway to resolve the base research questions. It is more typically an analysis of “social or human problems,” and attempts to identify either descriptive results or solutions that may resolve the research questions posed (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 4).
Quantitative: A quantitative approach tries to identify an existing theory and reach a specific and deductive conclusion about that theory. The findings are typically based on more mathematical or statistical methods to answer a hypothesis. In particular, the quantitative identifies variables and dependencies to support or refute the directional hypothesis—or the null hypothesis in the case of its refutation (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
Mixed methods: Mixed methods are a combination of both the quantitative and qualitative designs to leverage the strengths of both methodologies to create a better study outcome (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). However, as Marshall and Rossman (2014) suggest, the researcher will need to determine “whether the quantitative or qualitative data collection phase of the research will dominate” (Marshall & Rossman, 2014, p. 276). In other words, will the study be more qualitative or quantitative in its final results is left to the researcher’s determination and the data analyzed?
Define Research Designs.
Denzin and Lincoln (2011) describe research design as strategies of inquiry. These inquiries offer models or approaches based on the research method chosen (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). They are the tools that are applied against the data and form the basis of the study outcomes. The multiple designs available afford more options to investigators due, in part, to “the years as computer technology has advanced…data analysis and the ability to analyze complex models” have created a greater variety of research designs (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 11). These are also the means to assess and evaluate the data to produce a traceable conclusion from the problem statement through the final findings.
List the types of research designs and define them.
Survey research: Survey research may include classic-paper or online surveys using such popular tools as SurveyMonkey or Qualtrics. Surveys can also include email and chat programs to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from test participants (Marshall & Rossman, 2014). This research design is a popular technique for data collection and qualitative study efforts.
Experimental research: Experimental research is looking at the causality of one or more independent variables on a dependent variable (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). It is most typical in quantitative research. Actual experiments rely upon “the random assignment of subjects” or population samples, while quasi-experimental uses non-randomized samples from a data sample population (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 12).
Grounded theory: Grounded theory uses researchers’ questions to create a broader “abstract theory of process, action, or interaction” (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 13). This research design creates a generalized and suggested solution based upon the derived theory it develops. Additionally, the theory is based upon the data collection and its refinement that creates a model to understand the questions and potentially resolve them.
Ethnography: Ethnography focuses on the study of a defined cultural or societal unit. Ethnography has its basis in anthropology and sociology. It requires that participants are observed in their local environment, vice a laboratory. Furthermore, it relies heavily upon observation of participants and ongoing interviews to study participants in their natural habitat or group setting (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
Narrative research: Narrative research asks participants to describe their lives to the investigator. It assumes the participants should describe their “realities by narrating their stories” (Marshall & Rossman, 2014, p. 157). Narrative research relies predominantly on the stories provided by individuals so the investigator can meld these stories and extract commonality from the analyses to report the study’s results (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
Phenomenological: This form of research design focuses on a “phenomenon” experienced by all the participants, e.g., discrimination, domestic violence, or job loss (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 13). The output of this research type results in identifying the everyday experiences that are prevalent across all subjects. It concludes with a broader qualitative theory of the cause-effect of the studied phenomena (Creswell & Creswell, 2018; Marshall & Rossman, 2014).
Convergent parallel mixed method: This method combines both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis during the study. Both are used to provide overall study results; however, there is usually a more dominant emphasis on either quantitative or qualitative based on the problem statement and the researcher’s preferences (Marshall & Rossman, 2014). Furthermore, finding disparities is “further probed in this design” to explain contradictory outcomes of literature and scholarly materials specific to the study’s efforts (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 15)
Explanatory sequential mixed method: This method begins with quantitative data research, collection, analysis, and results and then proceeds to explain those finding using qualitative details. Specifically, where the researcher finds difficulty in deriving quantitative outputs, this methodology can be helpful by its use of other qualitative information findings to explain the results’ challenges and meanings (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
Exploratory sequential mixed method: This method “is the reverse sequence” of the explanatory sequential mixed method (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 15). Exploratory-sequential begins with a qualitative effort and then uses measurable data findings in a quantitative phase to explain the study. This mixed-method offers specific challenges in converting qualitative results to numerical values or representations for analytical outcomes (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
Transformative mixed method: “The transformative paradigm is a framework of belief systems that directly engage members of culturally diverse groups with a focus on increased social justice” (as cited in Mertens, 2010, p. 470). The transformative mixed method uses both qualitative and quantitative data collection specific to four main elements: 1) ethics (axiological), 2) the nature of reality (ontology), 3) the nature of knowledge (epistemology), and 4) a systems approach to a problem (methodology); this technique focuses on social justice and human rights. Collectively, these four components form the lenses through which the results are analyzed and portrayed as scholarly findings (Mertens, 2010).
Multi-phase mixed method: This method is best described as studies-within-a-study. It begins with qualitative research that is followed by secondary quantitative-qualitative research that measures the results of the first study with the comparative findings of the second. The final phase is the description of the needed future study that comprises the outcomes sought by this methodological approach (Work and Lives Street Waste Pickers, 2011).
References
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Sage.
Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. B. (2014). Designing qualitative research. Sage publications.
Mertens, D. M. (2010). Transformative mixed methods research. Qualitative inquiry, 16(6), 469-474.
The Work and Lives of Street Waste Pickers in Pretoria—A Case Study of Recycling in South Africa’s Urban Informal Economy – Scientific Figure on ResearchGate. (2011). Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Multiphase-mixed-method-research-Source-Creswell-and-Plano-Clark-201169_fig3_226906259
Dr. Russo is currently the Senior Data Scientist with Cybersenetinel AI in Washington, DC. He is a former Senior Information Security Engineer within the Department of Defense’s (DOD) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. He has an extensive background in cybersecurity and is an expert in the Risk Management Framework (RMF) and DOD Instruction 8510, which implement RMF throughout the DOD and the federal government. He holds a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification and a CISSP in information security architecture (ISSAP). He has a 2017 Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) certification from the National Defense University, Washington, DC. Dr. Russo retired from the US Army Reserves in 2012 as a Senior Intelligence Officer.
