Jemelyn Mae B.

Sodusta
BSN IV A MT

I. Experimental Research
1. Basic Experimental Design
Example:
Before an experiment is performed, the question of experimental design must be addressed. For example,
in an experiment on the effects of caffeine, the treatment levels might be exposure to different amounts of
caffeine, from 0 to .0375 mg. In a very simple experiment there are two levels of treatment; none, called the
control condition, and some, called the experimental condition.

2. Solomon 4-Group Design

Example:

 Attitudes about police officers following positive information about police officers’
community service work

• Pretest
– Answer questions about attitudes towards police officers
• Treatment
– Read articles
• Posttest
– Answer questions about attitudes towards police officers

• Group 1 • Group 3
– Treatment, Pretest – No treatment, Pretest

• Group 2 • Group 4
– Treatment, no pretest – No treatment, no pretest

3. Factorial Design
Example:
Effects of anxiety and task difficulty on performance
– High anxiety versus low anxiety
– Difficult task versus easy task
– Time to solve puzzle

High Low
Hard H,H L,H
Easy H,E L,E

4. Repeated Measures Design

Example:
Measuring sensation seeking at age 12, at age 20, and again at age 28.

II. Non Experimental Research

1. Descriptive Research
- is a scientific method which involves observing and describing the behavior of a subject without influencing
it in any way.

Example:
Finding the most frequent disease that affects the children of a town. The reader of the research will
know what to do to prevent that disease thus; more people will live a healthy life.
 http://www.experiment-resources.com/descriptive-research-design.html#ixzz19prkW9Om.

2. Correlational Research
- is a quantitative method of research in which you have 2 or more quantitative variables from the same
group of subjects, & you are trying to determine if there is a relationship (or covariation) between the 2
variables (a similarity between them, not a difference between their means).

Example:
Your hypothesis might be that there is a positive correlation (for example, the number of hours of study &
your midterm exam scores), or a negative correlation (for example, your levels of stress & your exam
scores).

http://www2.capilanou.ca/programs/psychology/students/research/correlation.html

3. Survey Research
- is a research method involving the use of questionnaires and/or statistical surveys to gather data about
people and their thoughts and behaviours.

Example: Do you agree, disagree or have no opinion that this institution has:
Agree Not Sure Disagree
Good medical insurance
High wages
Good management feedback

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survey_research

4. Meta- Analysis
- is a statistical procedure that integrates the results of several independent studies considered to be
“combinable.

Example:
A meta-analysis could be performed on a collection of studies each of which attempts to estimate the
incidence of left-handedness in various groups of people.

5. Randomized Clinical Trials

- is a type of scientific experiment most commonly used in testing the efficacy or
effectiveness of healthcare services (such as medicine or nursing) or health technologies (such
as pharmaceuticals, medical devices or surgery).

Example:
Potential drugs, for example, first have to be discovered, purified, characterized, and tested in labs (in
cell and animal studies) before ever undergoing clinical trials. In all, about 1,000 potential drugs are tested
before just one reaches the point of being tested in a clinical trial. For example, a new cancer drug has, on
average, 6 years of research behind it before it even makes it to clinical trials. But the major holdup in
making new cancer drugs available is the time it takes to complete clinical trials themselves. On average,
about 8 years pass from the time a cancer drug enters clinical trials until it receives approval from
regulatory agencies for sale to the public. Drugs for other diseases have similar timelines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randomized_controlled_trial

6. Cohort Studies
 - is a study in which subjects who presently have a certain condition and/or receive a particular treatment
are followed over time and compared with another group who are not affected by the condition under
investigation.

Example:
A group of people who smoke and a group of people who do not, and follows them forward through time to
see what health problems they develop. Cohort analysis attempts to identify cohorts effects: Are changes
in the dependent variable (health problems in this example) due to aging, or are they present because the
sample members belongs to the same cohort (smoking vs. non smoking)
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/tutorial/Cho2/cohort.html

III. Qualitative Research Design

1. Ethnography
Example:
The basis of ethnographic research consists of participant observation in which the anthropologist goes
into the field (the group of people or area he or she intends to study) and talks to the informants,
participates in their various activities, or simply becomes immersed into the culture. Often times it is
necessary to learn the language and be familiar with the ideological assumptions or worldviews of the
culture. Later, usually in the same day, the anthropologist writes detailed field notes of everything that
happened, sometimes using a tape recorder or camera as a form of note taking. After the ethnography is
done (which can take months to years as in the Geertz example) he or she transcribes the fieldnotes into a
flowing text that tells what it means to be "human" for the respective group of people - oftentimes including
some form of anthropological theory.

2. Phenomenology
Example:
In a phenomenological study you would ask participants to describe their experience of, for example,
"riding on a BC Ferry", without directing or suggesting their description in any way. However, do encourage
your participant to give a full description of their experience, including their thoughts, feelings, images,
sensations, memories - their stream of consciousness - along with a description of the situation in which
the experience occurred.

3. Grounded theory
Example:
About a friendship we might ask about its duration, and its closeness, and its importance to each party.
Whether these properties or dimensions come from the data itself, from respondents, or from the mind of
the researcher depends on the goals of the research.

4. Historical research
Example:
Examples of primary documents are: personal diaries, eyewitness accounts of events, and oral
histories. “Secondary sources of information are records or accounts prepared by someone other than the
person, or persons, who participated in or observed an event.” Secondary resources can be very useful in
giving a researcher a grasp on a subject and may provided extensive bibliographic information for delving
further into a research topic.

5. Case Study
Example:
Statistical analysis may have shown that birthrates in African countries are increasing. A case study
on one or two specific countries becomes a powerful and focused tool for determining the social and
economic pressures driving this.