The basic purpose of Descriptive Research Design is to collect data and define the what, when, where questions regarding a phenomena but it does not focus on the why questions. You must be curious now about what distinguishes it from other types of research and what kind of situations it can be useful for. Let’s explore the various types and examples of descriptive research design so you can see whether it has any application for your subject area.
What is Descriptive Research Design?
A good dDescriptive research design example can be answering research questions like ‘What is the most used social media app by teenagers?’. Here, the research would only aim to observe and collect data that answers this question as accurately as possible. This type of research would not go into the details of why teenagers choose a certain social media app or what makes it attractive. The goal is solely to observe and report.
The researcher does not participate in controlling the variables in descriptive research design but simply measures them by observation to collect information on subjects and issues that do not have enough data.
Types of Descriptive Research Design
What is Qualitative Descriptive Research
In this kind of research, the researcher is primarily concerned with understanding the individual reality of the subjects of the study. Events are recorded from a subjective experience and this flexible, practical approach is very useful to answer questions about topics that the researcher is uncertain about. The types of sampling approaches used in this method are convenience, opportunistic or snowball sampling.
As the purpose of the research is to answer descriptive questions about a phenomena, the best way is to ask face-to-face questions or collect data through focus groups, telephone interviews and online approaches. These are particularly useful for healthcare and nursing applications as the experiences of the patients are important to guide policy making and medical practices.
What is Quantitative Descriptive Research
In this type of research, the variables are measured in numerical values by non-experimental approach but they are not manipulated by the researcher. It employs the following two types of methodologies:
- Observational research
- Survey research methodologies
In observational research, the researcher observes subjects and records the data in either frequency, percentage or tally numbers. In survey type, surveys or questionnaires are employed to collect data. Probability sampling technique is used to sample the group of participants.
What is Correlational Descriptive Research
Correlational descriptive research is used to find whether two variables have positive correlation (both variables change in the same direction), negative correlation (the variables change in the opposite direction), or zero correlation (there is no relationship between the variables). This includes descriptive statistical practices to present the patterns and trends in the data collected (information collected about the study sample and the measures). These patterns help the researchers to make sense of data. Two of the famous statistical approaches used are central tendency and the measure of spread. This kind of study is used to show a static picture of a situation by studying the relationship between the variables. For example, there can be a study about finding the relationship between the height and weight of students and their food intake. In this case, the dependent variable would be their food intake and the researcher would see how it affects their heights and weights.
Examples of Descriptive Research Design
Whenever there is a topic about which there is very little information, a descriptive research is the starting point to start collecting the information. It can answer questions about certain phenomena or events. One of the very popular examples of this type of research’s data collection is the survey Youtube users see while viewing videos (asking questions about their preference of a product). As very little is known about the buying patterns of users, they use this technique for their marketing research. Let’s look at some detailed examples of descriptive research design:
- A school wants to know the performance of grade 8 students in English and Physics. This would be useful for them to guide students into Humanities and Science groups. The study designed would employ descriptive research because the variables are only to be observed and measured.
- A botanist wants to observe the different characteristics of plants and classify them into different categories for the purpose of further study. Since this involves pure observation, it also employs descriptive research design.
Advantages of Descriptive Research Design
Descriptive research design is very useful for the following applications:
- Topics and variables that can not be quantified
- Observation of natural phenomena
- Situations where a combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection is required to compile accurate results that aids the study
- When there is time constraint for the research
- Research is required for decision making
Disadvantages of Descriptive Research Design
There are some applications where descriptive research design would not be useful:
- Testing or verification of statistical research
- Studies which not repeatable
- When a certain inquiry is required behind the reason of a phenomena
Conclusion
This research is highly dependent on the respondents answer, there could be bias involved from the respondents to please the researcher or company asking the question so the objectivity can be lost. This kind of research is then more applicable in situations where there is a large sample and a generalised statement can be easily made about the phenomena. From the perspective of the researcher, if they are short on resources and time, this would be the perfect design to go for.
As descriptive research gives a detailed description of the research subject, it can propel further research into a topic and provide solutions for real-life situations in social, scientific and educational.
