Exploratory Design for Gaining Familiarity
The question asks for a research design that is unstructured and used primarily to gain familiarity with an unknown or poorly understood population or problem.
Understanding Research Designs
Different research designs serve distinct purposes. Let's examine the options:
- Descriptive Design: This design aims to describe the characteristics of a population or phenomenon. It focuses on answering "what," "who," "where," and "when" questions but doesn't delve into the "why." It's typically more structured than exploratory research.
- Diagnostic Design: This type of research aims to determine the cause of a problem or phenomenon. It focuses on establishing relationships between variables and understanding cause-and-effect, requiring a structured approach.
- Exploratory Design: This is the most suitable answer. Exploratory design is characterized by its flexibility and lack of structure. Its main goal is to explore a topic, gather preliminary information, and develop initial insights or hypotheses when dealing with an unknown population or a problem that isn't well-defined. It's about gaining initial familiarity and understanding. Common methods include literature reviews, interviews with experts, and focus groups.
- Experimental Design: This design is highly structured and used to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables by manipulating one or more independent variables and observing their effect on a dependent variable. It requires significant pre-planning and control.
Key Characteristics
Based on the definitions, the key characteristic of gaining familiarity with an unknown population using an unstructured approach points directly to Exploratory design.
Therefore, the research design that fits the description is the exploratory design.
Important Questions from Types of Research
Match the following :
List 1
List 2
a) Fundamental Research
1) To find solutions to problems faced by practitioners
b) Applied Research
2) To establish facts experimentally
c) Action Research
3) To identify right practices on the basis of established theory
d) Case study
4) To establish concepts, principles, and theories
e) Experimental Research
5) To study individuals in detail
Given below are two statements
Statement I: Qualitative research paradigm emphasizes participant perspectives and uses an empirico-inductive approach.
Statement II: In the same research project, it is neither possible nor desirable to use both Qualitative and Quantitative research paradigms.
In light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below.
Match List-I with List-II :
List-I
List-II
(a)
Research studies which describe facts as they come by
(i)
Observational research
(b)
A non-experimental conceptual research based on logical thinking
(ii)
Ex-post facto research
(c)
Experience and observation-based research aiming to determine casual relationship among factors
(iii)
Philosophical research
(d)
A field of natural study of epidemics, plant growth, child growth, bird-animal or crowd behaviour
(iv)
Empirical (Experimental) research
Select the correct option :
- Retrospective studies are related to
Match List I with List II
List I
List II
Research method
Characteristic
A.
Content analysis
I.
Summarisation
B.
Social network analysis
II.
Use of bipolar adjectives
C.
Semantic differential
III.
Focus on dyadic relations
D.
Meta-analysis
IV.
Context unit
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
