Developing an appropriate research design is one of the key decisions in ensuring the quality of research work that you undertake. A wrong research design can mean that you end up changing the direction of your research. You may also end up spending more time trying to look for excuses to defend your research design rather than actually doing research. Here, I share some considerations that may be kept in mind while designing your research study.
Ideally, it should be the research questions that determine the research design. Any other way of choosing a research design would mean deviating from the key aim of the research. However, there are scholars who believe that they are meant to do particular kinds of researches. If you choose this approach, it means that you are limiting yourself as a researcher to particular research genres and approaches. A good researcher would look at things that need to be researched. Choosing a research design in advance of choosing a research area or research questions implies that it isn’t what needs to be researched but what you can do that is determining the research undertaken. This can be a waste of valuable resources in undertaking a research that need not be done in the first place. If one still chooses to decide on the research design before the research questions, it is important that the research questions be written accordingly. In other words, the research design must suit the needs set forth by the research questions, in whichever order they must be decided.
A second aspect is the practicality of what one chooses to do. In Social Sciences, almost everyone would want to take up an ethnography these days. Time, permissions from key stakeholders are however essential for undertaking a study. Personal constraints may also some time prevent you from spending extended periods of time in the field. Delimiting your study may help you to finalise a suitable research design that fulfills your research needs. If these constraints become paramount, then you are best advised to take on a research area that you can do. The other option is to tweak your research questions to meet the needs of the research.
A research design cannot be decided in vacuum. You may wish to explore contemporary trends in research. See what has already been done and what needs to be explored in the research area. If there are a hundred surveys done, and you wish to do yet another survey, you need to justify the need for your research study. Where is the need for yet another research study? What sets your work aside? Look at other studies published in the area. Explore the thesis of other researches from across the world and see how you can contextualise your own work. A good idea would also be to look at the work of pioneers in the area. You may also get in touch with them for advise. Your supervisor will of course guide you on the appropriateness and soundness of your research design.
Research design would in the end decide the quality of the research you publish. Besides the methodology, sample selection and tool development will also be important processes. That, in a separate post.
*Acknowledgements are due to Ms. Vishakha Kumar who inspired me to write on this topic.