Research Methods and Design Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Data gathered through field work are primary data.

Primary data are collected first-hand by the researcher for the purpose of the study, through surveys, interviews, observation or experiments in the field.

Secondary data are data already collected by someone else, such as published reports and records. Tertiary sources compile and summarise primary and secondary sources, and census data are a particular secondary source for most researchers.

Answer: D

A good research question should connect with established theory and research.

A research question grounded in existing theory and earlier findings builds on what is already known, fills a real gap, and gives the study a framework for interpreting its results. Good questions are also clear, focused, researchable and significant.

Long questions with complex terms are a fault, since questions should be clear and concise. Research bias is something to avoid, not a feature of a question, and being contemporary is not by itself a criterion of a good research question.

Answer: B

A cross-sectional study collects data from more than one case at one moment in time.

A cross-sectional design studies many people, of different ages or groups, at a single point in time, like a snapshot, and compares them. For example, the nutritional status of children aged 1 to 5 can be compared in one survey.

Following the same subjects over time is a longitudinal design. Providing an intervention makes a study experimental, and researching one section of society describes the population studied, not the design.

Answer: A

Memoing is the recording of reflective notes.

In qualitative research, memos are notes the researcher writes to reflect on the data while collecting and analysing it: emerging ideas, possible codes and categories, connections and questions. Grounded theory in particular relies on memo writing.

'Memory notes', 'understanding notes' and 'research notes' are not the technical sense of memoing, which refers specifically to the researcher's reflective analytical notes.

Answer: A

A random sample is representative of the entire population.

In random sampling every member of the population has an equal and known chance of being chosen. Because chance, not the researcher's choice, decides who is selected, the sample tends to mirror the population, and its results can be generalised with a measurable sampling error.

A purposive sample is chosen deliberately by the researcher for a particular purpose, so it is not representative by design. 'Strategic' is not a standard sampling method, and a biased sample is, by definition, one that does not represent the population.

Answer: D

A case study is a form of qualitative research.

A case study examines one person, family, group or institution in depth, in its natural setting, using interviews, observation and documents. It seeks rich description and understanding of meanings, which is the aim of qualitative research.

Experimental research manipulates variables and measures outcomes numerically, so it is quantitative. Structured describes a fixed format of questions or observation typical of quantitative surveys, and applied research is defined by its purpose, solving practical problems, and can use either approach.

Answer: C

In a group interview there is one interviewer and more than one interviewee.

In a group interview, or focus group, a single interviewer or moderator puts questions to several respondents together, so that their interaction and discussion bring out a range of views. It is widely used in qualitative and market research.

One interviewer and one interviewee is a personal or individual interview. Several interviewers with one interviewee is a panel or board interview, as in job selection, and several interviewers with several interviewees is not the standard meaning of a group interview.

Answer: C

They are engaged in the improvement in existing conditions.

Action research is carried out by practitioners, such as teachers, social workers or extension workers, to study and solve a problem in their own setting. They plan a change, act, observe the results and reflect, in a cycle, with the aim of improving their own practice and the conditions in which they work.

Proving a hypothesis in order to generalise is the goal of fundamental research. Publishing results is not its purpose, and evaluating the performance of others is appraisal, not action research, which studies one's own practice.

Answer: B

Cross cultural studies are an example of comparative design.

A cross cultural study examines the same behaviour, practice or variable in two or more cultures, for example child-rearing in India and Japan, to see what is shared and what differs. Systematic comparison of groups or societies is what defines a comparative design.

A case study design examines one unit in depth, an experimental design manipulates a variable under control, and a longitudinal design follows the same people over time. None of these is defined by comparison across cultures.

Answer: B

The type of study with no intervention is the observational study.

In an observational study the researcher only observes and measures what happens naturally, without assigning any treatment or exposure. That absence of intervention is what defines the category.

A randomised controlled trial is an experimental study, in which the researcher assigns an intervention at random. Case control and cohort studies involve no intervention either, but they are particular kinds of observational study; the option that names the type defined by having no intervention is the observational study itself.