Research design, like any framework of research, has its methods and purpose. The purpose of research design is to provide a clear plan of the research, based on independent and dependent variables, and to consider the cause and effect evoked by these variables.
Methods that constitute research design can include:
- Observations
- Surveys
- Interviews
- Experiments
- Working with archives
- Other methods
As we’ve explained here, the methods of research always back up the purpose and the goals of the research.
Main Goals of Research Design
- The main goal of research design is for a researcher to make sure that the conclusions they’ve come to are justified. It means that the research has to confirm or deny the hypothesis.
- Another purpose of research design is to broaden the researcher’s understanding of the topic, and to make them more conscious about various places, groups, and settings.
- Finally, research design allows the researcher to achieve an accurate understanding of the topic they are working on, and be able to explain the topic to others.
Usually, you cannot accomplish all these three goals at the same time, but you can try to do that by using multi-stage design in your study, which is also known as multi-stage sampling.
Examples of Research Design
One should choose the type of research design corresponding to the particular purpose of their research. Here are some examples to choose from when you’re doing research.
General Structure and Writing Style
The chosen type should help the researcher work on the hypothesis accurately; while collecting data, you have to choose specific evidence, which will show you the differences between the variables. Before conducting research, think about what information you will need and how you're going to use it. Otherwise, you can get lost.
Action Research
When you’ve developed an understanding of the problem, and you’ve begun planning an interventional strategy, action research design helps to bring the deviation to the surface. You make an observation and bookmark the deviation. Then you commit an action, and compare the outcome of having committed the action with the outcome of not having committed the action.
Case Study
We would use a case study when studying a particular problem and when we take some broad samples and try to narrow them down to subjects that are researchable. This one is also cool when we need to check if a certain theory applies to a certain real-world problem.
Causal Research
If A is X, then B is Y — that's how we can simplify causality. By comparing two or more variables, a researcher can understand the effect they have on each other. This effect can then be measured in terms of causality: i.e., what constitutes the cause and the effect.
Cohort Study
Cohort studies are more often used in medical studies, but are now gaining popularity in social science. They are based on a quantitative framework, where a researcher makes notes on a statistical occurrence within a subgroup, with members of the group having similar features that are related to the study topic, rather than analyzing mathematical occurrences within a custom group. Observation is the main method of data gathering in cohort studies.
How to Study Research Design
You can learn research design:
- At universities
- Through online tutorials
- In online classes
- By reading scientific papers
Research with FlowMapp’s Tools
FlowMapp specializes in strategic website planning and user experience analysis and develops special tools for such analysis. Although all of these products focus on web design, FlowMapp's analysis and planning tools can be used by a wide range of other professionals:
- developers;
- copywriters;
- designers;
- UX strategists;
- researchers;
- marketers;
- sales managers;
- product managers;
- project managers;
- creators.
User Flow Tool
User flow is a visual representation of the sequence of actions that users perform to achieve their goal. In fact, User flow tool allow you to look at the interaction between the user and the web product through the eyes of the user.
You can see how this looks like in the following example:
Wireframe tool
The Wireframe tool by FlowMapp is a powerful online tool that allows for the rapid creation of website prototypes. With its extensive library of templates for every website block, this tool enables designers to quickly build hi-fi prototypes. These wireframes can be easily shared via a link as a real webpage.
This tool is useful for quickly analyzing the labor required for website development, visualize future project ideas, and effectively present them to stakeholders.
Notes tool
The Notes tool by FlowMapp is a content gathering system that allows you to store all types of data, files, and ideas in one place, and collaborate on them with others. This tool is particularly useful for creating briefs, reports, documentation, and for storing all project-related data.
During the research phase, the Notes tool is a valuable asset for gathering and organizing ideas, especially when working on UX/UI design, user behavior and user flow analysis, or website development projects.
Summary
Remember that the step-by-step approach is the one that will help you most. Also, you can try to implement other research formats from multiple spheres and try some more mixed methods of research. Don’t be afraid to experiment – register at our website and get access to all tools we mentioned above!
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