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The descriptive research design involves observing and collecting data on a given topic without attempting to infer cause-and-effect relationships. The goal of descriptive research is to provide a comprehensive and accurate picture of the population or phenomenon being studied and to describe the relationships, patterns, and trends that exist within the data. The importance of descriptive research lies in its ability to provide a glimpse of the current state of a phenomenon, offering valuable insights and establishing a basic understanding. Additionally, descriptive research can contribute to the development of hypotheses and guide the formulation of research questions for subsequent studies.
Methodology
It is employed in psychology, market research, and other social science studies to track and understand human behavior. Indeed, the investigators in the myopia study above visited the same children and reassessed them a year later. This separate follow-up study[8] showed that “new” myopia had developed in 3.4% of children (incidence rate), with a mean change of −1.09 ± 0.55 D. Among those with myopia at the time of the initial survey, 49.2% showed progression of myopia with a mean change of −0.27 ± 0.42 D. This method involves analyzing qualitative data (e.g., text, images, audio) to identify themes, patterns, or trends. Content analysis can be used to describe the characteristics of a sample or population, or to identify factors that influence attitudes or behaviors.
Qualitativeness
This may help generate hypotheses regarding the cause of the disease, which can then be verified using another, more complex design. For instance, an ecological association between higher income level and greater cardiovascular mortality across countries may be related to a higher prevalence of obesity. Third, migration of people between regions with different exposure levels may also introduce an error. A fourth consideration may be the use of differing definitions for exposure, outcome or both in different populations. Visualization can help identify patterns or relationships between variables and make it easier to communicate findings to others. This method involves analyzing data by creating a table that shows the frequency of two or more variables together.
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Dependence on Existing Data
Qualitative coding can be used to identify common themes, patterns, or categories within the data. This method involves analyzing data to summarize and describe the key features of a sample or population. Descriptive statistics can include measures of central tendency (e.g., mean, median, mode) and measures of variability (e.g., range, standard deviation). This involves an in-depth examination of a single individual, group, or situation to gain a detailed understanding of its characteristics or dynamics. Case studies are often used in psychology, sociology, and business to explore complex phenomena or to generate hypotheses for further research.
Before you can develop testable hypotheses, models, or theories, it’s necessary to observe and systematically describe the subject under investigation. A descriptive research design can use a wide variety of research methods to investigate one or more variables. Unlike in experimental research, the researcher does not control or manipulate any of the variables, but only observes and measures them.
Explanatory Research – Types, Methods, Guide
Researchers can use tools like interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic studies to illustrate why things are what they are and help characterize the research problem. It gives meaning and context to the numbers supplied by quantitative descriptive research. Read on to understand the characteristics of descriptive research and explore its underlying techniques, processes, and procedures. In a commercial setting, retailers often use descriptive research to figure out trends in shopping and buying decisions. One of the biggest examples of descriptive research that is used in every democratic country, is during elections.
Descriptive research examples and applications
Furthermore, these studies often do not face serious ethics scrutiny, except if the information sought to be collected is of confidential nature (e.g., sexual practices, substance use, etc.). However, this design does carry a risk of bias, i.e., the results of the study may not represent the true situation in the population. The measurement bias in this study would relate to the accuracy of measurement and the cutoff used. If the investigators had used a cutoff of −0.25 D (instead of −0.50 D) to define myopia, the prevalence would have been higher. Furthermore, if the measurements were not done accurately, some cases with myopia could have been missed, or vice versa, affecting the study results.
Types of descriptive research
The main purpose of descriptive research design is to describe and measure the characteristics of a population or phenomenon in a systematic and objective manner. It involves collecting data that describe the current status or condition of the population or phenomenon of interest, without manipulating or altering any variables. This involves collecting data over an extended period of time, often through repeated observations or surveys of the same group or population.
Of the 9884 children screened, 1297 (13.1%) had myopia (defined as spherical refractive error of −0.50 diopters (D) or worse in either or both eyes), and the mean myopic error was −1.86 ± 1.4 D. Furthermore, overall, 322 (3.3%), 247 (2.5%) and 3 children had mild, moderate, and severe visual impairment, respectively. These data would be helpful to a health planner to assess the need for a school eye health program, and to know the proportion of children in her jurisdiction who would need corrective glasses. Cross-sectional studies can be thought of as providing a “snapshot” of the frequency and characteristics of a disease in a population at a particular point in time. These are very good for measuring the prevalence of a disease or of a risk factor in a population. Thus, these are very helpful in assessing the disease burden and healthcare needs.
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Researchers should choose techniques that are appropriate for the data and the question being asked. Choosing the appropriate research design for a study is crucial to the success of the study. Moreover, researchers should choose a design that best fits the research question and the type of data needed to answer it. Descriptive research studies a particular population or sample that is representative of the larger population being studied. Furthermore, sampling methods can include convenience, stratified, or random sampling.
This involves gathering information from many people using a questionnaire and interview. Descriptive research aims to accurately and systematically describe a population, situation or phenomenon. An online survey or questionnaire can be used in descriptive studies to gather quantitative information about a particular problem.
Descriptive research only provides a snapshot of the current situation and cannot establish cause-and-effect relationships. The information gathered through descriptive research can serve as a baseline for future research and provide a foundation for further studies. Despite certain parallels, descriptive research concentrates on describing phenomena, while qualitative research aims to understand people better. For example, a business looking to sell to its target market should research the market’s behavior first.
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