You have been asked by the faculty higher degrees committee or funding agency to justify the research design and ethical matters in your proposal. What factors would you consider in your answer?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWERS Points to consider in a qualitative research design: • Is the design/approach appropriate to address the research question? How was this determination made? For example, the goal of a phenomenological approach is to develop an understanding of a phenomenon through the human lived experience of the particular phenomenon; grounded theory is used when investigating social issues; ethnography seeks to understand the insiders' view of their world; critical ethnography examines the power relations and influences affecting phenomena, and a historical research method focuses on the past by reviewing all the available evidence to answer the research question. • The researcher's historical background of experience, understanding and knowledge must be made explicit. Researcher bias is acknowledged. • Selection and recruitment of participants. For example, phenomenological research is an interactive involvement of both the researcher (interviewer) and participant (interviewee). Participants are chosen because they are experiencing the phenomenon of interest and are able to articulate their experience. • Inclusion/exclusion criteria. • Ethical considerations. • Data collection strategies would include in-depth interviewing (focus groups), tape-recorded interviews, transcription of recorded material. • Analysis of the data is usually achieved by reading and re-reading in whole, and in parts, identifying structures of meaning and themes that illuminate the meaning of the experience. There is no standard method of text analysis. There are a number of ways to analyse the data, however, in the first instance, inductive analysis is used, which leads to a narrative summary and synthesis of the information. Points to consider in a quantitative research design: • Is the design appropriate to address/answer the research question? How was this determination made? • Description and recruitment of sample. Is the design congruent with how the sample is recruited? How was the sample determined (e.g. experimental—address issues of randomisation, control and manipulation; quasi or nonexperimental designs—concepts of control and levels)? • Inclusion/exclusion criteria. • Ethical considerations. • Interventions; for example, tests, tools/instruments, medications, educational (a learning program). • Validation and reliability of instruments. • Statistical power analysis. • Data collection: questionnaires, tests. • Data analysis: parametric tests (alpha levels) or non-parametric tests—adequacy of sample size.