MRC LESSON 2

Descriptive studies portray precisely the characteristics of a particular individual, situation, or group. Descriptive studies try to discover answers to the questions who, what, when, where, and sometimes how.

A research design should always safeguard against causing mental and physical harm not only to the participants but also to those who belong to their organizations.

The presentation of the results should be comprehensive, easily understood by the readers, and organized so that the readers can readily locate the critical and central findings.

Proper research always specifies the conditions under which the research conclusion seems to valid.

The research procedures used should be described in sufficient detail to permit other researchers to repeat the research at a later date.

Exploration is finding out about some previously unexamined phenomenon. In other words, an explorative study structures and identifies new problems. The explorative study aims at gaining familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it.

Prediction seeks to answer: when and in what situations the event will occur, if we can provide a plausible explanation for the event in question.

The researcher should report with complete honesty and frankness any flaws in the procedural design.

Goals of research

Good research must have its purposes clearly and unambiguously defined.

Explanation reveals why and how something happens. An explanatory study goes beyond description and attempts to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between variables. It explains the reason for the phenomenon that the descriptive study observed.

The procedural design of the research should be carefully planned to yield results that are as objective as possible.