FORMULATING THE RESEARCH DESIGN

Formulating the Research Design

Formulating the Research Design

Introduction

The study is related to the research design; for the research, the presence of research design guides the way of researcher that is how to work for the research topic. In the given case that is students' use of work based learning in their studies shows the significance of the research design. In the case, the interview process is used to get the primary data with the aim of getting knowledge about the use of work based learning by the students in their studies.

Research Design

Data Sources and Research Limitations

In every piece of research, the concept of methodology is one of the most significant, as it functions as a guide for the whole research that is, students' use of work based learning in their studies. Designing the appropriate research design is a difficult, but essential that determines to a high degree the significance and validity of the research results; any mistakes and omission can lead to the wrong direction and thus adopting the wrong statistical techniques and tools.

The most popular research approaches used to make informed scientific decisions include qualitative and quantitative methods. Differences between quantitative and qualitative research lie in their approach to identification of the research problems and reviews of the literature. The two approaches have different strategies in specifying the purpose, data collection, data analysis, reporting, and evaluating research (Burns and Grove, 2005).

Quantitative research uses scientific methods to investigate phenomena and address issues and problems. These methods utilize an objective manner that enhances the reliability of the information and reduces biases. Qualitative research answers questions and explores new knowledge in a natural environment. This approach attempts to understand all aspects of people's behaviors, attitudes, and experiences. To address the research questions, the qualitative approach depends on four main data collections strategies: participation, observation, interviews, and analysis (Burns and Grove, 2007). Qualitative research explores a given phenomenon in order to provide further understanding and enhanced knowledge. Qualitative research questions are generally broad and the numbers of subjects in the study can be small. In qualitative methods, the researcher depends on the observations or experiences of the participants (Cooper and Schindler, 2006).

Statistical Technique

For analyzing the data, in most of the cases, the statistical test that is used is the regression analysis. In regression analysis, multiple regression analysis is often used in the business research. The multiple regression will be useful for the identifying the students' use of work based learning in their studies.

In statistics, regression analysis includes many techniques for modeling and analyzing several variables that can help in identifying the relationship between the dependent and the independent variables. In the multiple regression, it is assumed that the residuals (observed minus predicted values) are normally distributed (that is, obey the law of normal distribution). Again, although the majority of tests (particularly the F-test) is quite robust (resistant) with respect to deviations from this assumption, always, before making final conclusions, it is necessary to consider the distribution of the variables of ...