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◆ Descriptive research design

Descriptive research is used to answer questions such as “what”,
“when”, “where”, and “how”, rather than “why”. It is a type of
research that describes a population, situation, or phenomenon.
Descriptive research is conducted to the following objective:

* To describe the characteristics of relevant group like a tourist,
investors etc..
◆ Describes the
characteristics * To study or estimate the proportion of people in a particular
population who hold certain specific attitudes, opinions etc. e.g.,
number of people who are in favour of the Contributory Pension
Scheme.
* To make predictions about a specific phenomenon e.g., what
will be the growth of online trading among people.

◆ Experimental research design

Experimental research is a scientific method of conducting
research in which one or more independent variables are
manipulated and applied to one or more dependent variables
◆ Cause and effect in order to determine their effect on the latter. The effect of
relationship independent variables on dependent variables is typically

observed and recorded over time to assist researchers in reaching
a reasonable conclusion about the relationship between these two
variable types. Experimental research is conducted to study the
cause and effect relationship between variables under study.
Types of experimental design

Experimental designs can be classified in four categories.
a. Pre-experimental research design

In a pre-experimental research design, one or more dependent
groups are observed for the effect of an independent variable that is

◆ One or more assumed to cause change. It is the most basic type of experimental
dependent group research design and has no control group.
Although very practical, experimental research is lacking
in several areas of the true-experimental criteria. The pre-
experimental research design is further divided into three types:

◆ One-shot case study research design
Only one dependent group or variable is considered in this
◆ One dependent type of experimental study. The study is conducted after
variable
some treatment that is expected to cause change, making it a
post-test study.
◆ Before-and-after without control design or One-group
pre-test-post-test research design

This research design combines a post-test and a pre-test study

36 SGOU - SLM -MCom Research Methodology