What are the various types of research design?

Various types of research design are as follow:

1. Research design for exploratory or formulative studies
• In this type of design, a vague problem is selected and understood and is then followed by an exploratory research to find a new hypothesis and then carrying out conclusion research decisions to finally get new ideas.
• Aims at finding a new hypothesis.
• Individual surveys, referring to secondary sources of data etc. play an important role in such research designs.
• Reviewing related literature, following or surveying people having practical experience in the problem related field act as very important and most commonly used methods by an exploratory researcher.

2. Research design for conclusive studies
Also referred to as the research design for the descriptive studies and is further divided as follows –

a. Case Study method –
• Finds extensive use in commerce and industry.
• Very respectable method of teaching and research in management.
• Helps greatly in knowing the causes and the results of the incident of the phenomenon.

b. Statistical method –
• Also trying to find its place in commerce and industry.
• Act as method of correlation and regressions, analysis, chi square etc.
• Has been made very rigorous and sophisticated by coming up of the computers.

3. Research design for experimental studies –
• Explains the structure of an experiment.
• Involve plans for the testing of the causal hypothesis.
• Decides the number of observations to be taken and also the order in which experiments are to be carried out.
• Which randomization method to be used.
• Which mathematical model to be used for explaining the experiment.

This research design can be further categorized into the following –
1. Informal experimental design –
• After only design.
• After only with control design.
• Before and after without control design.
• Before and after with control design.

2. Formal experimental design –
• Completely randomized design.
• Randomized block design.
• Latin square design.
• Factorial design.