Interviews in qualitative research are a way of collecting detailed spoken accounts from people who have relevant experience of a topic. The researcher prepares a topic, question route, or conversation guide, then uses listening and follow-up questions to understand how participants describe events, choices, relationships, memories, and meanings. Within qualitative research, interviews are one of […]
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Structured interviews are interviews in which every participant is asked the same prepared questions in the same order, usually with little or no change in wording. The format gives the researcher a controlled way to collect spoken or written answers while keeping the interview situation as consistent as possible across participants. In qualitative research, structured
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Qualitative research methods are the ways researchers collect and analyse non-numerical evidence when they want to understand meanings, experiences, practices, interactions, and social contexts. They are used when a study needs more than a count, score, or statistical average. Instead of asking only how often something happens, qualitative research asks how people describe it, how
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Longitudinal research is a research design in which the same people, cases, records, groups, or settings are studied more than once across a defined period of time. Instead of taking one snapshot, the researcher follows a process as it develops. This makes longitudinal research especially useful when the research question is about change, stability, sequence,
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Cross-sectional research is a research design that studies people, groups, records, cases, or other units at one point in time. Instead of following the same units across months or years, the researcher collects data during a defined period and uses those data to describe conditions, compare groups, or examine associations between variables. This article explains
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Comparative research is a research design in which researchers study two or more cases, groups, contexts, periods, policies, texts, or datasets side by side. The purpose is not simply to describe each case separately. The purpose is to understand how they are similar, how they differ, and what those similarities or differences suggest about the
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Survey research is a research design that collects information from a defined group of people by asking them the same or comparable questions. The answers may describe opinions, behaviours, experiences, knowledge, needs, conditions, or background characteristics. Because the same instrument is used across many respondents, survey research can show patterns that are difficult to see
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Case study research is a research design that studies one case, or a small number of cases, in depth and in context. The case may be a person, classroom, school, organisation, programme, event, community, policy, project, document set, or process. Instead of separating the case from its setting, the researcher treats the setting as part
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Non-experimental research is a research design in which the researcher studies variables, groups, events, or records without manipulating an independent variable or assigning participants to treatment conditions. Instead of creating an intervention, the researcher observes what already exists, measures patterns carefully, and interprets the evidence within the limits of the design. This article explains what
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Quasi-experimental research is a research design used to study the effect of an intervention, treatment, programme, policy, or exposure when participants cannot be randomly assigned to groups. It resembles experimental research because the researcher is interested in cause and effect, but it does not have the same level of control that a true experiment usually
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