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Doctoral Research Project (DRP) Guide

Types of Research Project Designs

There are several research study designs students may use for their DRP. If a student would like to use a study design not listed below, they should consult with their DRP instructor. Regardless of the study design a student selects, their proposed research project may be reviewed by other EdD faculty to ensure the feasibility of their project. Listed below are different types of research designs, a brief description of each design, and the title of and link to an example of a published research study that used the particular design. You may find more information about the designs in Jacobsen’s Introduction to Health Research Methods: A Practical Guide and Gall, Gall, and Borg’s Applying Educational Research: How to Read, Do, and Use Research to Solve Problems of Practice.

Note: All articles are accessible through the A.T. Still Memorial Library.

Descriptive Research Designs
 

Program Evaluation
Evaluation of an existing education or health program

  • Idol, L. (2006, March/April). Toward inclusion of special education students in general education: A program evaluation of eight schools. Remedial and Special Education, 27(2), 77-94. https://doi.org/10.1177/07419325060270020601
  • Lester, P., Stein, J. A., Saltzman, W., Woodward, K., MacDermid, S. W., Milburn, N., ... Beardslee, W. (2013, August). Psychological health of military children: Longitudinal evaluation of a family-centered prevention program to enhance family resilience. Military Medicine, 178(8), 838-845. https://doi.org/10.7205/MILMED-D-12-00502

Qualitative Research
Attempts to understand and describe human behaviors using participants' own words rather than quantitative measurement

  • Bondevik, G. T., Holst, L., Haugland, M., Baerheim, A., & Raaheim, A. (2015). Interprofessional workplace learning in primary care: Students from different health professions work in teams in real-life settings. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 27(2), 175-182. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1082874
  • O’Leary, N. (2016, February). Learning informally to use the “full version” of teaching games for understanding. European Physical Education Review, 22(1), 3-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336X15586177

Descriptive Studies
Studies with a primary focus of providing an overall description or picture of human behavior or an educational process

  • Clark, C. M., Otterness, N. S., Allerton, B. W., & Black, M. (2010, Winter). Descriptive study of student incivility in the People’s Republic of China. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 17(4), 136-143.
    [A combination of a descriptive and correlational study]
  • Dennison, C. R., McEntee, M. L., Samuel, L., Johnson, B. J., Rotman, S., Kielty, A., & Russell, S. D. (2011, September-October). Adequate health literacy is associated with higher heart failure knowledge and self-care confidence in hospitalized patients. Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 26(5), 359-367. https://doi.org/10.1097/JCN.0b013e3181f16f88

Exploratory Research Designs

Correlational Studies
A study used to attempt to explain the nature of relationships (e.g., days in hospital and infection rate)

  • Marcus, S., Josman, N., & Zlotnik, S. (2015, February). Affirmative action in Israel: Access to academia for the ultra-Orthodox community. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 62(1), 21-26. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12161
  • Taylor, J., & Kiovsky, R. (2014, October). A study on the correlation between program contact hours and successful matriculation into college. Journal of Community Health, 39(5), 368-971. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-014-9840- z

Cohort Studies
Also called "follow-up study." This type of research is longitudinal many times and may not be possible in the time limit of the DRP

  • Hellstadius, Y., Lagergren, P., Lagergren, J., Johar, A., Hultman, C. M., & Wikman, A. (2015, January). Aspects of emotional functioning following oesophageal cancer surgery in a population-based cohort study. Psycho-Oncology, 24(1), 47-53. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.3583
  • Morris, M. A., Hulme, C., Clarke, G. P., Edwards, K. L., & Cade, J. E. (2014, November). What is the cost of a healthy diet? Using diet data from the UK Women’s Cohort Study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 68(11), 1043-1049. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2014-204039

Case-Control Studies
Involves selecting an outcome of interest (e.g., heart disease) and individuals who have the outcome (cases) and those who do not (controls) then looking backward in time to see if groups differered.  This may be too time-consuming for a DRP unless secondary data is available.

  • Morabia, A., Stellman, S. D., & Wynder, E. L. (1996). Smoking prevalence in neighborhood and hospital controls: Implications for hospital-based case-control studies. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 49(8), 885-889. https://doi.org/10.1016/0895-4356(96)00026-1
  • Wenghofer, E. F., Campbell, C., Marlow, B., Kam, S. M., Carter, L., & McCauley, W. (2015, March). The effect of continuing professional development on public complaints: A case-control study. Medical Educatoin, 49(3), 264-275. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.12633

Experimental Research Designs

Quasi-Experiments
Similar to an RCT, yet lacks randomization or comparison groups, or at times both

  • Gaupp, R., Körner, M., & Fabry, G. (2016, July 11). Effects of a case-based interactive e-learning course on knowledge and attitudes about patient safety: A quasi-experimental study with third-year medical students. BMC Medical Education, 16(172). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-016-0691- 4
  • Yanti, Y., Claramita, M., Emilia, O., & Hakimi, M. (2015). Students’ understanding of “Women-Centred Care Philosophy” in midwifery care through Continuity of Care (CoC) learning model: A quasi-experimental study. BMC Nursing, 14(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-015-0072-z

Experimental Model
Study participants are randomly assigned to at least two comparison groups

  • Brown, K. G., Stautz, K., Holands, G. J., Winpenny, E. M., & Marteau, T. M. (2016, May). The cognitive and behavioural impact of alcohol promoting and alcohol warning advertisements: An experimental study. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 51(3), 354-362. https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agv104
  • Deming, D. J., Yuchtman, N., Abulafi, A., Goldin, C., & Katz, L. F. (2016, March). The value of postsecondary credentials in the labor market: An experimental study. American Economic Review, 106(3), 778-806. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20141757