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Unit 6: Research types

These definitions are provided by the Learning Development Centres at Glasgow Caledonian University. We also have a research glossary to explain what the words mean.

  • Action research Where the researcher is involved in a situation, makes changes and observes the effects.
  • Case-control study An observational study in which the characteristics of a particular group are compared with those of selected people without the characteristic under study. For example, people with a particular disease (the case study) are compared with a group without the disease (the control group).
  • Case report A description of one interesting or unusual case
  • Case series A description of several cases in which no attempt is made to answer specific hypotheses, or to compare the results with another group of cases.
  • Case study Research into a particular business or defined institution, describing and investigating the issues and relationships.
  • Cohort study An observational study of a group of people with a specified characteristic who are followed up over a period of time in order to detect any changes to the research question over time.  Comparison may be made with a control group. 
  • Controlled trial An experimental study in which an intervention is applied to one group of people and the outcome compared with that in a similar group (controls) not receiving the intervention.
  • Correctional research Exploring the possible relationships between variables.
  • Cross sectional study is a survey of a particular phenomena, for example, the frequency of disease or risk factors in a defined population at one particular time.
  • Descriptive research Describing what exists in your sample, without analysing variables.
  • Historical research Structured study of past events to help understand current problems.
  • Qualitative Concerned with description, qualities and observation – used to investigate views and opinions.
  • Quantitative Concerned with measurement and numbers – used to demonstrate incidence and prevalence
  • Questionnaire A structured set of written questions to obtain information from a sample.
  • Semi-structured A schedule for interviews which has a partially planned framework.
  • Structured A completely planned framework of interview questions.
  • Survey A method of obtaining data about variables from a population or a sample.

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SMILE by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License