O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven1 Methodological Design What’s the best way to design my study?

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven2 Methodology, Methods, and Tools Methodology: The framework associated with a particular set of paradigmatic assumptions that you will use to conduct your research, i.e.) scientific method, ethnography, action research Methods: The techniques you will use to collect data, i.e.) interviewing, surveying, participative observation Tools: The devices you will use to help you collect data, i.e.) questionnaires, observation checklists, interview schedules

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven3 From Questions to Answers The Path…

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven4 From Questions to Answers

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven5 From Questions to Answers

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven6 Address the question Be within your capacity & interest Be practical & doable Your methodological design needs to: Getting your Methodological Design on Target

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven7 Addressing the question Sound methodological design infers a goodness of fit between your final questions and your methodological design One, the other, or both may evolve, but in the end, your questions and your methodology and methods need to have the tightest of relationships

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven8 Suited to the researcher Goodness of fit is also important between your designs and you as a researcher Various designs will require certain skills You will also need to be comfortable taking on particular roles such as: Theorist: The ‘philosopher’ or ‘thinker’ Scientist: The ‘objective expert’ Change agent: The ‘emancipator’ Bricoleur: The ‘jack of all trades’ Choreographer: The ‘coordinator of a dance’

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven9 Practicalities Making it doable Regardless of how appropriate your methodological design might be for you and your question, if you do not have: ethics approval adequate resources, enough time access necessary to accomplish the task, you will need to rethink your approach

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven10 Getting Down to the Nitty Gritty Getting down to the nitty gritty of design involves being able to answer basic questions of: who, where, when, what, and how and being able to assess your answers in relation to whether they are right for the question, suited to the researcher, and are doable

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven11 Who Who do you want to be able to speak about? Who do you plan to speak to/ observe?

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven12 Where What is the physical domain of your sample? Are settings relevant to the credibility of your methods?

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven13 When How do your methods fit into your timeframe? Is timing relevant to the credibility of your methods?

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven14 How How will I collect my data? How will I conduct my methods?

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven15 What What will you look for/ what will you ask?

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven16 The Qualitative / Quantitative Divide The terms ‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’ have come to represent a set of assumptions that dichotomizes and limits the potential of researchers to let methodological design develop directly from their questions

O'Leary, Z. (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage Chapter Seven17 Opening Up Possibilities The potential to develop the methodological design that is most appropriate to your particular context can expand if you systematically consider all the assumptions represented by the words ‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’