Chapter 13: Descriptive and

Exploratory Research
Descriptive Exploratory Experimental

Describe Find Cause
Populations Relationship and Effect
Case study
Developmental Research
Normative Research
Qualitative research
Correlational, Predictive research
Descriptive/Exploratory Research
Purpose:
To describe a phenomenon
To explore factors that influence and
interact with it
Descriptive Research
Document conditions, attitudes, or
characteristics of individuals or groups of
individuals
Descriptive Research
Exploratory Research:
Focuses on the relationships among these
factors
Descriptive and Exploratory Research:
May be combined, depending on the
research question
Are considered nonexperimental or
observational research (no data
manipulation)
Retrospective and Prospective
Research
Retrospective Research
Data have been collected in the past
Prospective Research
Data are collected in the present
(longitudinal studies)
Prospective research is more reliable
than retrospective
Descriptive Research
Purpose of descriptive studies:
Document the nature of existing variables
How they change overtime
Structured around a set of guiding
questions
Descriptive data provide the basis for
classifying data and for further questions
Case Studies
Purpose
In-depth description of an individuals
condition or responses to treatment
Can also focus on a group, institution,
or other social unit
Case series- an expansion of a case
study (several similar cases are
reported)
Case Studies
Most often:
Case studies emphasize unusual
patient problems or diagnoses that
present interesting clinical challenges
A case study is an intensive
investigation designed to a analyze &
understand factors important to the:
Case Studies
Etiology, care, and outcome of
subjects:
Background, present status, and
responses to intervention
Case Studies
It begins with a: full history,
delineation problems, symptoms,
and prior treatments,
demographic and social factors
that a relevant to the subjects
care and prognosis


Case Studies
Literature should be cited to support
treatment
Documentation of all interventions,
subjects responses, and and10 follow-
up should be complete
Data could be quantitative or qualitative,
or both
Case Studies
Major Contributions:
Information generates hypothesis
A thorough analysis of a single situation
may lead to discovery of non obvious
relationships
Case law may lead to a conceptual form

Case Studies
Provides an opportunity for
understanding the totality of an
individuals experience
Limitations:
Limited generalizability from one case to
another due to lack of control

Developmental Research
Involves the description of
developmental change and the
sequencing of behavior in people over
time (Erickson, Piaget)
Methods used to document change:
1. Longitudinal study- follows a cohort of
subjects over time

Developmental Research
Advantage of longitudinal method:
Ability to accumulate data through
intensive documentation of growth and
change in the same individuals
Disadvantages:
Money, long term commitment, attrition,
and confounding variables
Developmental Research
2. Cross-Sectional Method- studies a
stratified group of subjects at one-point
in time
This method is used more often than
longitudinal method because its
efficiency as subjects are tested once at
the same time
Developmental Research
Disadvantages of Cross-Sectional
method:
Selection of subjects (results reflect extraneous
factors)
Cohort Effects (effects are not age-specific
but rather generation or time of birth)
Developmental Research
Provides valuable information for
generating correlational or experimental
hypothesis/es
Generates developmental theories

Normative Studies
Purpose:
To describe typical or standard values
for characteristics of a given population
Directed toward:
A specific age group, gender, occupation,
culture, or disability

Normative Research
Norms are usually expressed in terms
of:
Mean (within a range of acceptable values)
Normal nerve conduction velocity of the
Ulnar nerve is expressed as 57.5
meters/sec, with a normal range of 49.5 to
63.6 m/s

Normative Research
The norm is used as a basis for:
Prescribing corrective interventions
Predicting future performance

Researchers must be aware of
sampling biases
Qualitative Research
Quantitative Methods:
Based on Logical positivism
Concept/constructs can be measured and
assigned numbers
Qualitative Methods:
Based on observing the complex
nature of humans
Qualitative Research
Purpose:
To understand the patients perspective
To describe how individuals perceive their
own experiences within a specific context
To seek an understanding why something
occurs
(Phantom pain)
Qualitative Research
Methods of Data collection:
Interviews
Observations
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Data are recorded in the narrative
Content analysis
Themes
Qualitative Research
Measurement error
In terms of judgments not numerical
equivalency
Sampling
Size

Exploratory Research
The systematic investigation of relationship
among two or more variables
Purpose:
To describe relationships
To predict the effects of one variable on
another
To test relationships that are supported by
clinical theory

Exploratory Research
Exploratory research is guided by a set
of hypotheses
Operational definition
Statistical testing
Exploratory Research
The foundation of exploratory research
is the process of:
1. Correlation-
Measures the degree of association among
variables
A function of covariation of the data (the
extent that one variable varies directly or
indirectly with another variable)
Exploratory Research
The strength of this relationship is measured
by a correlation statistic
Pearson Correlation r (how close the
correlation coefficient is to +1or -1
2. Regression-
Predicts the score on an outcome variable
by knowing the values of other variables


Chapter 13
Now you know all
about Descriptive
and Exploratory
Research