Research Design Hierarchy
A summary of all the available primary research in response to a research question
What is a systematic review?
A process of selecting cases for inclusion in the study so that each case has the same chance as the other cases of being selected
What is probability sampling?
One of several ways quantitative data may be collected
What is in-person/telephone/mail/web-based questionnaire/survey data collection?
A study in which people are allocated at random (by chance) to receive one of several clinical interventions
What is a randomized controlled trial?
A probability sampling method that selects cases/people by chance to participate in a study
What is simple random/ systematic random sampling?
A type of question where, for example, 1 = "male", 2 = "female", 3 = "non-binary"
What is a categorical research question?
An intervention study used to estimate the impact of an intervention on a target population without random assignment
What is a quasi-experimental design?
A process of selecting cases for inclusion in the study where the probability of a case being selected is unknown or unequal to the chance that other cases will be collected
What is non-probability sampling?
A type of ordinal question that measures the strength/intensity of a response
What is a Likert-type scale?
A type of research design that seeks to understand if two or more variables are related to each other.
What is a correlational study?
A type of non-probability sampling that determines the characteristics of the sample based on the research question and selects cases on purpose
What is purposive/convenience sampling?
This is an example of this type of research question: What do you think of the program and did you like it?
What is a double-barrel question?
A scientific method of observation to gather non-numerical data
What is qualitative research?
A type of non-probability sampling where individuals are identified who meet study criteria and they are asked to identify other persons like themselves to participate in the study
What is snowball sampling?
A measure of the stability or consistency of scores on an instrument