In descriptive research the significant characteristics of a sample or population are described. While a sample or population, whether objects or people, is referred to the collection of anything which has common characteristics. The descriptive research has certain characteristics and it has its methods.
Descriptive research answers the question “What” regarding population. For instance, what is the percentage of female applicants in the annual admission of a university? Or what is percentage of male students who taking admission in Education Department?
An important point to note is that descriptive research combines the characteristics of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. It doesn’t fall exclusively in either qualitative or quantitative research. Descriptive method doesn’t answer the question of “How”.
Characteristics of descriptive Research
The underlying paragraphs explain some of the distinctive characteristics of descriptive research.
1. It is quantitative research:
The descriptive method is a quantitative research in a sense that an attempt is made here to collect the information in numbers about the population or sample and then statistically analyze it.
2. Researcher has no control over variables in quantitative research:
In the descriptive method, the variables cannot be controlled by the researcher. ,
3. Questionnaire is developed by the researcher:
The research instrument is likely to be developed by the researcher himself in descriptive method of research.
4. Sample is selected from a larger population:
Typically, the researcher selects the sample from a larger population. Different methods by the researcher in descriptive method of research for decision regarding the number or percentage of the participants to be selected from the population.
5. Generalization:
In descriptive method of research , the results derived from the sample data are generalized for the whole population.
Types of descriptive research
There are different types of descriptive research. They are discussed below.
1. One – Shot Survey Design:
Among the types of descriptive research, in one-Short survey design, the perceptions of the participants are collected through mailing the surveys at one point in time.
2. Longitudinal survey:
longitudinal survey is one of the types of descriptive research,The major purpose of longitudinal study is the “tracking” of participants for a longer period of time. The sample is selected periodically. Usually the longitudinal study takes 10, 20, or 30 years. The purpose of this long period is to investigate that with the passage of time how the participants’ perceptions change. For this purpose the participants are followed as their lives passes.
3. Trend survey study:
In this type of descriptive method of research, the perceptions of the groups who shared experiences are studied. Here the researcher is interested in describing each new group’s perceptions. For example, researcher can find the perceptions of different graduates in different years.
4. Follow – Up Survey Study
In this type of descriptive method of research, the researcher is interested to know whether the particular group of participants stays in particular field or not. For example, the graduates are surveyed upon graduation and next year again they are surveyed to see whether they stay in the field or not. This type of survey helps the researcher to find out the rate at which the participants change their field.
5. Cohort survey study:
In the types of descriptive research, same population is used but different samples from that group are selected over time and this process is repeated time and again for years to create a rigorous cohort survey design.
6. Descriptive- comparative study:
In this type of descriptive method of research, brief reporting form is used to collect the information about the behaviors and feelings of the participants. Here the researcher tries to only describe the behaviors in percentage form rather than changing it.
Methods of descriptive research
Three research methods are used to conduct descriptive research are as follows.
1. Method of observation:
Among these types of descriptive research, the researcher uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to conduct research. In quantitative observation, the focus is on the numbers and values such as age, weight, volume etc. Then its results are derived through the use of statistical and numerical analysis.
In qualitative observation, there is only monitoring the characteristics. Here the observers’ subjective interpretation is the basis of observation. The role of the participant in observation is either participant observer, or non-participant observer.
2. Case study method:
Among these types of descriptive research, this method relies on careful and complete observation of a person, institution, or community. In this study in-depth investigation is made and more emphasis is placed on full analysis of a number of events or conditions. There are problems with case study i-e they cannot make precise predictions due to the biasedness on researcher’s part. Secondly due to uncommon response from the respondents can lead to weak generalizations.
3. Descriptive research:
This type of descriptive research respondents respond to questionnaires, polls or survey. For collection of valuable information, it is necessary that the items of the questionnaire should be relevant. In other words the questionnaires should be valid and reliable. The descriptive method different ways of data collection such as online or offline.
Benefits of descriptive research
There are many benefits of descriptive method depending upon the research method which are discussed below.
1. Descriptive survey researches are easy to perform:
The setting up, administration, and analysis of descriptive method is easy. It is because; the data is collected in a relatively easy way.
2. Descriptive research is not costly:
The descriptive method cheaper to conduct depending upon the type of survey. For example, the online survey research or mobile surveys are the cheaper ways of conducting surveys. The global population can be accessed with a fraction of cost.
3. Descriptive research collect information using large population:
The researcher in descriptive research can collect data from a larger population at a low cost.
4. Data is analyzed through Softwares
The advanced statistical techniques in descriptive method can be used through softwares to analyze the collected data. For example, validity, reliability, and multiple regression can be using SPSS to analyze the survey data.
5. Data is free from errors:
The data collected through descriptive method is usually free from many types of errors.