Published on
February 17, 2025
by
Emily Heffernan, PhD.
Revised on
November 26, 2025
Descriptive research involves studying an individual, population, or other phenomenon as it appears in nature. In other words, the researcher describes the subject of interest without attempting to change or manipulate it.
Descriptive research is commonly used in fields like marketing, health studies, psychology, and other sciences.
Descriptive research examplesThe following research questions could be addressed through descriptive research.
What study strategies do students use when studying for their exams?
What are the demographic characteristics of shoppers at X company?
How many people in New York City own versus rent their homes?
How has the average age of homebuyers changed in the past 20 years?
In longitudinal studies, researchers repeatedly collect data from participants over an extended period of time. They can be contrasted with cross-sectional research, where data are collected at a single point in time.
Because they track changes over time, longitudinal studies are helpful for identifying risk factors associated with an outcome of interest—for example, which lifestyle factors may be related to developing a medical condition.
Longitudinal research methods are used in many fields, including medicine, public health, psychology, consumer research, environmental science, and economics.
Longitudinal study exampleThe Seattle Longitudinal Study (SLS) is an example of a longitudinal study in the field of psychology.
The study began in 1956 and collected data from participants roughly every 7 years. It explores how cognitive measures such as memory, reasoning, and vocabulary change as people age. Over 6,000 adults have participated in this study to date.
A cross-sectional study is an observational research design in which data is collected from multiple participants at a single point in time. It is the opposite of a longitudinal study, where data are collected from participants repeatedly over a period of time.
Cross-sectional studies are commonly used across a wide variety of fields, including psychology, economics, and medicine. They are particularly useful for determining the prevalence of a specific outcome or condition in a population.
Cross-sectional study exampleA census is an example of a cross-sectional study. Citizens of a country (the population) answer a survey with demographic questions such as age, sex, and marital status (the outcomes of interest).
Because data are collected at a single point in time, a census is an example of a cross-sectional design.
A Likert scale (pronounced “Lick-urt”) is a research instrument used to collect data on people’s beliefs, experiences, or opinions.
A Likert scale consists of a series of statements or questions (called items) about a topic. The respondent rates their level of agreement with each item using a 5- or 7-point scale, with response options ranging from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree.”
Likert scales are commonly used in areas ranging from clinical psychology to market research.
When writing a Likert scale, it is very important that your items be phrased as clearly as possible. Use QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to write with precision.
5-point Likert scale example
Please rate your agreement with the following statements.
Published on
December 26, 2024
by
Emily Heffernan, PhD.
Revised on
November 26, 2025
Questionnaires are tools used to collect information from people about their beliefs, experiences, and other characteristics. Questionnaires are used for many purposes, including consumer research, election polling, clinical diagnosis, and academic research.
TipQuillBot’s translator can help you translate your questionnaire into over 50 languages.
Published on
December 10, 2024
by
Emily Heffernan, PhD.
Revised on
November 26, 2025
Research methods are the procedures followed to collect and analyze data. You can think of them as the series of steps you would provide someone who wanted to recreate your study.
NoteThe terms research methods and research methodology are often used interchangeably. However, they are not quite the same thing.
Research methods refer to the specific processes taken when conducting research—they’re a series of instructions on how to collect and analyze your data.
Research methodology, on the other hand, is broader in scope. It concerns the research methods used but focuses on the theory and reasoning behind why these methods were chosen to address a research question.
In brief, research methods are what you’re doing, and research methodology is why you’ve chosen these methods.
Academic journal articles will generally include a Methods section; more involved documents, like a dissertation, may instead have a Methodology chapter. You can use QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to make sure either type of section is perfectly polished.
Published on
November 27, 2024
by
Emily Heffernan, PhD.
Revised on
November 26, 2025
A case study is a detailed, in-depth exploration of a subject. This subject, or “case,” could be just about anything: an individual, a group, a historical event, and so on.
When writing up your case study, QuillBot’s Paraphraser can help you find just the right words and phrasing.
TipCase studies are also used in marketing to demonstrate a company’s success. This type of case study has different features than the research-based case studies described below. Use QuillBot’s free case study generator to write polished marketing case studies.
Published on
November 26, 2024
by
Emily Heffernan, PhD.
Revised on
November 26, 2025
A quasi-experimental design is used to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between independent and dependent variables. However, unlike in a true experiment, participants are not randomly assigned to experiment conditions.
Quasi-experimental designs still involve the manipulation of an independent variable but may lack control over extraneous variables that could impact a study’s outcomes.
Published on
November 20, 2024
by
Emily Heffernan, PhD.
Revised on
November 26, 2025
Qualitative and quantitative research use different methods to explore research questions. Qualitative research involves non-numerical data, such as interviews or participant observation. Quantitative research relies on numerical data gathered through surveys or experiments.
Mixed methods research combines qualitative methods, which use nonnumerical data like text, transcripts, and images, with quantitative methods, which use numerical data.
A common misconception is that mixed methods studies simply include both qualitative and quantitative data. However, when adopting a mixed methods approach, you must carefully consider when and how to collect and integrate these different data sources. Mixed methods research can therefore be time consuming, but it offers the benefit of providing a more holistic answer to your research question.
