Introduction
When conducting a study, it is highly important to choose a research design that suits your scientific goals and the methodology of your research. The main types of research designs include but are not limited to descriptive, correlational, quasi-experimental, and experimental. This paper will outline the descriptive research design and propose a study that could be conducted with the use of this design.
Descriptive Research Design
To begin with, descriptive studies are contemplative at their core as they are mostly concerned with the natural flow of things and aim to examine particular concepts or subjects related to the field of study. In turn, Grove and Grey state that “descriptive design may be used to develop theories, identify problems with current practice, make judgments about practice, or identify trends of illnesses, illness prevention, and health promotion in selected groups” (2019, p. 258). However, Bloomfield and Fisher argue that this design has several disadvantages, such as the inability to statistically verify the research problem, the potential presence of bias, and the unrepeatability of the study (2019). One of the possible studies that can be conducted with descriptive design is the influence anti-drug campaigns have on teenagers using drugs. First, a competent anonymous survey should be developed, including the participants’ attitudes to and relationships with drugs, details of the anti-drug advertisements and promotional programs they may have encountered, and the potential shift in their perspective. Consequently, the questionnaires should be distributed to youngsters through local communities, schools, and families. Finally, proper data analysis can be conducted with the use of specialized software once the questionnaires are returned.
Conclusion
In conclusion, description studies are concerned with observable reality and employ various methods to access, analyze, and describe facts, events, or objects. Description design is easily implemented and employed; however, it may not provide solid enough results for thorough quantitative analysis. A study of teenagers’ reactions to anti-drug campaigns can be conducted with the use of questionnaires, a distribution system, and basic quantitative analysis.
References
Bloomfield, J. and Fisher, M. J. (2019). Quantitative research design. Journal of the Australasian Rehabilitation Nurses Association, 22(2), 27-30.
Grove, S. and Gray, J. (2019). Understanding nursing research: Building an evidence-based practice (7th ed.). Saunders.