Research Methods - Coursework Example

There are many situations that would drive a researcher to want to conduct a historical research. One of those situations is the urge to understand a certain culture. The full length understanding of a culture (for examples its education or religion) requires that information about the past events of that culture be examined in order to understand its present and even predict what will happen to the future. This is possible and reliable since historical research focuses on patterns that happened in the past therefore making it easier to compare with the current patterns.

Understanding of the past of a culture may is also necessary in order to compare it with the history of other cultures. Part 2 Explain the difference between external and internal evidence and give examples of each. Internal evidence in a research is determined by the absence of any confounds and it ensures that the results of the researcher are according to the procedures specified and no deviations have been made. Internal evidence is mostly used to determine causal effects and relationships in a research and this therefore means that it is bound to have many threats to it.

External evidence on the other hand describes the amount of supportive information that can be acquired from other sources or other previous research to justify the current research. It can also be defined widely to include the extent the research results can be generalized to other settings other than the one currently the research is on. Part 3 Provide an explanation and an example of the following descriptive research designs: 1. Observation studies: These are done through the researcher just merely observing the subjects of the research and not manipulating them.

The researcher then records the observations while they are taking place to avoid missing any details and the analysis will be carried out of the recorded information from the observation. The observation may take place for a long or short time depending on the research objectives. This is common when dealing with research about animals where there are communication barriers. 2. Correlation research: This is a form of descriptive research design where a relationship is sought and established between the variables in a research.

The relationships between the variables (if any) are used to further understand and justify the research design. An example of this type of research is in social research like poverty where there are several variables which seem interrelated. 3. Developmental designs: (there are three different types) These are research designs used to examine human relationships and interaction throughout their development and the time each developmental design takes varies. The first is the cross-sectional design where a researcher researches on different subjects with different characteristics but within a single time period that is usually specified for example researching about different age-related subjects who have the same characteristics.

The other is the longitudinal design where the time period for the research is not specified and it involves studying the same subjects over and over again for a long period of time. This is true for example in medical research. Lastly, the third developmental design is the cross- sequential design. In this design, the research subjects are tested on a cross-sectional basis (ensuring the differences in traits) but repeatedly for long