Design and Methodology with Julianne Cheek and Elise Øby
By Janet Salmons, PhD Manager, Sage Research Methods Community
We need to think about research before we design and conduct it.
Julianne Cheek and Elise Øby co-authored the book Research Design: Why Thinking About Design Matters. In the book description they observe:
Designing research is about making decisions to transform an idea into a plan that can provide answers to a research problem or question. Thinking about, and then making these decisions results in the research design – the plan that will be followed to conduct the research and answer the question.
They sat down with me to discuss the decision-making central to designing and conducting research. In this series of recordings they walk through important points covered in each chapter. Find all the posts by Dr. Cheek and Dr. Øby here, and the 10-part video playlist here.
The videos featured in this post highlight:
Chapter 4 – Why Methodology Matters When Designing Research
Chapter 5 – Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches to Designing Research
Chapter 4–Why Methodology Matters When Designing Research
Use the code COMMUNIT24 for 25% off through December 31, 2024 when you purchase the book from Sage.
Thinking about methodology with exercises discussed in relation to Chapter 4:
Self-Test: Are You Taking the Idea of Data Itself for Granted?
Is data a word that you tend to use without much thought? Taking this self-test will help you answer this question. Reflexively thinking about the following questions provides you with insights into the beliefs you bring with you when designing your research. Find this activity and more on page 73 in Cheek, J., & Øby, E. (2023). Research Design: Why Thinking About Design Matters. .
When you read the term data in a research report or think about what type of data you want your research design to produce, what do you understand data to mean?
What do you base that understanding on?
Do you think there are other ways that data can be thought about besides the way you think about it or the way that it is presented in a particular research design or report?
If you did allow for the fact that different people may have different ideas about what data is (and is not), then did you consider how different ways of thinking about what data is affect the way we think about, design, and report research?
Have you been assuming that everyone else views data in the same way as you do? If so, why?
Or perhaps you didn’t really think about any of this at all or consider it a part of the thinking that you will need to do when designing your research. If so, why not?
Thinking Through These Types of Key Questions When Designing Your Research
Find this activity and more on page 85 in Cheek, J., & Øby, E. (2023). Research Design: Why Thinking About Design Matters.
Think of a topic or research questions that you are interested in studying.
Now write down what you are thinking of studying about that topic and how.
Next write down why you are thinking about studying that topic in this way.
Think about what assumptions you might be making about what research, methods, data, and what valid scientific knowledge is, or even can be.
Try to work out why you are making those assumptions. What are you basing them on?
Chapter 5 – Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches to Designing Research
Sage Research Methods Community Posts from Julianne Cheek and Elise Øby
In this research conversation with Janet Salmons, Julianne Cheek and Elise Øby discuss the importance of an iterative, design-thinking approach to research.