Research design is the overall strategy that researchers utilize and integrate the various components of a research study logically and coherently (Leavy, 2017). It provides a characteristic cycle, a plan, to be followed to investigate a relationship between two variables. The factors that a researcher considered in selecting an appropriate research design include the availability of sufficient data, time, and resources such as a skilled workforce, the amount and nature of the data available.
Project Research Design
The research project would be finding out the proportion of the population was in support or against the proposed sales tax increase. Therefore, this study’s most practical research design would be a descriptive research design, which systematically and accurately describes the population or given situation. The study would use a sample to estimate whether the rest of the population favors the proposed tax increase.
Research Design Large-N
The most recommendable between a large-N or small-N study for this research study would be the former, whereby the participants are not the main interest of the study, but a way of estimating the study’s main population of the State of Florida. This survey would allow the researcher to use a Likert Scale to rate how much they were for or against the research study on a scale of one to five. The researcher would then average the data from this sample and perform other statistical analysis forms in the study.
Research Design: Validity and Reliability
To ensure that the validity of the fining of this study, this research study would use an appropriate method of measurement used a well-designed questionnaire that would have collected the demographic data of the participants and their opinion on the tax increase using a Likert scale. The sampling method to be used would be systematic sampling. The other hand’s validity would be enhanced by ensuring consistency in collecting and analyzing the data. This causal method would provide the researcher and the entire State of Florida data interpreted (Leavy, 2017).
Research Design Alternative Design
An alternative research design for this project would still be a descriptive research design but a case study instead of a survey. The consultant would suggest a case study on the implementation of the law on one of the counties in the State of Florida, for example, Liberty County, for one year, and determine whether the people would prefer to pay the taxes and help alleviate the budget crisis, or reduced the amenities that they get from the state government.
If the people of Liberty County preferred paying more taxes, then the proposal would be implemented in all the other counties in the State of Florida. This method would lead to a more accurate determination of whether the tax increase is applicable, thus making it more valid and reliable than the former; however, it would be costly, time-consuming, and unfair to the people of Liberty County. This research design would be correlational, too, as the researcher would seek to learn the correlation between the amenities and tax payment in the State of Florida (Leavy, 2017).
Fallacy of Composition
The fallacy of composition refers to a situation where researchers assume that it would also be valid for the rest of the population because something is valid for a specific portion of the population. In this case, assuming that the State of Florida people based on the finding obtained from a sample in the population favor a tax increment. The fallacy of composition is an issue of concern for this research design, something that the researchers will ensure by adopting an optimal sampling design and minimizing that sampling error as much as possible (Ketokivi, 2019).
Research Design References
- Ketokivi, M. (2019). Avoiding bias and fallacy in survey research: A behavioral multilevel approach. Journal of Operations Management, 65(4), 380-402.
- Leavy, P. (2017). Research design: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and community-based participatory research approaches. Guilford Publications.
