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Research Design | Step-by-Step Guide with Examples

Published on 5 May 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on 20 March 2023.

A research design is a strategy for answering your research question  using empirical data. Creating a research design means making decisions about:

• Your overall aims and approach
• The type of research design you’ll use
• Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
• Your data collection methods
• The procedures you’ll follow to collect data
• Your data analysis methods

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims and that you use the right kind of analysis for your data.

Table of contents

Step 1: consider your aims and approach, step 2: choose a type of research design, step 3: identify your population and sampling method, step 4: choose your data collection methods, step 5: plan your data collection procedures, step 6: decide on your data analysis strategies, frequently asked questions.

• Introduction

Before you can start designing your research, you should already have a clear idea of the research question you want to investigate.

There are many different ways you could go about answering this question. Your research design choices should be driven by your aims and priorities – start by thinking carefully about what you want to achieve.

The first choice you need to make is whether you’ll take a qualitative or quantitative approach.

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible and inductive , allowing you to adjust your approach based on what you find throughout the research process.

Quantitative research designs tend to be more fixed and deductive , with variables and hypotheses clearly defined in advance of data collection.

It’s also possible to use a mixed methods design that integrates aspects of both approaches. By combining qualitative and quantitative insights, you can gain a more complete picture of the problem you’re studying and strengthen the credibility of your conclusions.

Practical and ethical considerations when designing research

As well as scientific considerations, you need to think practically when designing your research. If your research involves people or animals, you also need to consider research ethics .

• How much time do you have to collect data and write up the research?
• Will you be able to gain access to the data you need (e.g., by travelling to a specific location or contacting specific people)?
• Do you have the necessary research skills (e.g., statistical analysis or interview techniques)?
• Will you need ethical approval ?

At each stage of the research design process, make sure that your choices are practically feasible.

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Within both qualitative and quantitative approaches, there are several types of research design to choose from. Each type provides a framework for the overall shape of your research.

Types of quantitative research designs

Quantitative designs can be split into four main types. Experimental and   quasi-experimental designs allow you to test cause-and-effect relationships, while descriptive and correlational designs allow you to measure variables and describe relationships between them.

With descriptive and correlational designs, you can get a clear picture of characteristics, trends, and relationships as they exist in the real world. However, you can’t draw conclusions about cause and effect (because correlation doesn’t imply causation ).

Experiments are the strongest way to test cause-and-effect relationships without the risk of other variables influencing the results. However, their controlled conditions may not always reflect how things work in the real world. They’re often also more difficult and expensive to implement.

Types of qualitative research designs

Qualitative designs are less strictly defined. This approach is about gaining a rich, detailed understanding of a specific context or phenomenon, and you can often be more creative and flexible in designing your research.

The table below shows some common types of qualitative design. They often have similar approaches in terms of data collection, but focus on different aspects when analysing the data.

Your research design should clearly define who or what your research will focus on, and how you’ll go about choosing your participants or subjects.

In research, a population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about, while a sample is the smaller group of individuals you’ll actually collect data from.

Defining the population

A population can be made up of anything you want to study – plants, animals, organisations, texts, countries, etc. In the social sciences, it most often refers to a group of people.

For example, will you focus on people from a specific demographic, region, or background? Are you interested in people with a certain job or medical condition, or users of a particular product?

The more precisely you define your population, the easier it will be to gather a representative sample.

Sampling methods

Even with a narrowly defined population, it’s rarely possible to collect data from every individual. Instead, you’ll collect data from a sample.

To select a sample, there are two main approaches: probability sampling and non-probability sampling . The sampling method you use affects how confidently you can generalise your results to the population as a whole.

Probability sampling is the most statistically valid option, but it’s often difficult to achieve unless you’re dealing with a very small and accessible population.

For practical reasons, many studies use non-probability sampling, but it’s important to be aware of the limitations and carefully consider potential biases. You should always make an effort to gather a sample that’s as representative as possible of the population.

Case selection in qualitative research

In some types of qualitative designs, sampling may not be relevant.

For example, in an ethnography or a case study, your aim is to deeply understand a specific context, not to generalise to a population. Instead of sampling, you may simply aim to collect as much data as possible about the context you are studying.

In these types of design, you still have to carefully consider your choice of case or community. You should have a clear rationale for why this particular case is suitable for answering your research question.

For example, you might choose a case study that reveals an unusual or neglected aspect of your research problem, or you might choose several very similar or very different cases in order to compare them.

Data collection methods are ways of directly measuring variables and gathering information. They allow you to gain first-hand knowledge and original insights into your research problem.

You can choose just one data collection method, or use several methods in the same study.

Survey methods

Surveys allow you to collect data about opinions, behaviours, experiences, and characteristics by asking people directly. There are two main survey methods to choose from: questionnaires and interviews.

Observation methods

Observations allow you to collect data unobtrusively, observing characteristics, behaviours, or social interactions without relying on self-reporting.

Observations may be conducted in real time, taking notes as you observe, or you might make audiovisual recordings for later analysis. They can be qualitative or quantitative.

Other methods of data collection

There are many other ways you might collect data depending on your field and topic.

If you’re not sure which methods will work best for your research design, try reading some papers in your field to see what data collection methods they used.

Secondary data

If you don’t have the time or resources to collect data from the population you’re interested in, you can also choose to use secondary data that other researchers already collected – for example, datasets from government surveys or previous studies on your topic.

With this raw data, you can do your own analysis to answer new research questions that weren’t addressed by the original study.

Using secondary data can expand the scope of your research, as you may be able to access much larger and more varied samples than you could collect yourself.

However, it also means you don’t have any control over which variables to measure or how to measure them, so the conclusions you can draw may be limited.

As well as deciding on your methods, you need to plan exactly how you’ll use these methods to collect data that’s consistent, accurate, and unbiased.

Planning systematic procedures is especially important in quantitative research, where you need to precisely define your variables and ensure your measurements are reliable and valid.

Operationalisation

Some variables, like height or age, are easily measured. But often you’ll be dealing with more abstract concepts, like satisfaction, anxiety, or competence. Operationalisation means turning these fuzzy ideas into measurable indicators.

If you’re using observations , which events or actions will you count?

If you’re using surveys , which questions will you ask and what range of responses will be offered?

You may also choose to use or adapt existing materials designed to measure the concept you’re interested in – for example, questionnaires or inventories whose reliability and validity has already been established.

Reliability and validity

Reliability means your results can be consistently reproduced , while validity means that you’re actually measuring the concept you’re interested in.

For valid and reliable results, your measurement materials should be thoroughly researched and carefully designed. Plan your procedures to make sure you carry out the same steps in the same way for each participant.

If you’re developing a new questionnaire or other instrument to measure a specific concept, running a pilot study allows you to check its validity and reliability in advance.

Sampling procedures

As well as choosing an appropriate sampling method, you need a concrete plan for how you’ll actually contact and recruit your selected sample.

That means making decisions about things like:

• How many participants do you need for an adequate sample size?
• What inclusion and exclusion criteria will you use to identify eligible participants?
• How will you contact your sample – by mail, online, by phone, or in person?

If you’re using a probability sampling method, it’s important that everyone who is randomly selected actually participates in the study. How will you ensure a high response rate?

If you’re using a non-probability method, how will you avoid bias and ensure a representative sample?

Data management

It’s also important to create a data management plan for organising and storing your data.

Will you need to transcribe interviews or perform data entry for observations? You should anonymise and safeguard any sensitive data, and make sure it’s backed up regularly.

Keeping your data well organised will save time when it comes to analysing them. It can also help other researchers validate and add to your findings.

On their own, raw data can’t answer your research question. The last step of designing your research is planning how you’ll analyse the data.

Quantitative data analysis

In quantitative research, you’ll most likely use some form of statistical analysis . With statistics, you can summarise your sample data, make estimates, and test hypotheses.

Using descriptive statistics , you can summarise your sample data in terms of:

• The distribution of the data (e.g., the frequency of each score on a test)
• The central tendency of the data (e.g., the mean to describe the average score)
• The variability of the data (e.g., the standard deviation to describe how spread out the scores are)

The specific calculations you can do depend on the level of measurement of your variables.

Using inferential statistics , you can:

• Make estimates about the population based on your sample data.
• Test hypotheses about a relationship between variables.

Regression and correlation tests look for associations between two or more variables, while comparison tests (such as t tests and ANOVAs ) look for differences in the outcomes of different groups.

Your choice of statistical test depends on various aspects of your research design, including the types of variables you’re dealing with and the distribution of your data.

Qualitative data analysis

In qualitative research, your data will usually be very dense with information and ideas. Instead of summing it up in numbers, you’ll need to comb through the data in detail, interpret its meanings, identify patterns, and extract the parts that are most relevant to your research question.

Two of the most common approaches to doing this are thematic analysis and discourse analysis .

There are many other ways of analysing qualitative data depending on the aims of your research. To get a sense of potential approaches, try reading some qualitative research papers in your field.

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population. Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research.

For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

Statistical sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population. There are various sampling methods you can use to ensure that your sample is representative of the population as a whole.

Operationalisation means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.

For example, the concept of social anxiety isn’t directly observable, but it can be operationally defined in terms of self-rating scores, behavioural avoidance of crowded places, or physical anxiety symptoms in social situations.

Before collecting data , it’s important to consider how you will operationalise the variables that you want to measure.

The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question .

• If you want to measure something or test a hypothesis , use quantitative methods . If you want to explore ideas, thoughts, and meanings, use qualitative methods .
• If you want to analyse a large amount of readily available data, use secondary data. If you want data specific to your purposes with control over how they are generated, collect primary data.
• If you want to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables , use experimental methods. If you want to understand the characteristics of a research subject, use descriptive methods.

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Thank you. payment completed., you will receive an email from us to confirm your registration, please click the link in the email to activate your account., there was error during payment, orcid profile found in public registry, download history, how to refer to other studies or literature in the different sections of a research paper.

• Charlesworth Author Services
• 07 October, 2021

There are many articles which discuss how you can include and discuss existing studies and research in the literature review section of a paper. However, in addition to the literature review , there are many other opportunities to discuss or engage with prior studies in your research. This article offers guidance on how to include other studies or literature in different sections in a research paper.

Engaging with literature in the Introduction

Prior studies are often mentioned in the Introduction , generally as high-level summaries without much detail. Although some people may choose not to use existing literature or research to motivate a study, this is not an uncommon practice. Researchers sometimes rely on prior studies to emphasise the importance of the current study – for example, in challenging a standing argument or addressing an outstanding gap . Prior studies are also often discussed to build the foundation of the arguments of the research paper in question. 

Working with previous studies in the Methodology

It is also common practice to refer to prior literature in the Methodology. You may refer to prior studies as you design the study, collect and/or select data and perform the analysis. If this is the case, it is important to explain clearly why you are using and drawing from previous studies and how these are relevant to your own research paper. 

It is also possible to refer to prior studies to highlight the different methodological choices you have taken in your research. For example, there may be a comparison of the data sources, the sample or subject selections. Or, you might offer a comparison in the decisions made for different parameters, constructs, factors, model selection preferences and so on. Highlighting these differences can help you to clearly present new perspectives and why your study provides value to the field.

If you are offering a comparison between your current and previous studies, try to avoid solely comparing and contrasting, or simply stating what you have performed. What is more important is to explain why you have made these different decisions so that readers can understand the rationale behind your methodological decisions and your project design .

Referring to the literature in the Discussion and Conclusion

It is always a good idea to refer to prior studies and existing literature in the Discussion or Conclusion sections. This is a good time to reiterate the arguments, research questions/hypotheses and objectives that you introduced in the earlier sections of the paper and to discuss your results and findings .

Integrating other relevant literature into your Discussion serves two key purposes . First, it outlines what has already been achieved in prior studies. Second, you can explain how your study builds on this existing work to advance the knowledge in the field . 

Sometimes, through this discussion, you can also demonstrate why or how your findings are the same as or different from prior studies. 

Three common mistakes to avoid

When forging connections between prior studies and your own research paper, it is important to be aware of three common mistakes that authors make.

• Some researchers sometimes focus too much on the existing literature , so that their research paper does not, ultimately, seem to provide many new insights. 
• Because of the way authors might present and discuss prior studies in the Introduction, readers may become distracted or be led to raise more questions that are not relevant to the present research paper. [ Tip : In this and the above instances, it is advisable that you ensure your discussion of the literature is relevant at all times to the specific issues that you are discussing in each section and does not overshadow the main idea(s) in the research paper.]
• Although you can critique prior studies to highlight the unique approach or key message of your study, it is a good practice to avoid subjective assessments, so as not to introduce any personal biases into your discussion of either the literature or your own research. 

In conclusion

Remember that engagement with the literature serves primarily to set the scene and contextualise your own research . It should provide enough information for your reader to understand the relevance and significance of your study, but not take over the main focus of the paper.

Read next (fifth/final) in series: Difference between a literature review and a critical review

Read previous (third) in series: Deciding what to include and exclude as you begin to write your literature review

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What is case study research?

Last updated

8 February 2023

Reviewed by

Cathy Heath

Suppose a company receives a spike in the number of customer complaints, or medical experts discover an outbreak of illness affecting children but are not quite sure of the reason. In both cases, carrying out a case study could be the best way to get answers.

Organization

Case studies can be carried out across different disciplines, including education, medicine, sociology, and business.

Most case studies employ qualitative methods, but quantitative methods can also be used. Researchers can then describe, compare, evaluate, and identify patterns or cause-and-effect relationships between the various variables under study. They can then use this knowledge to decide what action to take. 

Another thing to note is that case studies are generally singular in their focus. This means they narrow focus to a particular area, making them highly subjective. You cannot always generalize the results of a case study and apply them to a larger population. However, they are valuable tools to illustrate a principle or develop a thesis.

Analyze case study research

Dovetail streamlines case study research to help you uncover and share actionable insights

• What are the different types of case study designs?

Researchers can choose from a variety of case study designs. The design they choose is dependent on what questions they need to answer, the context of the research environment, how much data they already have, and what resources are available.

Here are the common types of case study design:

Explanatory

An explanatory case study is an initial explanation of the how or why that is behind something. This design is commonly used when studying a real-life phenomenon or event. Once the organization understands the reasons behind a phenomenon, it can then make changes to enhance or eliminate the variables causing it. 

Here is an example: How is co-teaching implemented in elementary schools? The title for a case study of this subject could be “Case Study of the Implementation of Co-Teaching in Elementary Schools.”

Descriptive

An illustrative or descriptive case study helps researchers shed light on an unfamiliar object or subject after a period of time. The case study provides an in-depth review of the issue at hand and adds real-world examples in the area the researcher wants the audience to understand. 

The researcher makes no inferences or causal statements about the object or subject under review. This type of design is often used to understand cultural shifts.

Here is an example: How did people cope with the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami? This case study could be titled "A Case Study of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and its Effect on the Indonesian Population."

Exploratory

Exploratory research is also called a pilot case study. It is usually the first step within a larger research project, often relying on questionnaires and surveys . Researchers use exploratory research to help narrow down their focus, define parameters, draft a specific research question , and/or identify variables in a larger study. This research design usually covers a wider area than others, and focuses on the ‘what’ and ‘who’ of a topic.

Here is an example: How do nutrition and socialization in early childhood affect learning in children? The title of the exploratory study may be “Case Study of the Effects of Nutrition and Socialization on Learning in Early Childhood.”

An intrinsic case study is specifically designed to look at a unique and special phenomenon. At the start of the study, the researcher defines the phenomenon and the uniqueness that differentiates it from others. 

In this case, researchers do not attempt to generalize, compare, or challenge the existing assumptions. Instead, they explore the unique variables to enhance understanding. Here is an example: “Case Study of Volcanic Lightning.”

This design can also be identified as a cumulative case study. It uses information from past studies or observations of groups of people in certain settings as the foundation of the new study. Given that it takes multiple areas into account, it allows for greater generalization than a single case study. 

The researchers also get an in-depth look at a particular subject from different viewpoints.  Here is an example: “Case Study of how PTSD affected Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Differently Due to Advances in Military Technology.”

Critical instance

A critical case study incorporates both explanatory and intrinsic study designs. It does not have predetermined purposes beyond an investigation of the said subject. It can be used for a deeper explanation of the cause-and-effect relationship. It can also be used to question a common assumption or myth. 

The findings can then be used further to generalize whether they would also apply in a different environment.  Here is an example: “What Effect Does Prolonged Use of Social Media Have on the Mind of American Youth?”

Instrumental

Instrumental research attempts to achieve goals beyond understanding the object at hand. Researchers explore a larger subject through different, separate studies and use the findings to understand its relationship to another subject. This type of design also provides insight into an issue or helps refine a theory. 

For example, you may want to determine if violent behavior in children predisposes them to crime later in life. The focus is on the relationship between children and violent behavior, and why certain children do become violent. Here is an example: “Violence Breeds Violence: Childhood Exposure and Participation in Adult Crime.”

Evaluation case study design is employed to research the effects of a program, policy, or intervention, and assess its effectiveness and impact on future decision-making. 

For example, you might want to see whether children learn times tables quicker through an educational game on their iPad versus a more teacher-led intervention. Here is an example: “An Investigation of the Impact of an iPad Multiplication Game for Primary School Children.” 

• When do you use case studies?

Case studies are ideal when you want to gain a contextual, concrete, or in-depth understanding of a particular subject. It helps you understand the characteristics, implications, and meanings of the subject.

They are also an excellent choice for those writing a thesis or dissertation, as they help keep the project focused on a particular area when resources or time may be too limited to cover a wider one. You may have to conduct several case studies to explore different aspects of the subject in question and understand the problem.

• What are the steps to follow when conducting a case study?

1. Select a case

Once you identify the problem at hand and come up with questions, identify the case you will focus on. The study can provide insights into the subject at hand, challenge existing assumptions, propose a course of action, and/or open up new areas for further research.

2. Create a theoretical framework

While you will be focusing on a specific detail, the case study design you choose should be linked to existing knowledge on the topic. This prevents it from becoming an isolated description and allows for enhancing the existing information. 

It may expand the current theory by bringing up new ideas or concepts, challenge established assumptions, or exemplify a theory by exploring how it answers the problem at hand. A theoretical framework starts with a literature review of the sources relevant to the topic in focus. This helps in identifying key concepts to guide analysis and interpretation.

3. Collect the data

Case studies are frequently supplemented with qualitative data such as observations, interviews, and a review of both primary and secondary sources such as official records, news articles, and photographs. There may also be quantitative data —this data assists in understanding the case thoroughly.

4. Analyze your case

The results of the research depend on the research design. Most case studies are structured with chapters or topic headings for easy explanation and presentation. Others may be written as narratives to allow researchers to explore various angles of the topic and analyze its meanings and implications.

In all areas, always give a detailed contextual understanding of the case and connect it to the existing theory and literature before discussing how it fits into your problem area.

• What are some case study examples?

What are the best approaches for introducing our product into the Kenyan market?

How does the change in marketing strategy aid in increasing the sales volumes of product Y?

How can teachers enhance student participation in classrooms?

How does poverty affect literacy levels in children?

Case study topics

Case study of product marketing strategies in the Kenyan market

Case study of the effects of a marketing strategy change on product Y sales volumes

Case study of X school teachers that encourage active student participation in the classroom

Case study of the effects of poverty on literacy levels in children

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

• Annotated Bibliography
• Analyzing a Scholarly Journal Article
• Group Presentations
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• Types of Structured Group Activities
• Group Project Survival Skills
• Leading a Class Discussion
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Works
• Writing a Case Analysis Paper
• Writing a Case Study
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Reflective Paper
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Generative AI and Writing
• Acknowledgments

A case study research paper examines a person, place, event, condition, phenomenon, or other type of subject of analysis in order to extrapolate  key themes and results that help predict future trends, illuminate previously hidden issues that can be applied to practice, and/or provide a means for understanding an important research problem with greater clarity. A case study research paper usually examines a single subject of analysis, but case study papers can also be designed as a comparative investigation that shows relationships between two or more subjects. The methods used to study a case can rest within a quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method investigative paradigm.

Case Studies. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Mills, Albert J. , Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010 ; “What is a Case Study?” In Swanborn, Peter G. Case Study Research: What, Why and How? London: SAGE, 2010.

How to Approach Writing a Case Study Research Paper

General information about how to choose a topic to investigate can be found under the " Choosing a Research Problem " tab in the Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper writing guide. Review this page because it may help you identify a subject of analysis that can be investigated using a case study design.

However, identifying a case to investigate involves more than choosing the research problem . A case study encompasses a problem contextualized around the application of in-depth analysis, interpretation, and discussion, often resulting in specific recommendations for action or for improving existing conditions. As Seawright and Gerring note, practical considerations such as time and access to information can influence case selection, but these issues should not be the sole factors used in describing the methodological justification for identifying a particular case to study. Given this, selecting a case includes considering the following:

• The case represents an unusual or atypical example of a research problem that requires more in-depth analysis? Cases often represent a topic that rests on the fringes of prior investigations because the case may provide new ways of understanding the research problem. For example, if the research problem is to identify strategies to improve policies that support girl's access to secondary education in predominantly Muslim nations, you could consider using Azerbaijan as a case study rather than selecting a more obvious nation in the Middle East. Doing so may reveal important new insights into recommending how governments in other predominantly Muslim nations can formulate policies that support improved access to education for girls.
• The case provides important insight or illuminate a previously hidden problem? In-depth analysis of a case can be based on the hypothesis that the case study will reveal trends or issues that have not been exposed in prior research or will reveal new and important implications for practice. For example, anecdotal evidence may suggest drug use among homeless veterans is related to their patterns of travel throughout the day. Assuming prior studies have not looked at individual travel choices as a way to study access to illicit drug use, a case study that observes a homeless veteran could reveal how issues of personal mobility choices facilitate regular access to illicit drugs. Note that it is important to conduct a thorough literature review to ensure that your assumption about the need to reveal new insights or previously hidden problems is valid and evidence-based.
• The case challenges and offers a counter-point to prevailing assumptions? Over time, research on any given topic can fall into a trap of developing assumptions based on outdated studies that are still applied to new or changing conditions or the idea that something should simply be accepted as "common sense," even though the issue has not been thoroughly tested in current practice. A case study analysis may offer an opportunity to gather evidence that challenges prevailing assumptions about a research problem and provide a new set of recommendations applied to practice that have not been tested previously. For example, perhaps there has been a long practice among scholars to apply a particular theory in explaining the relationship between two subjects of analysis. Your case could challenge this assumption by applying an innovative theoretical framework [perhaps borrowed from another discipline] to explore whether this approach offers new ways of understanding the research problem. Taking a contrarian stance is one of the most important ways that new knowledge and understanding develops from existing literature.
• The case provides an opportunity to pursue action leading to the resolution of a problem? Another way to think about choosing a case to study is to consider how the results from investigating a particular case may result in findings that reveal ways in which to resolve an existing or emerging problem. For example, studying the case of an unforeseen incident, such as a fatal accident at a railroad crossing, can reveal hidden issues that could be applied to preventative measures that contribute to reducing the chance of accidents in the future. In this example, a case study investigating the accident could lead to a better understanding of where to strategically locate additional signals at other railroad crossings so as to better warn drivers of an approaching train, particularly when visibility is hindered by heavy rain, fog, or at night.
• The case offers a new direction in future research? A case study can be used as a tool for an exploratory investigation that highlights the need for further research about the problem. A case can be used when there are few studies that help predict an outcome or that establish a clear understanding about how best to proceed in addressing a problem. For example, after conducting a thorough literature review [very important!], you discover that little research exists showing the ways in which women contribute to promoting water conservation in rural communities of east central Africa. A case study of how women contribute to saving water in a rural village of Uganda can lay the foundation for understanding the need for more thorough research that documents how women in their roles as cooks and family caregivers think about water as a valuable resource within their community. This example of a case study could also point to the need for scholars to build new theoretical frameworks around the topic [e.g., applying feminist theories of work and family to the issue of water conservation].

Eisenhardt, Kathleen M. “Building Theories from Case Study Research.” Academy of Management Review 14 (October 1989): 532-550; Emmel, Nick. Sampling and Choosing Cases in Qualitative Research: A Realist Approach . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2013; Gerring, John. “What Is a Case Study and What Is It Good for?” American Political Science Review 98 (May 2004): 341-354; Mills, Albert J. , Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010; Seawright, Jason and John Gerring. "Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research." Political Research Quarterly 61 (June 2008): 294-308.

Structure and Writing Style

The purpose of a paper in the social sciences designed around a case study is to thoroughly investigate a subject of analysis in order to reveal a new understanding about the research problem and, in so doing, contributing new knowledge to what is already known from previous studies. In applied social sciences disciplines [e.g., education, social work, public administration, etc.], case studies may also be used to reveal best practices, highlight key programs, or investigate interesting aspects of professional work.

In general, the structure of a case study research paper is not all that different from a standard college-level research paper. However, there are subtle differences you should be aware of. Here are the key elements to organizing and writing a case study research paper.

I.  Introduction

As with any research paper, your introduction should serve as a roadmap for your readers to ascertain the scope and purpose of your study . The introduction to a case study research paper, however, should not only describe the research problem and its significance, but you should also succinctly describe why the case is being used and how it relates to addressing the problem. The two elements should be linked. With this in mind, a good introduction answers these four questions:

• What is being studied? Describe the research problem and describe the subject of analysis [the case] you have chosen to address the problem. Explain how they are linked and what elements of the case will help to expand knowledge and understanding about the problem.
• Why is this topic important to investigate? Describe the significance of the research problem and state why a case study design and the subject of analysis that the paper is designed around is appropriate in addressing the problem.
• What did we know about this topic before I did this study? Provide background that helps lead the reader into the more in-depth literature review to follow. If applicable, summarize prior case study research applied to the research problem and why it fails to adequately address the problem. Describe why your case will be useful. If no prior case studies have been used to address the research problem, explain why you have selected this subject of analysis.
• How will this study advance new knowledge or new ways of understanding? Explain why your case study will be suitable in helping to expand knowledge and understanding about the research problem.

Each of these questions should be addressed in no more than a few paragraphs. Exceptions to this can be when you are addressing a complex research problem or subject of analysis that requires more in-depth background information.

II.  Literature Review

The literature review for a case study research paper is generally structured the same as it is for any college-level research paper. The difference, however, is that the literature review is focused on providing background information and  enabling historical interpretation of the subject of analysis in relation to the research problem the case is intended to address . This includes synthesizing studies that help to:

• Place relevant works in the context of their contribution to understanding the case study being investigated . This would involve summarizing studies that have used a similar subject of analysis to investigate the research problem. If there is literature using the same or a very similar case to study, you need to explain why duplicating past research is important [e.g., conditions have changed; prior studies were conducted long ago, etc.].
• Describe the relationship each work has to the others under consideration that informs the reader why this case is applicable . Your literature review should include a description of any works that support using the case to investigate the research problem and the underlying research questions.
• Identify new ways to interpret prior research using the case study . If applicable, review any research that has examined the research problem using a different research design. Explain how your use of a case study design may reveal new knowledge or a new perspective or that can redirect research in an important new direction.
• Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies . This refers to synthesizing any literature that points to unresolved issues of concern about the research problem and describing how the subject of analysis that forms the case study can help resolve these existing contradictions.
• Point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research . Your review should examine any literature that lays a foundation for understanding why your case study design and the subject of analysis around which you have designed your study may reveal a new way of approaching the research problem or offer a perspective that points to the need for additional research.
• Expose any gaps that exist in the literature that the case study could help to fill . Summarize any literature that not only shows how your subject of analysis contributes to understanding the research problem, but how your case contributes to a new way of understanding the problem that prior research has failed to do.
• Locate your own research within the context of existing literature [very important!] . Collectively, your literature review should always place your case study within the larger domain of prior research about the problem. The overarching purpose of reviewing pertinent literature in a case study paper is to demonstrate that you have thoroughly identified and synthesized prior studies in relation to explaining the relevance of the case in addressing the research problem.

III.  Method

In this section, you explain why you selected a particular case [i.e., subject of analysis] and the strategy you used to identify and ultimately decide that your case was appropriate in addressing the research problem. The way you describe the methods used varies depending on the type of subject of analysis that constitutes your case study.

If your subject of analysis is an incident or event . In the social and behavioral sciences, the event or incident that represents the case to be studied is usually bounded by time and place, with a clear beginning and end and with an identifiable location or position relative to its surroundings. The subject of analysis can be a rare or critical event or it can focus on a typical or regular event. The purpose of studying a rare event is to illuminate new ways of thinking about the broader research problem or to test a hypothesis. Critical incident case studies must describe the method by which you identified the event and explain the process by which you determined the validity of this case to inform broader perspectives about the research problem or to reveal new findings. However, the event does not have to be a rare or uniquely significant to support new thinking about the research problem or to challenge an existing hypothesis. For example, Walo, Bull, and Breen conducted a case study to identify and evaluate the direct and indirect economic benefits and costs of a local sports event in the City of Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. The purpose of their study was to provide new insights from measuring the impact of a typical local sports event that prior studies could not measure well because they focused on large "mega-events." Whether the event is rare or not, the methods section should include an explanation of the following characteristics of the event: a) when did it take place; b) what were the underlying circumstances leading to the event; and, c) what were the consequences of the event in relation to the research problem.

If your subject of analysis is a person. Explain why you selected this particular individual to be studied and describe what experiences they have had that provide an opportunity to advance new understandings about the research problem. Mention any background about this person which might help the reader understand the significance of their experiences that make them worthy of study. This includes describing the relationships this person has had with other people, institutions, and/or events that support using them as the subject for a case study research paper. It is particularly important to differentiate the person as the subject of analysis from others and to succinctly explain how the person relates to examining the research problem [e.g., why is one politician in a particular local election used to show an increase in voter turnout from any other candidate running in the election]. Note that these issues apply to a specific group of people used as a case study unit of analysis [e.g., a classroom of students].

If your subject of analysis is a place. In general, a case study that investigates a place suggests a subject of analysis that is unique or special in some way and that this uniqueness can be used to build new understanding or knowledge about the research problem. A case study of a place must not only describe its various attributes relevant to the research problem [e.g., physical, social, historical, cultural, economic, political], but you must state the method by which you determined that this place will illuminate new understandings about the research problem. It is also important to articulate why a particular place as the case for study is being used if similar places also exist [i.e., if you are studying patterns of homeless encampments of veterans in open spaces, explain why you are studying Echo Park in Los Angeles rather than Griffith Park?]. If applicable, describe what type of human activity involving this place makes it a good choice to study [e.g., prior research suggests Echo Park has more homeless veterans].

If your subject of analysis is a phenomenon. A phenomenon refers to a fact, occurrence, or circumstance that can be studied or observed but with the cause or explanation to be in question. In this sense, a phenomenon that forms your subject of analysis can encompass anything that can be observed or presumed to exist but is not fully understood. In the social and behavioral sciences, the case usually focuses on human interaction within a complex physical, social, economic, cultural, or political system. For example, the phenomenon could be the observation that many vehicles used by ISIS fighters are small trucks with English language advertisements on them. The research problem could be that ISIS fighters are difficult to combat because they are highly mobile. The research questions could be how and by what means are these vehicles used by ISIS being supplied to the militants and how might supply lines to these vehicles be cut off? How might knowing the suppliers of these trucks reveal larger networks of collaborators and financial support? A case study of a phenomenon most often encompasses an in-depth analysis of a cause and effect that is grounded in an interactive relationship between people and their environment in some way.

NOTE:   The choice of the case or set of cases to study cannot appear random. Evidence that supports the method by which you identified and chose your subject of analysis should clearly support investigation of the research problem and linked to key findings from your literature review. Be sure to cite any studies that helped you determine that the case you chose was appropriate for examining the problem.

IV.  Discussion

The main elements of your discussion section are generally the same as any research paper, but centered around interpreting and drawing conclusions about the key findings from your analysis of the case study. Note that a general social sciences research paper may contain a separate section to report findings. However, in a paper designed around a case study, it is common to combine a description of the results with the discussion about their implications. The objectives of your discussion section should include the following:

Reiterate the Research Problem/State the Major Findings Briefly reiterate the research problem you are investigating and explain why the subject of analysis around which you designed the case study were used. You should then describe the findings revealed from your study of the case using direct, declarative, and succinct proclamation of the study results. Highlight any findings that were unexpected or especially profound.

Explain the Meaning of the Findings and Why They are Important Systematically explain the meaning of your case study findings and why you believe they are important. Begin this part of the section by repeating what you consider to be your most important or surprising finding first, then systematically review each finding. Be sure to thoroughly extrapolate what your analysis of the case can tell the reader about situations or conditions beyond the actual case that was studied while, at the same time, being careful not to misconstrue or conflate a finding that undermines the external validity of your conclusions.

Relate the Findings to Similar Studies No study in the social sciences is so novel or possesses such a restricted focus that it has absolutely no relation to previously published research. The discussion section should relate your case study results to those found in other studies, particularly if questions raised from prior studies served as the motivation for choosing your subject of analysis. This is important because comparing and contrasting the findings of other studies helps support the overall importance of your results and it highlights how and in what ways your case study design and the subject of analysis differs from prior research about the topic.

Consider Alternative Explanations of the Findings Remember that the purpose of social science research is to discover and not to prove. When writing the discussion section, you should carefully consider all possible explanations revealed by the case study results, rather than just those that fit your hypothesis or prior assumptions and biases. Be alert to what the in-depth analysis of the case may reveal about the research problem, including offering a contrarian perspective to what scholars have stated in prior research if that is how the findings can be interpreted from your case.

Acknowledge the Study's Limitations You can state the study's limitations in the conclusion section of your paper but describing the limitations of your subject of analysis in the discussion section provides an opportunity to identify the limitations and explain why they are not significant. This part of the discussion section should also note any unanswered questions or issues your case study could not address. More detailed information about how to document any limitations to your research can be found here .

Suggest Areas for Further Research Although your case study may offer important insights about the research problem, there are likely additional questions related to the problem that remain unanswered or findings that unexpectedly revealed themselves as a result of your in-depth analysis of the case. Be sure that the recommendations for further research are linked to the research problem and that you explain why your recommendations are valid in other contexts and based on the original assumptions of your study.

V.  Conclusion

As with any research paper, you should summarize your conclusion in clear, simple language; emphasize how the findings from your case study differs from or supports prior research and why. Do not simply reiterate the discussion section. Provide a synthesis of key findings presented in the paper to show how these converge to address the research problem. If you haven't already done so in the discussion section, be sure to document the limitations of your case study and any need for further research.

The function of your paper's conclusion is to: 1) reiterate the main argument supported by the findings from your case study; 2) state clearly the context, background, and necessity of pursuing the research problem using a case study design in relation to an issue, controversy, or a gap found from reviewing the literature; and, 3) provide a place to persuasively and succinctly restate the significance of your research problem, given that the reader has now been presented with in-depth information about the topic.

Consider the following points to help ensure your conclusion is appropriate:

• If the argument or purpose of your paper is complex, you may need to summarize these points for your reader.
• If prior to your conclusion, you have not yet explained the significance of your findings or if you are proceeding inductively, use the conclusion of your paper to describe your main points and explain their significance.
• Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration of the case study's findings that returns the topic to the context provided by the introduction or within a new context that emerges from your case study findings.

Note that, depending on the discipline you are writing in or the preferences of your professor, the concluding paragraph may contain your final reflections on the evidence presented as it applies to practice or on the essay's central research problem. However, the nature of being introspective about the subject of analysis you have investigated will depend on whether you are explicitly asked to express your observations in this way.

Problems to Avoid

Overgeneralization One of the goals of a case study is to lay a foundation for understanding broader trends and issues applied to similar circumstances. However, be careful when drawing conclusions from your case study. They must be evidence-based and grounded in the results of the study; otherwise, it is merely speculation. Looking at a prior example, it would be incorrect to state that a factor in improving girls access to education in Azerbaijan and the policy implications this may have for improving access in other Muslim nations is due to girls access to social media if there is no documentary evidence from your case study to indicate this. There may be anecdotal evidence that retention rates were better for girls who were engaged with social media, but this observation would only point to the need for further research and would not be a definitive finding if this was not a part of your original research agenda.

Failure to Document Limitations No case is going to reveal all that needs to be understood about a research problem. Therefore, just as you have to clearly state the limitations of a general research study , you must describe the specific limitations inherent in the subject of analysis. For example, the case of studying how women conceptualize the need for water conservation in a village in Uganda could have limited application in other cultural contexts or in areas where fresh water from rivers or lakes is plentiful and, therefore, conservation is understood more in terms of managing access rather than preserving access to a scarce resource.

Failure to Extrapolate All Possible Implications Just as you don't want to over-generalize from your case study findings, you also have to be thorough in the consideration of all possible outcomes or recommendations derived from your findings. If you do not, your reader may question the validity of your analysis, particularly if you failed to document an obvious outcome from your case study research. For example, in the case of studying the accident at the railroad crossing to evaluate where and what types of warning signals should be located, you failed to take into consideration speed limit signage as well as warning signals. When designing your case study, be sure you have thoroughly addressed all aspects of the problem and do not leave gaps in your analysis that leave the reader questioning the results.

Case Studies. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Gerring, John. Case Study Research: Principles and Practices . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007; Merriam, Sharan B. Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education . Rev. ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1998; Miller, Lisa L. “The Use of Case Studies in Law and Social Science Research.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 14 (2018): TBD; Mills, Albert J., Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010; Putney, LeAnn Grogan. "Case Study." In Encyclopedia of Research Design , Neil J. Salkind, editor. (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010), pp. 116-120; Simons, Helen. Case Study Research in Practice . London: SAGE Publications, 2009;  Kratochwill,  Thomas R. and Joel R. Levin, editors. Single-Case Research Design and Analysis: New Development for Psychology and Education .  Hilldsale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992; Swanborn, Peter G. Case Study Research: What, Why and How? London : SAGE, 2010; Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research: Design and Methods . 6th edition. Los Angeles, CA, SAGE Publications, 2014; Walo, Maree, Adrian Bull, and Helen Breen. “Achieving Economic Benefits at Local Events: A Case Study of a Local Sports Event.” Festival Management and Event Tourism 4 (1996): 95-106.

Writing Tip

At Least Five Misconceptions about Case Study Research

Social science case studies are often perceived as limited in their ability to create new knowledge because they are not randomly selected and findings cannot be generalized to larger populations. Flyvbjerg examines five misunderstandings about case study research and systematically "corrects" each one. To quote, these are:

Misunderstanding 1 :  General, theoretical [context-independent] knowledge is more valuable than concrete, practical [context-dependent] knowledge. Misunderstanding 2 :  One cannot generalize on the basis of an individual case; therefore, the case study cannot contribute to scientific development. Misunderstanding 3 :  The case study is most useful for generating hypotheses; that is, in the first stage of a total research process, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building. Misunderstanding 4 :  The case study contains a bias toward verification, that is, a tendency to confirm the researcher’s preconceived notions. Misunderstanding 5 :  It is often difficult to summarize and develop general propositions and theories on the basis of specific case studies [p. 221].

While writing your paper, think introspectively about how you addressed these misconceptions because to do so can help you strengthen the validity and reliability of your research by clarifying issues of case selection, the testing and challenging of existing assumptions, the interpretation of key findings, and the summation of case outcomes. Think of a case study research paper as a complete, in-depth narrative about the specific properties and key characteristics of your subject of analysis applied to the research problem.

Flyvbjerg, Bent. “Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research.” Qualitative Inquiry 12 (April 2006): 219-245.

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Understanding Interventions That Encourage Minorities to Pursue Research Careers: Summary of a Workshop (2007)

Chapter: 2 examples of previous research.

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

2 Examples of Previous Research R esearchers have examined the processes involved in deci- sions to study science in college, enter graduate school in the sciences, and become a scientist. These research programs originate in a variety of disciplines and can have quite different perspectives, but they also complement each other in explaining the complex processes involved in making educational and career choices. Because many of those interested in these questions are biomedical researchers who may not be steeped in social science viewpoints on these issues, the planning committee constructed an early session in the workshop to provide a varied set of lenses for participants to think more broadly about this kind of work—and to help consider themes for future study. The perspectives offered at the workshop—and in this summary—do not provide an exhaus- tive set, but they help to provide a broader set of questions and approaches for thinking about these issues. Social Cognitive Career Theory Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) is an integrative theoreti- cal framework that explores the psychological and social factors that produce personal interests and lead to choices related to education and careers. The theory is also concerned with the network of factors that affect performance and persistence in a person’s educational and career paths and those that are responsible for an individual’s satisfaction in a particular job.  

 UNDERSTANDING INTERVENTIONS Personal interests are not the only factors that drive educa- tional and career choices and can be trumped by family expectations or other external influences. But interests are “strong motivational drivers of the choices that students make in their educational and career lives,” said Robert W. Lent, professor of counseling and per- sonnel services at the University of Maryland, College Park. Lent described his work on applying SCCT to the issue of expanding the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pipeline, noting that it serves as a template with which to view and develop interventions designed to encourage minorities to enter research careers. SCCT draws heavily from the more gen- eral social cognitive theory of the Stanford University psychologist Albert Bandura. The key construct in Bandura’s work is the concept of self-efficacy—people’s beliefs about their ability to perform specific behaviors or actions. In particular, it refers to domain-specific con- fidence in particular situations, not to self-confidence as a general trait. In the context of science and mathematics, said Lent, self-effi- cacy addresses “the fundamental question: Can I do this thing? Can I, for example, do well in math and science courses in middle or high school? Can I do well in a science or engineering-related major in college?” Self-efficacy beliefs, in turn, derive largely from four sources, according to Bandura’s theory. The first and most important is prior performance—the levels of mastery or failure that people have expe- rienced. “If I have done well in the past at a particular academic subject, for example, I am likely to expect in the future that I can do well in it as well,” said Lent. “Conversely, if I’ve not done so well, my self-efficacy beliefs are going to drop.” The three other sources of self-efficacy beliefs are also important. One is observations of others’ learning or the experience of models, especially models that one perceives as being similar to oneself. “For example, in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, social class, and so forth, viewing our models as being efficacious at things we want to do is a good way of raising self-efficacy—or lowering it, depending on the nature of the model,” Lent said. Another source of self-efficacy beliefs is the social messages that encourage or discourage participation in an activity. Students receive many messages from others and from the mass media that can influence their confidence about a particular activity. “But talk is cheap,” Lent reminded the workshop participants. “Sometimes, if we try to convince people that they are good at things that we are not so sure they are—or that their own performance experiences 

EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH  disconfirm—then the source of that support may not be credible for very long, and people may not persist.” A final source of self-efficacy beliefs is physiological and affec- tive reactions. For example, if a person is so anxious in taking every math test that he or she does poorly, that person is likely to infer that math is a personal weakness. “So test anxiety can be, in that example, a negative influence on self-efficacy,” said Lent. This is one way in which gender can influence self-efficacy beliefs in science and mathematics, Lent noted. In a general popula- tion of college students, women at the college level and below tend to report significantly lower self-efficacy beliefs at math compared with men. However, the same tendency is not exhibited in more spe- cialized populations, such as engineering students. Also, if women have had similar experiences to men in terms of the four sources of self-efficacy beliefs, they tend to have the same self-efficacy beliefs as men. Interest in Bandura’s theory follows from a number of other factors, including the expectations surrounding particular outcomes. As Lent said, these beliefs “address the question: ‘If I do this, then what will happen? If I major, for example, in science or engineering, or if I choose to pursue a research career, what will be the outcomes? What will be the payoffs for me, and what will be the negative con- sequences? What will the salary be like? What will my co-workers be like? Prestige? Autonomy?’ These refer basically to career values that people want to fulfill.” Another factor is the goals that motivate people to engage in a particular activity or produce a particular outcome, such as trying to get an A grade in a particular math or science course. According to Lent, “Goals address the fundamental question of ‘how much do I want to do this course of action?’” Finally, within the theory, there are various kinds of social, financial, emotional, and other contextual supports and barriers that people encounter while pursuing their goals. These supports and barriers address the question of “‘how will the environment treat me if I try this particular course of action,’” Lent said. For example, “the phrase ‘chilly climate,’ which oftentimes refers to the experience of women and certain minority groups in science and engineering fields, refers to the perception of environmental barriers.” The importance of self-efficacy beliefs is often obvious among students studying science and engineering, Lent noted. For example, he has seen many students who did extremely well in high school lose confidence when they got poor grades on their first college mid- term examination. “All of a sudden their confidence levels plum- 

10 UNDERSTANDING INTERVENTIONS meted, and they were convinced they were in the wrong field,” Lent said. “They had never gotten Bs, or worse, before, and all of a sudden it was time to change majors and career paths.” The ongoing experience of success or failure subsequently modi- fies or stabilizes self-efficacy and outcome beliefs “in a never-ending loop,” said Lent. Changes to these beliefs also can occur through outside influences like “technological advances, parenting, and other life experiences that may formulate changes in interest patterns because of their impact on self-efficacy and outcome expectations.” Each person has what SCCT theorists call “person inputs”— factors like personality, ability, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, and health status. These factors interact with background factors such as social class and the quality of early educational experiences. “Depending on who one is, and what one looks like, the environ- ment may selectively provide or withhold certain opportunities,” said Lent. Lent and others have applied this framework in several major research projects. In a study of students at a predominantly white university, Lent and his colleagues found “that SCCT variables were well predictive of goals and actual persistence in engineering over a three-semester sequence.” This model was equally good at predicting choice and persistence goals in engineering majors when extended to two historically black universities. Lent and his coworkers are now conducting a large-scale longitudinal study of computer science and computer engineering students at multiple predominantly white and historically black colleges and universities around the country. This theoretical work has suggested particular intervention points and approaches, according to Lent. One possibility is to work at expanding vocational interests, especially in high-aptitude areas, and “getting people to rethink areas they might be able to do well at but have prematurely foreclosed upon because they don’t believe they have the ability to do well or don’t know enough about the field to want to pursue it.” Other options are clarifying career goals, sup- porting career goals, strengthening self-efficacy, instilling realistic   R.W. Lent, S.D. Brown, J. Schmidt, B. Brenner, H. Lyons, and D. Treistman. 2003. Relation of contextual supports and barriers to choice behavior in engineering ma- jors: Test of alternative social cognitive models. Journal of Counseling Psychology 50: 458-465.   R.W. Lent, S.D. Brown, H. Sheu, J. Schmidt, B.R. Brenner, C.S. Gloster, G. Wilkins, L. Schmidt, H. Lyons, and D. Treistman. 2005. Social cognitive predictors of academic interests and goals in engineering: Utility for women and students at historically Black universities. Journal of Counseling Psychology 52: 84-92. 

EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH 11 outcome expectations, and helping people to manage environmental barriers and build effective support systems. Past work has also emphasized how much more could be learned through further research that applies this model. A particular need, said Lent, is for more longitudinal, multiyear, and multisite research. Also, according to Lent, the basic theory needs to be studied in rela- tion to women and underrepresented minorities in STEM fields, and more theory-based interventions and experimental studies are needed. “There has been some of this and I think it holds much promise for the future, but we need much more of it,” said Lent. Lent noted, by the way, that many individuals and groups out- side of academia are interested in applying this approach to the issues they face. In addition to his university position, Lent is a visiting scholar at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and he said that the department views this issue as important to national security as well as economic prosperity. “There are some things that we probably don’t want to outsource to other countries,” Lent said. Human Capital Theory Another theoretical perspective, this one rooted in economics, is known as human capital theory. As described by Anne Preston, asso- ciate professor of economics at Haverford College, each individual has a stock of skills, knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics that determine his or her wage-earning potential. Individuals can invest in increases in their own human capital through education, on-the-job training, and other activities. “Human capital theory basi- cally allows us to understand under what circumstances an indi- vidual will decide to invest in further acquisition of human capital and [in] what types,” said Preston. “So you can think of it as a pure cost-benefit calculation made by what we in economics always talk about—the rational and perfectly informed actor.” Of course, as Preston noted, “we do understand that not every individual is totally rational or perfectly informed.” Costs, which Preston said are relatively easy to estimate, are for tangible expenses— such as tuition, room, board, books, and foregone earnings—and they occur at the time of the investment. Benefits, which can include future wages and future income streams, in contrast, can be much harder to predict. In addition, these cost-benefit calculations often require dis- counting future income versus current costs. “Some people value future income differently than others,” said Preston. “It depends on 

12 UNDERSTANDING INTERVENTIONS your current family income, maybe your family structure, the sorts of needs that your family has in terms of income now versus in the future, and the expected duration of the work life.” Some of these factors can differ for different populations. Finally, economists know that people do not always act in per- fectly rational and perfectly informed ways. Methods exist to take a lack of information or irrational decision-making into account, but these methods may introduce additional levels of uncertainty. Human capital theory can be used to provide insights into how interventions might lead to different decisions, Preston said. For example, mentoring programs can increase knowledge and change expectations. Better job placement programs might lead to better returns on an investment in human capital. Fellowships, research assistantships, teaching assistantships, and other forms of financial support can reduce the costs of the investment. Better information about the opportunities that investments give an individual can make a difference. Methodologically, human capital theory is a strategy in which economists quantify variables and seek to determine the relation- ships among those variables. Some of these variables have discrete values, such as whether a person stays in a field or leaves it, or a per- son’s race, sex, or type of school; others are continuous, like wages. Some variables are measured by proxies, as when the number of publications or number of citations are used as measures of research productivity. Preston explained that economists add variables to an analysis with the goal of explaining away the effect. If all vari- ables that can be identified—except for the one under study—fail to explain away the effect, researchers have an indication that the variable under investigation plays an important role. Economists also try to measure the quantitative effects of inter- ventions. If mentoring programs are thought to make a difference, for example, economists will try to analyze whether being men- tored influences the probability of investment in human capital. This could be done for majority and for minority students to see if there are differences in the effects of mentoring. Studies such as this introduce what economists call “selectiv- ity.” If the individuals being mentored differ from those who are not mentored in some important way, the effect ascribed to mentoring may actually arise from personal characteristics, not the mentoring program. Economists can try to reduce these effects using various complex mathematical techniques, but Preston said that “person- ally, I find them not very reliable or satisfying.” An alternative, she said, is “to move from these big national data sets [to create] indi- 

EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH 13 vidualized data sets.” Approaches such as randomized trials, where individuals are selected to receive or not receive an intervention and the effects of the intervention measured, diminish issues of selectiv- ity; however, they are seldom feasible and may even be unethical in such a setting, where some individuals are prevented from engaging in what is believed to be a positive intervention. Another possibility is to collect data from natural experiments, using existing variation in the population of study. For example, student outcomes could be measured from different schools, some of which have an institutionalized mentoring system and others that do not. Such experiments require thought, time, creativity, and fund- ing, said Preston, but “economists can really make some interesting inroads if they take up this challenge.” Social Identity and Stereotype Threat Claude Steele, director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, professor of psychology and Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences at Stanford University, and his col- leagues have focused their research on two main themes. The first is underperformance in school by groups whose abilities are nega- tively stereotyped in the broader society—an issue closely related to the persistence of members of these groups in pursuing research careers. The second is the set of broader issues posed by diversity. “It is one thing to integrate a school setting or work place,” Steele said. “It is another thing to make that setting a place where everybody seems to flourish—where they feel like they belong.” Unlike many psychologists, Steele stresses the importance of context. “When we talk about schools and other environments of that sort, we tend to think of them as homogeneous environments— environments that are essentially the same for everybody. If there is one thing I hope you get from my remarks today, it is that they are different for people with different identities. The very same rooms with the same pictures on the wall, the same test items, the same teachers, can be very different as a function of social identities that a person has.” Each individual has many different social identities. These iden- tities can be based on age, sex, race, religion, ethnicity, and so on. Different identities generate what Steele calls “contingencies”— reactions by others to a particular identity. “You have to deal with certain things because you have certain identities,” he said. An individual’s social identities can change. During the great migration of African Americans from the southern to the north- 

14 UNDERSTANDING INTERVENTIONS ern United States, an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 African Ameri- cans “passed” from being “black” to being “white,” asserted Steele. “[That’s] what I mean by contingencies,” he said. “They were avoiding the things that went with that identity.” Another example includes changing a foreign-sounding name to one that sounds more American. Some contingencies are threatening. An example might be an African American seeking to excel in an endeavor where members of that group are stereotyped as underperforming. When someone is threatened by the contingencies of a social identity, that person might seek to conceal or disguise that identity. But threats to an identity tend to make it central to your functioning, said Steele. Stereotype threat is a good example of a contingency. Stereo- type threat arises when a person is in a situation where a negative stereotype applies. A good example is women in mathematics. In a series of experiments done by Steele and his colleagues, women and men who were equally skilled in math were given a very difficult math test one at a time in a testing room. Women in this situation tended to underperform. When they experienced the frustration of a difficult test, the stereotype that women have weaker mathematical abilities suggested to women that they may lack ability. Men who are frustrated by the test may also believe that they don’t have the necessary ability, but it’s because of factors other than their male- ness. “So for a woman in that situation, there is extra pressure— especially if that woman cares about math, has high expectations for her performance, or is committed to it,” said Steele. In one recent study, simply mentioning the word “genetics” in the preamble to a math test worsened women’s performance in math. However, when the researchers told the women before they took the test that “for this particular test, women always do as well as men,” the women’s performance was higher than when they were experiencing stereotype threat. Interestingly, the performance of men tends to drop somewhat under these circumstances. “We can be advantaged by stereotypes,” said Steele, describing stereotype   C.M. Steele, S.J. Spencer, and J. Aronson. 2002. Contending with group image: The psychology of stereotype and social identity threat. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 24: 379-440. C.M. Steele and J. Aronson. 1995. Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69(5): 797-811.   S.J. Spencer, C.M. Steele, and D.M. Quinn. 1999. Stereotype threat and women’s math performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 35(1): 4-28.   Dar-Nimrod and S.J. Heine. 2006. Exposure to scientific theories affects women’s I. math performance. Science 314(5798): 435. 

EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH 15 lift, in which one group can be “on the upside of somebody else’s negative stereotype.” Men may do worse on the test because “it isn’t plausible to them that they lack the ability to do the work. It doesn’t make sense. So the experience of frustration is less. If you take that advantage away from them, . . . then you may see some decrements in performance.” The effects of stereotype threat also were observed among Afri- can Americans taking a test using Raven’s Progressive Matrices, a type of IQ test. When told that the test was to measure IQ, African American students dramatically underperformed compared with white students. But when African American students were told that the test was simply a puzzle, their performance rose dramatically. One remarkable finding from studies such as these is that the strongest students are often more susceptible to stereotype threat. “You have to care about [the domain] to experience stereotype threat,” Steele said. “One protection against stereotype threat is not to care about it. [If you] dis-identify with the domain, then you don’t care that much that your group is negatively stereotyped in that domain because you don’t care that much about the domain.” These studies also emphasize the importance of cues in the environment that accentuate or lessen threats, Steele pointed out. “Cues that signal threatening contingencies foster vigilance,” he said. “They hamper a sense of belonging in the setting, and this in turn impairs learning.” One such cue is the number of other people in a setting with whom you share a social identity. For example, when women are greatly outnumbered by men in taking a math test, they tend to perform worse than if men are absent. This kind of marginalization through small numbers can have a powerful effect on identity threat. The profound segregation that exists on many college campuses can heighten a sense of difference. The effects of cues on attitudes were tested in an experiment performed by Steele in collaboration with Mary Murphy, using stu- dents who were waiting to be interviewed for admission to a sum- mer workshop on science and engineering. While waiting for the interview, they watched a videotape about the summer workshop that showed students working together. In one videotape, men and women were balanced one to one. In the other, men outnumbered the women three to one. The women who watched the video with the unbalanced genders had a much better memory of the inciden-   R.P. Brown and E.A. Day. 2006. The difference isn’t black and white: Stereotype threat and the race gap on Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices. Journal of Applied Psychology 91(4): 979-985. 

16 UNDERSTANDING INTERVENTIONS tal details of that videotape. Steele hypothesized that the cues in the videotape were making female viewers aware of their gender identity, which made them more aware of the situation than they would be otherwise. “Think of any time any of you have ever been in a situation where you are one of a kind,” Steele said. “You pay attention.” This awareness has effects not only on memory, but also on physiology. In fact, when the students were hooked up to physi- ological recording equipment (under the pretense that they would need it for a different experiment they would soon undertake), the women who watched the unbalanced videotape had much higher cardiovascular activity than the men. Steele takes several messages away from this research. One is that these kinds of cues and reactions are virtually unavoidable in a diverse society such as ours. “Any diverse setting holds these iden- tity threats,” he said. “This is sort of an American challenge. I think at one level we should be proud of it because we are a society that publicly holds on to the idea that all of society should be integrated. . . . But one of the challenges behind that commitment . . . is making integration work. It is making these settings, these schools, these programs work for a truly diverse population.” Also, these cues do not arise solely from discrimination. On the contrary, he said, they can exist in the absence of discrimination. “These are contextual factors that make identities function in certain ways,” he said. The importance of cues also suggests ways to promote learning. If the cues change, performance can change. The most important change that has to happen, according to Steele, is for women and minorities to have a sense that they belong in a particular setting. “For instruction to work—and for the decisions we want them to make to be made—they have to have a sense of belonging. As a soci- ety, [we have to] understand that that has to come first.” In fact, said Steele, without changing this sense of belonging, other interventions can be counterproductive: “If you push other things, like try to motivate [students], expose them to strong skill-focused programs, without at the same time addressing the sense of belonging, you can really get a backfire effect. Things may not work at all.” One cue is what people say. “What do the university president, the department chair, [and other] people say about the ‘belong- ingness’ of groups? Do they avoid the issue and see it as a minor issue and not something of importance? Or do they really own it and make the proclamation that everybody belongs intellectually in these settings?” he asked. Making the presence of particular groups 

EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH 17 the norm can relieve the tension in a setting and enable students to feel that they belong. Similarly, a critical mass of people with a particular social iden- tity is also pivotal, claimed Steele. Individuals are always looking around and counting how many other people share their social identities in a particular setting. “People do respond to numbers,” he said. Particular interventions can dramatically shape how students respond to cues. In a study done by Gregory Walton and Geoffrey Cohen at Yale University, African American and white students watched and then discussed a videotape of an African American student talking about how alienated and out of place he had felt at Yale. But the student went on to recount how, during a trip home, his father reminded him what a superb opportunity it was to be attend- ing Yale and that he needed to take advantage of it. The student described becoming active in a singing group and in academics, and he concluded that he was now very happy at Yale and that he was enjoying and learning from Yale’s rich environment. Just watching the videotape and talking about it raised the grade point average of African American students by two-thirds of a letter grade in the subsequent semester. “Why does that work?” asked Steele. “Because it gives [the students] an interpretation of the cues in the environment that [is] hopeful. . . . Everybody has those feel- ings [of not belonging], but if you’re a group that the whole society negatively stereotypes in this way, those feelings are really a weight. So you need an interpretation that makes your sense of not belong- ing normal. This guy in the videotape makes it normal, and then he offers light at the end of the tunnel. Wow.” In another intervention, having African Americans talk with members of other minority and majority groups in informal settings greatly improved their grade point average. “They found out that things that were happening to them were not things that were just happening to black kids. They were happening to every kid. They got the data, the evidence that their experience was not racially based, and then when their experience was not racially based in this environment, the whole environment changed. It wasn’t nearly as threatening. All those cues that might otherwise suggest threat were seen as much less threat.” Steele recounted from his own personal experiences that having an advisor during graduate school who believed in him was enough for him to overcome the many negative   G.M. Walton and G.L. Cohen. 2007. A question of belonging: Race, social fit, and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92(1): 82-96. 

18 UNDERSTANDING INTERVENTIONS cues he encountered. “With this one big cue that said I did belong in that setting, the significance of the other cues tended to wane away,” he recalled. An especially powerful way to undercut stereotype threat is to attack and undermine people’s theories of intelligence, Steele said, citing the work of Carol Dweck and Joshua Aronson. Many Americans tend to think that each individual has a particular level of intelligence and that one cannot perform beyond that level. But others, such as those from Asian and Eastern European cultures, see intelligence much differently. Students in those countries are more often taught that abilities are incremental and can be expanded through learning. They do not see math ability, for example, as something that is fixed and genetically determined but as something that people can improve. “I think this has huge effects on people’s choices of majors and persistence in graduate school,” said Steele. He felt that intervention on this topic would be especially valuable in entry-level, technical, and quantitatively based courses where stu- dents may receive their first sub-par grades, especially with faculty members who discourage students by telling them that many will drop out of or fail their courses. Survey Research Carefully conducted surveys can explore the attitudes, expe- riences, and thought processes that underlie the theoretical per- spectives described above. With his colleague Catherine M. Millett, Michael T. Nettles, senior vice president and Edmund W. Gordon Chair of the Policy Evaluation and Research Center at Educational Testing Service, conducted a 28-page survey of about 9,000 doctoral students at 21 U.S. universities. (The research team used a variety of incentives to achieve a 72 percent response rate, Nettles noted, including a raffle for cash payments.) The survey asked students about their background, undergraduate and doctoral program expe- riences, finances, aspirations, and expectations for graduate study. Conclusions drawn from the survey were published in the book Three Magic Letters: Getting to Ph.D. One critical factor Nettles and Millett examined was how stu- dents are supported during their doctoral education. In particular, they contrasted fellowships (money, tuition, or fee waivers given to students with no expectation of repayment or of services to be rendered), research assistantships (tuition, fee waivers, or a stipend   M.T. Nettles and C.M. Millett. 2006. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH 19 given to students with the expectation of research services to be ren- dered), and teaching assistantships (tuition, fee waivers, or a stipend given to students with the expectation of teaching services to be rendered). Nettles and Millett found that in the sciences, mathemat- ics, and engineering, African American students were less likely than white students to be research assistants during their doctoral programs, even when background characteristics and student expe- riences are taken into account. Yet being a research assistant can have a profound effect on a student’s experiences in graduate school. For students with a research assistantship, Nettles pointed out, “we observe an increase in students’ social interactions with peers, their academic interac- tions with faculty, their interactions with their faculty advisers, their presenting papers and publishing articles, and their overall research productivity.” Somewhat surprisingly, a research assistantship did not influence students’ time to degree, their overall satisfaction with their doctoral programs, or social interactions with faculty. Nettles noted that universities often use fellowships to attract students to their institutions. While fellowships can be attractive to prospective students, they can have other consequences once students arrive on campus. Because students on fellowship are not always engaged in research or teaching activities from the beginning of graduate work, Nettles said, fellowships “can lead to the social isolation or the neglect on the part of faculty of students who are not actually engaged in the production of [that teaching and research]. . . . This is not to suggest that fellowships are not a good idea, but I think that what universities are experiencing is trying to figure out the right balance.” Another critical factor identified in the surveys is whether stu- dents have a mentor. Nettles distinguished sharply between an advisor—who acts in an official capacity to give a student advice about academic programs or coursework—and a mentor—who is a faculty member to whom a student turns for advice about intellectual and academic processes as well as general support and encourage- ment. One of the good messages to emerge from the survey, Nettles said, was that race was not a major factor in whether a doctoral stu- dent had a mentor (possibly the same person as a faculty advisor). Furthermore, of the students who had mentors, three-quarters were able to find them within the first year of their doctoral experiences. Having a mentor influences social interactions between students and faculty, unlike having a research assistantship. Having a mentor also influences the rate of scholarly publishing, degree completion, 

20 UNDERSTANDING INTERVENTIONS and even time to degree. However, it did not influence satisfaction with doctoral programs or whether students left the program. A third key finding that emerged from their study was the importance of research productivity. Publishing in a refereed journal is a strong measure of this productivity, but the study showed that many other measures of research productivity are also important, such as presenting a paper at a research conference, publishing a book chapter, or being a member of a roundtable discussion at a professional meeting. As Nettles said, “many students pursuing research careers get on the train in different places.” Over half of the students surveyed had presented a paper at a conference, published an article in a refereed journal, published a chapter in an edited vol- ume, or published a book. Publishing in a journal “has become an extremely important endeavor for students,” Nettles said. “In fact, many people feel that they can’t complete [their degrees] without doing this because their first entry into the academic profession is going to be enhanced by their performance in conducting this activity.” However, the percentage of African American students publish- ing refereed journal articles in science and mathematics was signifi- cantly lower than for other groups (although that was not the case in engineering). Again, this was true even after controlling for factors such as student backgrounds and experiences. Before doing the study, Nettles thought that research productiv- ity might compete with time to degree because students would be devoting time and attention to producing articles and publishing. However, “we found just the opposite,” he said. Publishing articles actually was associated with an increased rate of progress in their doctoral programs and reduced the time to degree. Research on Existing Interventions Existing intervention programs can have research components that produce broadly applicable information. An example is the Alli- ance for Graduate Education in the Professoriate (AGEP), funded by the National Science Foundation. Yolanda S. George, deputy director for education and human resources at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which has provided evalua- tion capacity-building activities and research resources for the AGEP program, explained that the goal of AGEP is to increase the number of underrepresented minority students pursuing advanced studies, obtaining doctorate degrees, and entering the professoriate in STEM fields, including the social sciences. 

EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH 21 AGEP has identified several factors that facilitate progression of minorities into STEM post-secondary studies: • Taking high-intensity and high-quality advanced high school STEM courses • STEM pre-college programs • Post-secondary support programs in core STEM courses • Financial aid packages that reduce debt burden • STEM pre-graduate-school bridging programs. The institutions that participate in AGEP “are expected to engage in comprehensive institutional cultural changes that will lead to sustained increases in the conferral of STEM doctoral degrees, significantly exceeding historical levels of performance,” George explained. She discussed several of the important lessons AGEP has demonstrated in seeking to achieve this goal. One lesson, accord- ing to George, is that admission and selection committees need to be conscious of diversity issues. The AGEP program tries to have a diversity coordinator or diversity-conscious faculty member sit in on admissions and selection. “You will get a behavior change if you get an advocate there,” said George. AGEP programs have also found that following up with applicants and linking financial aid to admissions helps with recruitment. At the same time, AGEP has found that it is important to work closely with university administrators on what can and cannot be done with recruitment and retention programs. George said, “You have to start talking to counsel about diversity-conscious and legally defensible student admission selection criteria, financial aid, and programs before you get that letter from that group that is threaten- ing to shut you down.” Furthermore, these discussions need to be ongoing, said George, since challenges will continue to arise. AGEP has conducted meetings and workshops to explore par- ticular topics. For example, a 2003 meeting on mentoring found that relatively little was known about mentoring specifically for STEM students. “We know that STEM core mentoring appears to be more prevalent in the after-school programs at the middle and high school level, but the level of systematic STEM career and workforce mentoring is not high in undergraduate research programs,” George said. However, support networks for women, including students, in STEM areas in academia, industry, and government are useful in   AAAS created a Science Mentoring Research website that followed on the 2003 meeting: <http://ehrweb.aaas.org/sciMentoring/>. 

22 UNDERSTANDING INTERVENTIONS helping to balance family and career, negotiating organizational or departmental challenges, and advancing in a career. George also observed that, through its program evaluation capacity-building project, AAAS has helped AGEP awardees build comprehensive evaluation and assessment infrastructures to exam- ine their graduate education enterprises. The framework for mak- ing change includes collecting and using disaggregated data for decision-making and leadership development within the faculty and administration. The goal of AAAS’s AGEP program is “to help the leaders in these projects, [who] are the deans and provosts in some cases, faculty members, and people who run the program, to figure out how to evaluate and assess the infrastructure in order to get the types of effects that they want,” George said. A particularly important task is to help faculty and administrators understand the research that has been conducted so that they can engage faculty members in the process of institutional change. Other Research Initiatives Several other important lines of research were mentioned more briefly by presenters and attendees at the workshop. Two described here are conducted by current grantees of the Efficacy of Interven- tions program; additional interventions and research studies are discussed elsewhere in this summary.10 For example, Reba Page, professor of education at the University of California, Riverside, conducts ethnographic studies of mentor- ing, journal clubs, research in labs, and so forth to understand how those components of intervention programs play out in practice. She wants to know “not what do people tell us they are, not what does the brochure tell us they are, but what do they actually look like in real time, as people, students and teachers together, enact the com- ponents.” By studying these situations and the processes they entail, Page is able to examine “the assumptions that undergird those pro- cesses and what holds them in place, and what we might want to target if we wanted to change them.” A prominent question in her work is why outcomes seem so resistant to change. The conclusion she has drawn is that outcomes depend not only on the culture of science but on the culture of the broader society. To understand sci- ence, including science education, “we have to see that science is embedded in our society,” Page said. Another line of research focuses specifically on the attitudes 10  See, in particular, Chapter 4 for discussion of initiatives by educational stage. 

EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH 23 and preferences of students. Merna Villarejo, professor emerita at the University of California, Davis, has asked students in interviews about the motivating factors that caused them to make particular career decisions. Students who went to medical school tended to say that they want to give back to the community. But “that is not what researchers say,” Villarejo observed. “The most frequent answer for researchers for ‘why did you choose your profession’ is ‘because I really love science; it just turns me on; it is exciting; it is great.’” According to Rick McGee, associate dean for faculty affairs at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, another distinguishing characteristic was between students who wanted a fairly predictable future and those who were willing to live with more uncertainty. The students most likely to go into research were the ones who said, when asked about their future, “‘I don’t know, I might be doing this, I might be doing that, I might do this for awhile, I might do that for awhile.’ . . . They really are quite different people,” McGee said. As Daryl E. Chubin, planning committee member and director of the AAAS Center for Advancing Science and Engineering Capacity, said, many kinds of investigations can produce information needed to advance minorities in research careers. “Where does knowledge come from? We know it comes from data and we know it comes from research. But it also comes from evaluation and it comes from technical assistance and it comes from first-person reports. . . . The challenge here is to learn from all of these interventions and then try to apply that in our own context.” 

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How to Write the Rationale of the Study in Research (Examples)

What is the Rationale of the Study?

The rationale of the study is the justification for taking on a given study. It explains the reason the study was conducted or should be conducted. This means the study rationale should explain to the reader or examiner why the study is/was necessary. It is also sometimes called the “purpose” or “justification” of a study. While this is not difficult to grasp in itself, you might wonder how the rationale of the study is different from your research question or from the statement of the problem of your study, and how it fits into the rest of your thesis or research paper. 

The rationale of the study links the background of the study to your specific research question and justifies the need for the latter on the basis of the former. In brief, you first provide and discuss existing data on the topic, and then you tell the reader, based on the background evidence you just presented, where you identified gaps or issues and why you think it is important to address those. The problem statement, lastly, is the formulation of the specific research question you choose to investigate, following logically from your rationale, and the approach you are planning to use to do that.

Table of Contents:

How to write a rationale for a research paper , how do you justify the need for a research study.

• Study Rationale Example: Where Does It Go In Your Paper?

The basis for writing a research rationale is preliminary data or a clear description of an observation. If you are doing basic/theoretical research, then a literature review will help you identify gaps in current knowledge. In applied/practical research, you base your rationale on an existing issue with a certain process (e.g., vaccine proof registration) or practice (e.g., patient treatment) that is well documented and needs to be addressed. By presenting the reader with earlier evidence or observations, you can (and have to) convince them that you are not just repeating what other people have already done or said and that your ideas are not coming out of thin air. 

Once you have explained where you are coming from, you should justify the need for doing additional research–this is essentially the rationale of your study. Finally, when you have convinced the reader of the purpose of your work, you can end your introduction section with the statement of the problem of your research that contains clear aims and objectives and also briefly describes (and justifies) your methodological approach. 

When is the Rationale for Research Written?

The author can present the study rationale both before and after the research is conducted. 

• Before conducting research : The study rationale is a central component of the research proposal . It represents the plan of your work, constructed before the study is actually executed.
• Once research has been conducted : After the study is completed, the rationale is presented in a research article or  PhD dissertation  to explain why you focused on this specific research question. When writing the study rationale for this purpose, the author should link the rationale of the research to the aims and outcomes of the study.

What to Include in the Study Rationale

Although every study rationale is different and discusses different specific elements of a study’s method or approach, there are some elements that should be included to write a good rationale. Make sure to touch on the following:

• A summary of conclusions from your review of the relevant literature
• What is currently unknown (gaps in knowledge)
• Inconclusive or contested results  from previous studies on the same or similar topic
• The necessity to improve or build on previous research, such as to improve methodology or utilize newer techniques and/or technologies

There are different types of limitations that you can use to justify the need for your study. In applied/practical research, the justification for investigating something is always that an existing process/practice has a problem or is not satisfactory. Let’s say, for example, that people in a certain country/city/community commonly complain about hospital care on weekends (not enough staff, not enough attention, no decisions being made), but you looked into it and realized that nobody ever investigated whether these perceived problems are actually based on objective shortages/non-availabilities of care or whether the lower numbers of patients who are treated during weekends are commensurate with the provided services.

In this case, “lack of data” is your justification for digging deeper into the problem. Or, if it is obvious that there is a shortage of staff and provided services on weekends, you could decide to investigate which of the usual procedures are skipped during weekends as a result and what the negative consequences are. 

In basic/theoretical research, lack of knowledge is of course a common and accepted justification for additional research—but make sure that it is not your only motivation. “Nobody has ever done this” is only a convincing reason for a study if you explain to the reader why you think we should know more about this specific phenomenon. If there is earlier research but you think it has limitations, then those can usually be classified into “methodological”, “contextual”, and “conceptual” limitations. To identify such limitations, you can ask specific questions and let those questions guide you when you explain to the reader why your study was necessary:

Methodological limitations

• Did earlier studies try but failed to measure/identify a specific phenomenon?
• Was earlier research based on incorrect conceptualizations of variables?
• Were earlier studies based on questionable operationalizations of key concepts?
• Did earlier studies use questionable or inappropriate research designs?

Contextual limitations

• Have recent changes in the studied problem made previous studies irrelevant?
• Are you studying a new/particular context that previous findings do not apply to?

Conceptual limitations

• Do previous findings only make sense within a specific framework or ideology?

Study Rationale Examples

Let’s look at an example from one of our earlier articles on the statement of the problem to clarify how your rationale fits into your introduction section. This is a very short introduction for a practical research study on the challenges of online learning. Your introduction might be much longer (especially the context/background section), and this example does not contain any sources (which you will have to provide for all claims you make and all earlier studies you cite)—but please pay attention to how the background presentation , rationale, and problem statement blend into each other in a logical way so that the reader can follow and has no reason to question your motivation or the foundation of your research.

Background presentation

Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, most educational institutions around the world have transitioned to a fully online study model, at least during peak times of infections and social distancing measures. This transition has not been easy and even two years into the pandemic, problems with online teaching and studying persist (reference needed) . 

While the increasing gap between those with access to technology and equipment and those without access has been determined to be one of the main challenges (reference needed) , others claim that online learning offers more opportunities for many students by breaking down barriers of location and distance (reference needed) .  

Rationale of the study

Since teachers and students cannot wait for circumstances to go back to normal, the measures that schools and universities have implemented during the last two years, their advantages and disadvantages, and the impact of those measures on students’ progress, satisfaction, and well-being need to be understood so that improvements can be made and demographics that have been left behind can receive the support they need as soon as possible.

Statement of the problem

To identify what changes in the learning environment were considered the most challenging and how those changes relate to a variety of student outcome measures, we conducted surveys and interviews among teachers and students at ten institutions of higher education in four different major cities, two in the US (New York and Chicago), one in South Korea (Seoul), and one in the UK (London). Responses were analyzed with a focus on different student demographics and how they might have been affected differently by the current situation.

How long is a study rationale?

In a research article bound for journal publication, your rationale should not be longer than a few sentences (no longer than one brief paragraph). A  dissertation or thesis  usually allows for a longer description; depending on the length and nature of your document, this could be up to a couple of paragraphs in length. A completely novel or unconventional approach might warrant a longer and more detailed justification than an approach that slightly deviates from well-established methods and approaches.

Consider Using Professional Academic Editing Services

Now that you know how to write the rationale of the study for a research proposal or paper, you should make use of our free AI grammar checker , Wordvice AI, or receive professional academic proofreading services from Wordvice, including research paper editing services and manuscript editing services to polish your submitted research documents.

You can also find many more articles, for example on writing the other parts of your research paper , on choosing a title , or on making sure you understand and adhere to the author instructions before you submit to a journal, on the Wordvice academic resources pages.

• Our Mission

The 10 Most Significant Education Studies of 2021

From reframing our notion of “good” schools to mining the magic of expert teachers, here’s a curated list of must-read research from 2021.

It was a year of unprecedented hardship for teachers and school leaders. We pored through hundreds of studies to see if we could follow the trail of exactly what happened: The research revealed a complex portrait of a grueling year during which persistent issues of burnout and mental and physical health impacted millions of educators. Meanwhile, many of the old debates continued: Does paper beat digital? Is project-based learning as effective as direct instruction? How do you define what a “good” school is?

Other studies grabbed our attention, and in a few cases, made headlines. Researchers from the University of Chicago and Columbia University turned artificial intelligence loose on some 1,130 award-winning children’s books in search of invisible patterns of bias. (Spoiler alert: They found some.) Another study revealed why many parents are reluctant to support social and emotional learning in schools—and provided hints about how educators can flip the script.

1. What Parents Fear About SEL (and How to Change Their Minds)

When researchers at the Fordham Institute asked parents to rank phrases associated with social and emotional learning , nothing seemed to add up. The term “social-emotional learning” was very unpopular; parents wanted to steer their kids clear of it. But when the researchers added a simple clause, forming a new phrase—”social-emotional & academic learning”—the program shot all the way up to No. 2 in the rankings.

What gives?

Parents were picking up subtle cues in the list of SEL-related terms that irked or worried them, the researchers suggest. Phrases like “soft skills” and “growth mindset” felt “nebulous” and devoid of academic content. For some, the language felt suspiciously like “code for liberal indoctrination.”

But the study suggests that parents might need the simplest of reassurances to break through the political noise. Removing the jargon, focusing on productive phrases like “life skills,” and relentlessly connecting SEL to academic progress puts parents at ease—and seems to save social and emotional learning in the process.

2. The Secret Management Techniques of Expert Teachers

In the hands of experienced teachers, classroom management can seem almost invisible: Subtle techniques are quietly at work behind the scenes, with students falling into orderly routines and engaging in rigorous academic tasks almost as if by magic. 

That’s no accident, according to new research . While outbursts are inevitable in school settings, expert teachers seed their classrooms with proactive, relationship-building strategies that often prevent misbehavior before it erupts. They also approach discipline more holistically than their less-experienced counterparts, consistently reframing misbehavior in the broader context of how lessons can be more engaging, or how clearly they communicate expectations.

Focusing on the underlying dynamics of classroom behavior—and not on surface-level disruptions—means that expert teachers often look the other way at all the right times, too. Rather than rise to the bait of a minor breach in etiquette, a common mistake of new teachers, they tend to play the long game, asking questions about the origins of misbehavior, deftly navigating the terrain between discipline and student autonomy, and opting to confront misconduct privately when possible.

3. The Surprising Power of Pretesting

Asking students to take a practice test before they’ve even encountered the material may seem like a waste of time—after all, they’d just be guessing.

But new research concludes that the approach, called pretesting, is actually more effective than other typical study strategies. Surprisingly, pretesting even beat out taking practice tests after learning the material, a proven strategy endorsed by cognitive scientists and educators alike. In the study, students who took a practice test before learning the material outperformed their peers who studied more traditionally by 49 percent on a follow-up test, while outperforming students who took practice tests after studying the material by 27 percent.

The researchers hypothesize that the “generation of errors” was a key to the strategy’s success, spurring student curiosity and priming them to “search for the correct answers” when they finally explored the new material—and adding grist to a 2018 study that found that making educated guesses helped students connect background knowledge to new material.

Learning is more durable when students do the hard work of correcting misconceptions, the research suggests, reminding us yet again that being wrong is an important milestone on the road to being right.

4. Confronting an Old Myth About Immigrant Students

Immigrant students are sometimes portrayed as a costly expense to the education system, but new research is systematically dismantling that myth.

In a 2021 study , researchers analyzed over 1.3 million academic and birth records for students in Florida communities, and concluded that the presence of immigrant students actually has “a positive effect on the academic achievement of U.S.-born students,” raising test scores as the size of the immigrant school population increases. The benefits were especially powerful for low-income students.

While immigrants initially “face challenges in assimilation that may require additional school resources,” the researchers concluded, hard work and resilience may allow them to excel and thus “positively affect exposed U.S.-born students’ attitudes and behavior.” But according to teacher Larry Ferlazzo, the improvements might stem from the fact that having English language learners in classes improves pedagogy , pushing teachers to consider “issues like prior knowledge, scaffolding, and maximizing accessibility.”

5. A Fuller Picture of What a ‘Good’ School Is

It’s time to rethink our definition of what a “good school” is, researchers assert in a study published in late 2020.⁣ That’s because typical measures of school quality like test scores often provide an incomplete and misleading picture, the researchers found.

The study looked at over 150,000 ninth-grade students who attended Chicago public schools and concluded that emphasizing the social and emotional dimensions of learning—relationship-building, a sense of belonging, and resilience, for example—improves high school graduation and college matriculation rates for both high- and low-income students, beating out schools that focus primarily on improving test scores.⁣

“Schools that promote socio-emotional development actually have a really big positive impact on kids,” said lead researcher C. Kirabo Jackson in an interview with Edutopia . “And these impacts are particularly large for vulnerable student populations who don’t tend to do very well in the education system.”

The findings reinforce the importance of a holistic approach to measuring student progress, and are a reminder that schools—and teachers—can influence students in ways that are difficult to measure, and may only materialize well into the future.⁣

6. Teaching Is Learning

One of the best ways to learn a concept is to teach it to someone else. But do you actually have to step into the shoes of a teacher, or does the mere expectation of teaching do the trick?

In a 2021 study , researchers split students into two groups and gave them each a science passage about the Doppler effect—a phenomenon associated with sound and light waves that explains the gradual change in tone and pitch as a car races off into the distance, for example. One group studied the text as preparation for a test; the other was told that they’d be teaching the material to another student.

The researchers never carried out the second half of the activity—students read the passages but never taught the lesson. All of the participants were then tested on their factual recall of the Doppler effect, and their ability to draw deeper conclusions from the reading.

The upshot? Students who prepared to teach outperformed their counterparts in both duration and depth of learning, scoring 9 percent higher on factual recall a week after the lessons concluded, and 24 percent higher on their ability to make inferences. The research suggests that asking students to prepare to teach something—or encouraging them to think “could I teach this to someone else?”—can significantly alter their learning trajectories.

7. A Disturbing Strain of Bias in Kids’ Books

Some of the most popular and well-regarded children’s books—Caldecott and Newbery honorees among them—persistently depict Black, Asian, and Hispanic characters with lighter skin, according to new research .

Using artificial intelligence, researchers combed through 1,130 children’s books written in the last century, comparing two sets of diverse children’s books—one a collection of popular books that garnered major literary awards, the other favored by identity-based awards. The software analyzed data on skin tone, race, age, and gender.

Among the findings: While more characters with darker skin color begin to appear over time, the most popular books—those most frequently checked out of libraries and lining classroom bookshelves—continue to depict people of color in lighter skin tones. More insidiously, when adult characters are “moral or upstanding,” their skin color tends to appear lighter, the study’s lead author, Anjali Aduki,  told The 74 , with some books converting “Martin Luther King Jr.’s chocolate complexion to a light brown or beige.” Female characters, meanwhile, are often seen but not heard.

Cultural representations are a reflection of our values, the researchers conclude: “Inequality in representation, therefore, constitutes an explicit statement of inequality of value.”

8. The Never-Ending ‘Paper Versus Digital’ War

The argument goes like this: Digital screens turn reading into a cold and impersonal task; they’re good for information foraging, and not much more. “Real” books, meanwhile, have a heft and “tactility”  that make them intimate, enchanting—and irreplaceable.

But researchers have often found weak or equivocal evidence for the superiority of reading on paper. While a recent study concluded that paper books yielded better comprehension than e-books when many of the digital tools had been removed, the effect sizes were small. A 2021 meta-analysis further muddies the water: When digital and paper books are “mostly similar,” kids comprehend the print version more readily—but when enhancements like motion and sound “target the story content,” e-books generally have the edge.

Nostalgia is a force that every new technology must eventually confront. There’s plenty of evidence that writing with pen and paper encodes learning more deeply than typing. But new digital book formats come preloaded with powerful tools that allow readers to annotate, look up words, answer embedded questions, and share their thinking with other readers.

We may not be ready to admit it, but these are precisely the kinds of activities that drive deeper engagement, enhance comprehension, and leave us with a lasting memory of what we’ve read. The future of e-reading, despite the naysayers, remains promising.

9. New Research Makes a Powerful Case for PBL

Many classrooms today still look like they did 100 years ago, when students were preparing for factory jobs. But the world’s moved on: Modern careers demand a more sophisticated set of skills—collaboration, advanced problem-solving, and creativity, for example—and those can be difficult to teach in classrooms that rarely give students the time and space to develop those competencies.

Project-based learning (PBL) would seem like an ideal solution. But critics say PBL places too much responsibility on novice learners, ignoring the evidence about the effectiveness of direct instruction and ultimately undermining subject fluency. Advocates counter that student-centered learning and direct instruction can and should coexist in classrooms.

Now two new large-scale studies —encompassing over 6,000 students in 114 diverse schools across the nation—provide evidence that a well-structured, project-based approach boosts learning for a wide range of students.

In the studies, which were funded by Lucas Education Research, a sister division of Edutopia , elementary and high school students engaged in challenging projects that had them designing water systems for local farms, or creating toys using simple household objects to learn about gravity, friction, and force. Subsequent testing revealed notable learning gains—well above those experienced by students in traditional classrooms—and those gains seemed to raise all boats, persisting across socioeconomic class, race, and reading levels.

10. Tracking a Tumultuous Year for Teachers

The Covid-19 pandemic cast a long shadow over the lives of educators in 2021, according to a year’s worth of research.

The average teacher’s workload suddenly “spiked last spring,” wrote the Center for Reinventing Public Education in its January 2021 report, and then—in defiance of the laws of motion—simply never let up. By the fall, a RAND study recorded an astonishing shift in work habits: 24 percent of teachers reported that they were working 56 hours or more per week, compared to 5 percent pre-pandemic.

The vaccine was the promised land, but when it arrived nothing seemed to change. In an April 2021 survey  conducted four months after the first vaccine was administered in New York City, 92 percent of teachers said their jobs were more stressful than prior to the pandemic, up from 81 percent in an earlier survey.

It wasn’t just the length of the work days; a close look at the research reveals that the school system’s failure to adjust expectations was ruinous. It seemed to start with the obligations of hybrid teaching, which surfaced in Edutopia ’s coverage of overseas school reopenings. In June 2020, well before many U.S. schools reopened, we reported that hybrid teaching was an emerging problem internationally, and warned that if the “model is to work well for any period of time,” schools must “recognize and seek to reduce the workload for teachers.” Almost eight months later, a 2021 RAND study identified hybrid teaching as a primary source of teacher stress in the U.S., easily outpacing factors like the health of a high-risk loved one.

New and ever-increasing demands for tech solutions put teachers on a knife’s edge. In several important 2021 studies, researchers concluded that teachers were being pushed to adopt new technology without the “resources and equipment necessary for its correct didactic use.” Consequently, they were spending more than 20 hours a week adapting lessons for online use, and experiencing an unprecedented erosion of the boundaries between their work and home lives, leading to an unsustainable “always on” mentality. When it seemed like nothing more could be piled on—when all of the lights were blinking red—the federal government restarted standardized testing .

Change will be hard; many of the pathologies that exist in the system now predate the pandemic. But creating strict school policies that separate work from rest, eliminating the adoption of new tech tools without proper supports, distributing surveys regularly to gauge teacher well-being, and above all listening to educators to identify and confront emerging problems might be a good place to start, if the research can be believed.

• Open access
• Published: 24 April 2024

A qualitative study of informal caregiver perceptions of the benefits of an early dementia diagnosis

• Elyse Couch   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4692-5837 1 , 2 ,
• Melissa Co   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7789-0871 1 ,
• Christopher P. Albertyn   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4682-6890 3 ,
• Matthew Prina   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6698-3263 1 , 4 &
• Vanessa Lawrence   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7852-2018 1  

BMC Health Services Research volume  24 , Article number:  508 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

Current and former dementia policies in the United Kingdom (UK) recommend diagnosing dementia early, or as close to the onset of symptoms as possible. Informal caregivers play an important role in initiating the diagnostic process and providing support to people living with dementia. Therefore, this study aimed to explore caregiver perceptions of the benefits of an early diagnosis.

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 current and former informal caregivers to people with dementia in the UK in 2020. We analysed the interviews using thematic analysis.

Benefits of an early diagnosis included: (1) protecting the person with dementia from financial or physical harm, (2) timely decision-making, and (3) access to services and treatments following a diagnosis. We identified three conditions necessary for the benefits of an early diagnosis to be felt: (1) adequate prognostic information, (2) someone to advocate on behalf of the person with dementia, and (3) a willingness to seek and accept the diagnosis.

Conclusions

In this study, we identified how diagnosing dementia close to the onset of symptoms could be beneficial and the conditions necessary for these benefits to be felt. The findings highlight the importance of an early diagnosis for enabling people with dementia and caregivers to make practical arrangements and to access services. Further research is needed to build on the findings of this study by exploring the perspectives of people with dementia and by including a larger, more diverse sample of caregivers.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

It is estimated that there are 944,000 people with dementia in the United Kingdom (UK) [ 1 ] however, only two-thirds have received a formal diagnosis [ 2 ]. Previous and current dementia policies in the UK recommend not only increasing diagnosis rates but also identifying dementia as early as possible [ 3 , 4 ]. An early diagnosis can be defined as a diagnosis made at the onset of symptoms [ 5 ]. In practice, it can be challenging to make an early diagnosis as dementia is characterised by a gradual onset of symptoms, which can be difficult to distinguish from typical age-related changes in cognition, particularly during the early stages of memory loss. Patients experiencing cognitive impairment that does not significantly impact their daily functioning may be diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) [ 6 ]. MCI is a significant predictor of future dementia, with approximately 7% of people with MCI developing dementia annually [ 7 , 8 ]. However, MCI is a heterogeneous clinical concept, with many underlying etiologies, and not all people with MCI have or will have dementia [ 9 ]. Despite these concerns, MCI could be a potentially helpful diagnosis for identifying those at greatest risk of developing dementia and intervening early [ 10 ]. It is hoped that by diagnosing dementia early in the disease trajectory, people with dementia and their caregivers will be able to engage with services and treatments to live well for longer. However, there is very little primary evidence exploring the relationship between an early diagnosis and subsequent outcomes or experiences.

Two systematic reviews have attempted to systematically synthesize the evidence supporting the proposed benefits of an early diagnosis [ 11 , 12 ]. The World Alzheimer’s Report in 2011 reviewed studies assessing the relationship between the stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis and subsequent outcomes including the rate of cognitive or functional decline, mortality rates, the timing of care or nursing home admission, quality of life and wellbeing for the person with dementia and caregiver, caregiver burden, and healthcare utilisation and associated costs. They identified three studies, all with moderate risk of bias. One study found a diagnosis close to the onset of symptoms was associated with a reduced risk of mortality. Two studies examined the relationship between the severity of symptoms at the time of diagnosis and rates of cognitive decline, neither of which found significant effects [ 12 ]. Furthermore, when the authors reviewed statements in published papers proposing the benefits of early diagnosis, they found the assertions to be lacking in empirical support, stating: “Many were unreferenced, and where references were provided these were generally to other papers making similar, non-evidence-based assertions. These statements should therefore be considered, at best, to represent expert opinion” [ 12 ]. A later review conducted in 2016, similarly concluded that there is a paucity of research focused on benefits to people living with dementia or caregivers, and many of the proposed benefits are based on modelling studies rather than patient data [ 11 ].

Many people with dementia are supported by informal caregivers. It has been estimated that 75% of people with dementia are supported by informal caregivers [ 13 ]. Caregivers play an important role in initiating the diagnostic process and organising the care for the person with dementia. Caregivers for people with dementia are at risk of high levels of burden and have been described as “invisible second patients” [ 14 ]. In addition to benefiting people with dementia, there is a hope that diagnosing dementia early would also lead to positive outcomes for caregivers. A survey of dementia caregivers from 5 European countries found that 47% of participants would have preferred to receive the diagnosis earlier [ 15 ]. A dementia diagnosis can confirm caregivers’ suspicions or lead to feelings of relief [ 16 ]. Additionally, an early diagnosis could enable caregivers to adapt to their new role as a caregiver and prepare for the future [ 16 ]. For example, a study of US caregivers found early use of home and day care services was associated with delayed institutionalisation [ 17 ]. Furthermore, early adaptation to the caregiver role may reduce the risk of later negative psychological outcomes [ 18 ]. On the other hand, there is a concern that an early diagnosis may label relatives of people with dementia as caregivers prematurely [ 19 ]. In this study, we conducted a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews to explore caregiver perspectives on the benefits of an early diagnosis (or a diagnosis close to the onset of symptoms). We were specifically interested in understanding what benefits caregivers perceived to be associated with an early diagnosis and which conditions were necessary for an early diagnosis to be beneficial. These findings could be used to inform future initiatives to increase early diagnosis rates and improve outcomes for caregivers and people with dementia.

We conducted a reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews. Ethical approval was granted by the National Health Service (NHS) Health Research Authority and Health and Care Research Wales Research Ethics Committee (Reference number: 19/WA/0210). This study was part of a larger mixed-methods PhD project examining the benefits of an early diagnosis.

Participants

Participants were included if they were a current or former informal caregiver for a person with dementia or MCI, over the age of 18, and able to consent to participate in the interview. In this study, an informal caregiver was defined as someone providing care to a person with dementia with whom they typically have a personal relationship, and don’t receive payment. An informal caregiver could be a family member, friend, or neighbour. Paid or formal caregivers, persons under the age of 18, or persons who were not able to give informed consent were not included.

Recruitment

Participants were identified through two recruitment channels, Join Dementia Research (JDR) and support groups in South London, UK. JDR is an online self-registration service that enables volunteers with memory problems or dementia, carers of those with memory problems or dementia, and healthy volunteers, to register their interest in taking part in research ( https://www.joindementiaresearch.nihr.ac.uk/ ). When recruiting through local support groups, staff at the group made the initial contact with the participant, to determine if they were interested in taking part in this study. When the participant expressed an interest, their contact details were passed on to the researcher. The researcher then reached out to the potential participant via telephone or email, depending on the preference of the participant, to explain the purpose of the study and if the participant was interested in taking part, arrange a time and date to complete the interview. Once the interview was scheduled, the researcher sent the participant a copy of the consent form to read before the interview. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic during data collection limited our available recruitment sources and our ability to interview a larger sample of participants.

Sampling strategy

We used purposively sampled participants based on the time since diagnosis to explore a diversity of perspectives. Participants were not limited to those who have been newly diagnosed as we wanted to explore the long-term and short-term benefits of an early diagnosis. For this study, an early diagnosis was defined as a diagnosis close to the onset of symptoms (as reported by the participant) or a diagnosis of MCI. We included participants caring for people with dementia with or without an early diagnosis.

Participants held characteristics that were highly specific to the study and provided rich and relevant data. For example, three participants were caring for two or more relatives with dementia concurrently and were able to reflect on how an early diagnosis may or may not be beneficial in different contexts. Data collection and analysis were completed in parallel with recruitment continuing until the sample held sufficient information power [ 20 ] and the analysis was considered to have achieved conceptual depth.

Data collection procedures

All interviews were conducted by the first author, a female Ph.D. student who had previously worked as an assistant psychologist providing support to caregivers and was experienced in conducting interviews in research settings. The interviewer did not have a relationship with the participants before commencing the research. The interviews lasted for 45 min on average (range = 25–75 min) and were conducted between January and December 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic affected the data collection procedures for this study. Before the pandemic, participants had the option of an in-person interview either in their own home or at King’s College London. One interview was conducted face-to-face, in the participant’s home, before the start of the pandemic. During the pandemic, all interviews were conducted virtually using Microsoft Teams or over the phone, depending on the preference of the participant.

At the start of the interview, the researcher introduced herself, described the aims of her thesis, and explained the purpose of the study. She then asked for permission to start the recording to complete the consent form with the participant over the phone. Once the consent form had been completed, the researcher asked for permission to continue to the interview. The semi-structured interviews followed a topic guide (see supplementary file 1 ) and started with questions about how and when they started to notice the person with dementia’s memory problems. This was followed by questions about their experiences and the timeliness of the diagnosis and subsequent post-diagnostic support. The topic guide was initially developed in consultation with the South London and Maudsley NHS MALADY public and patient involvement group and was revised iteratively to follow the concerns of the participants.

Data analysis

The audio recordings of the interviews were transcribed verbatim. Five recordings were transcribed by the first author and 9 were transcribed by a professional service. All transcripts were checked for accuracy and then were uploaded to NVivo 2020 for analysis. The interviews were analysed following Braun and Clarke’s six steps for reflexive thematic analysis [ 21 , 22 ]. An initial list of codes was developed by three authors (EC, MC, and CA), who independently read one interview, and each identified a list of inductive codes. The three lists of semantic and latent codes were compared during a meeting in which the team talked through different interpretations of the data. A single list of codes was developed and the lead author applied this to the data. A line-by-line approach was taken to ensure all parts of the data were given equal consideration [ 23 ]. From this initial coding, the lead author reviewed the data contained in the codes to identify patterns of meaning, which were drawn out into themes. During this process, the lead and senior author meet weekly to discuss analytical decisions and the development of the themes. Contradictory data were drawn out and included in the analysis to ensure credibility [ 24 ]. Quotes from participants are presented with pseudonyms.

We conducted interviews with 12 caregivers of people with dementia or MCI (see Table  1 ). Most participants were female (75%), with a mean age of 61, married or living with a current partner (75%), and a current caregiver (83%). Four participants cared for their spouse, four were caring for a parent and four were caring for more than one person with dementia. Of the four participants caring for multiple people with dementia, three were caring for both parents concurrently and one participant was caring for four close relatives (the exact relationships are not reported to maintain participant anonymity). Ten of the 12 participants were caring for someone diagnosed with dementia and eight participants were caring for someone who had received an early diagnosis of dementia. Two interviewees were former caregivers.

In this paper, we present a combination of experienced and hypothetical benefits of an early diagnosis. Participants in this study described how an early diagnosis could help them both manage the day-to-day care for the person with dementia and plan for the future. We identified three benefits of an early diagnosis: (1) protecting the person with dementia from financial or physical harm, (2) timely decision-making, and (3) access to services.

We also identified three conditions for an early diagnosis to be beneficial: (1) adequate prognostic information, (2) a willingness to accept the diagnosis, and (3) someone to advocate on behalf of the person with dementia. Figure  1 presents a conceptual diagram of the themes discussed in this paper.

Conceptual diagram of the benefits of an early diagnosis

Benefits of an early diagnosis

Participants described how learning the person they care for has dementia could enable them to better organise the person with dementia’s care and prepare for their caregiving role. More specifically, an early diagnosis could protect the person with dementia from financial or physical harm, enable timely decision-making between the caregiver and the person with dementia, and enable early access to services.

Benefit 1: protecting the person with dementia from financial or physical harm

Participants described how the person with dementia’s symptoms gradually developed from mild changes in memory and behaviour to more substantial cognitive impairment. Some participants said they suspected these changes in cognition were due to dementia, whereas others attributed these changes to normal ageing. During the early stages of memory loss, participants described how many of the people they became caregivers for were managing their finances and/or driving. Some participants reported that before the person with dementia was diagnosed, they were victim of financial exploitation, or scams, or were at risk of a road traffic accident. In each of these cases, participants did not feel they were able to intervene in the person with dementia’s finances or decision to continue driving until after a formal diagnosis was made.

For example, after a formal diagnosis, one participant learned the person with dementia had previously been a victim of financial scams:

When I first started investigating her bank account, she was spending £2000 a year on various home insurances, nuisance call stopping services. (Elizabeth, caregiver to a person with MCI, early diagnosis).

Similarly, another participant who reported concerns that her mother had been financially exploited by another family member, noted she was unable to access her mother’s bank account until she had provided proof of a dementia diagnosis:

Because there was one account where mum was going seriously overdrawn because there was some policy that was still being paid out of it. I had to really convince [the bank] really to let me help… And I proved that I was her daughter and that she had dementia and all of this and they let me sort it out (Rebecca, caregiver to a person with dementia, not an early diagnosis).

Similarly, participants outlined how a formal diagnosis of dementia triggered discussions or concerns regarding whether the person with dementia was still able to drive safely. For example, one participant described how she had previously been concerned about her husband’s safety while driving and how she persuaded him to stop after his diagnosis and a near miss:

He was borderline driving, but certainly soon after [the dementia diagnosis], after he’d driven through a red light and things, I persuaded him he’d got to stop driving. (Sarah, caregiver to a person with dementia, not an early diagnosis).

Another participant, who also had expertise in transport, echoed the importance of a driving test triggered by the dementia diagnosis:

And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been there, watched an elderly person have a diagnosis test, and the person be told ‘Well I’m sorry but you really can’t have your driving licence renewed’, and behind them, the family’s going ‘yes!’ Because finally, they’ve got the driving licence off Dad rather before he kills someone. (Catherine, caregiver to multiple people with dementia, not early diagnosis).

Benefit 2: timely decision making

Participants described how receiving a diagnosis prompted them and the person with dementia to make plans for their future care. Most participants said they went through the legal process to assign power of attorney immediately after the diagnosis:

But as soon as we found out he’d got dementia, we started thinking about solicitors. We’ve done a power of attorney. We’ve done the will. (Sheila, caregiver to a person with dementia, early diagnosis).

They highlighted how an early diagnosis could allow people with dementia to assign power of attorney to the person they believe will make decisions with their best interests at heart:

“Me and my brother, at an earlier stage in my dad’s dementia were, we got power of attorney so that we could make decisions for his care if we needed to… me and my brother were the oldest and we did it like that so that we could both… He would have some balance.” (Joanne, caregiver to a person with dementia, early diagnosis).

Caregivers found this process to be so important that many said they had arranged for their own power of attorney following their experience of caregiving:

It was about that time that [my brother and I] thought we should take out power of attorney for each other. So, we got that started. (Carol, caregiver to multiple people with dementia, not an early diagnosis).

Participants reported an awareness that the person with dementia’s symptoms would progress to a point where formal care would eventually be needed. They described how an early diagnosis could trigger conversations with the person with dementia about their care preferences. Participants noted that knowing the person with dementia’s preferences for future care could bring comfort when making difficult decisions. For example, one participant, caring for his wife with an early diagnosis, described having a “game plan for the long-term” which he had discussed with his wife following her diagnosis. On the other hand, another caregiver to her husband with a later diagnosis described finding the prospect of introducing formal care without having previously discussed her husband’s wishes challenging:

We never had the care home conversation. Not seriously. My view is that if I get old and craggy I want to be in a care home and not be a burden to my family. But I’m not sure he feels the same way, so it’s a bit difficult for us now, not knowing where he stands (Sarah, caregiver to a person diagnosed with dementia, not an early diagnosis).

Benefit 3: Access to services

Participants described how accessing services early, as a result of an early diagnosis, could help them better prepare for their future caregiving role. Participants reported that the formal diagnosis of dementia enabled the person with dementia to access specialist services and treatments, including both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments:

She has had quite a lot of support including going to some kind of classes to help for people with dementia and taking medication too (Catherine, caregiver to multiple people with dementia, not early diagnosis).

In the early stages of the disease, participants were most interested in the person with dementia receiving anti-dementia medications to slow down the symptoms of cognitive decline. Some participants reported an awareness that anti-dementia medications were likely to be more effective if delivered early. The desire for early access to services and treatments motivated some participants to prompt the person with dementia to seek a formal diagnosis in the first place.

Participants also described how services could provide information on how to best support the person with dementia. They were most interested in knowing what symptoms or behaviours were likely to arise next coupled with practical information on how to treat and manage these symptoms:

What does this mean on a day-to-day basis? And how can I help mum through this? So, I guess that’s more my focus on the symptoms, and what to do to help. (Rebecca, caregiver to a person with dementia, not an early diagnosis).

Participants reported a preference for this information and support as early as possible. For example, one participant described how she wanted earlier support for managing her Dad’s difficulties with eating:

So yeah, so lots of the physical things, we could have done with a lot more guidance about, and advice on equipment earlier on, rather than having to see my dad just starve, because he couldn’t eat anything until we worked out the best way of preparing his food. (Joanne, caregiver to a person with dementia, early diagnosis).

Conditions for an early diagnosis to be beneficial

Participants highlighted weaknesses in the current provision of dementia care that might prevent the benefits of an early diagnosis from being felt. Overall, we identified three conditions needed to enable the benefits of an early diagnosis: adequate prognostic information, a willingness to accept the diagnosis, and someone to advocate on behalf of the person with dementia.

Condition 1: adequate prognostic information

As discussed previously, participants described how an early diagnosis could help manage the day-to-day care for the person with dementia and make plans for the future. However, participants noted that this could only be possible with personalised and timely prognostic information. Participants reported difficulties in finding such information and described how this could be offered by health services.

If we could have some kind of community-based assessment, [with] somebody with expertise who could spend some time [with us] in order to be able to say, Oh yes, I can see what’s going on here. I can see how this is going to go. This is what we can do about it. Or there is nothing we can do about it, and I’m afraid inevitably, this is what’s going to happen very soon. Or something like that. You know, that’s what I wanted. (James, caregiver to multiple people with dementia, not an early diagnosis).

Additionally, participants highlighted the need for a single source of information for finding individualised advice. They described going to books, support groups, dementia or ageing charities, health and social services, friends and family, newspapers, online videos, and doing independent research on Google. Often, they did not feel the information available was relevant to their circumstances:

I guess every situation is different and I haven’t sort of found anybody who I can say, well, that’s just like me and my situation. (Mark, caregiver to a person diagnosed with dementia, early diagnosis).

When describing the ideal dementia service, participants described a one-stop shop offering advice for both the person with dementia and their caregiver. Participants said they wanted regular follow-ups, especially immediately after diagnosis, as this would enable access to individualised information at the right time. They felt that this was important for managing the emotional and practical impact of a diagnosis, especially in the weeks and months following the diagnosis:

I think it would be really good if there had been someone who I could have spoken to maybe once a month or more, maybe once every two months maybe. (Sarah, caregiver to a person with dementia, not an early diagnosis).

Even where participants reported receiving insufficient information and support from health services, they described how an early diagnosis could help them to better understand the person with dementia:

Interviewer: What I’m hearing is it doesn’t make much difference whether you’re diagnosed early or late. There’s… not much for you. Participant: I think that’s, I would say that’s correct, yes, but it might make a difference to how you get on with the person, actually…It is an important consideration because very often it’s going to be the partner or whoever, or a close family member who’s going to be the prime carer. Since there is so little support. So, if they know sooner rather than later that this is a disease and not their loved one being [difficult]. Then it’s going to be a bit helpful… won’t necessarily be easier… (Sarah, Sarah, caregiver to a person with dementia, not an early diagnosis).

And to prepare for the emotional impact of caring for someone with dementia:

But just the anguish of the long goodbye. I think maybe an earlier diagnosis would certainly help you prepare, prepare more, I think. Although it doesn’t take the pain away from the length of time. You know. That is something you just have to bear with. (Rebecca, caregiver to a person with dementia, not an early diagnosis).

Condition 2: Presence of an advocate

For many participants, the availability of someone to advocate on behalf of the person with dementia was perceived as vital for ensuring a good quality of life as the person with dementia’s cognitive impairment progressed. While an early diagnosis could enable people with dementia to express their preferences for their future care, participants described how, as caregivers, they would be the ones to ensure the person with dementia’s wishes were acted on.

We made these plans after his diagnosis, but quite a few years ago now, actually. And we both sort of said to my dad ‘We will do our absolute best to keep you in the home for as long as possible’. (Joanne, caregiver to a person with dementia, early diagnosis).

Caregivers described how they often acted as a broker between services and the person with dementia, facilitating access to specialist services. Participants felt that the person only got the amount of care they did because they “fought” for it from services. When asked to reflect on what they would do if they suspected they had dementia, most participants said they would seek a diagnosis when they noticed symptoms. For participants without someone to act as an advocate, an early diagnosis could be especially important for making early plans to ensure they get the care they need during the later stages of dementia:

I would make sure that I got checked. I would probably start to put some things in place…I don’t think children or marriage are an insurance policy anyway. But you become very aware of the fact that if you start to have Alzheimer’s, it’s going to be really, really difficult and that you will need to put things in place before you’ve completely lost the ability to communicate or fight for your rights or feed yourself, all those sorts of things. (Joanne, caregiver to a person with dementia, early diagnosis).

Conversely, other participants without potential future advocates described fears they would be vulnerable to receiving poor care. Such concerns were so overwhelming, that participants reported potentially wanting to end their lives early:

I won’t have anyone who will… be my advocate like I was with my parents. You know I did all their finances and everything. I just think it would be a nightmare. Beachy Head or something. I don’t know if I can’t find a pill. (Carol, caregiver to multiple people with dementia, not an early diagnosis).

Participant: Hmm. I think you probably could live with it longer… You know. If you had that option to be… To have your life ended, once you get to a certain stage, then you would…It would be worth living to that stage…. Interviewer: Having that option set up. It sounds like what you’re describing is a sort of freedom, I guess, or relief? Participant: Yes. Yes, it is. Yes. Yes, it would be very much that… It would be a terrific relief to have that there as an option in the future. (Elizabeth, caregiver to a person with MCI, early diagnosis).

Condition 3: willingness to seek and accept the dementia diagnosis

Participants noted how a person with dementia’s refusal to seek or accept a diagnosis could be a barrier to an early diagnosis and its previously described benefits. There was variation in whether the person with dementia or the caregiver initiated the process of seeking a dementia diagnosis. One participant noted that his wife, with dementia, had initiated the diagnostic process in the early stages of dementia, which enabled them to organise support:

She noticed her memory issues if she couldn’t remember things… So she started the ball rolling, but I think after a while, I, obviously, got very concerned and tried to get as much support and help as we could. (Mark, caregiver to a person with dementia, early diagnosis).

However, most participants in this study reported that they had noticed the person with dementia was experiencing problems with their memory and encouraged them to get tested for possible dementia. In many cases, the person with dementia was reluctant to seek a diagnosis for their memory problems:

I definitely had that conversation and said, ‘I know it’s scary. But there’s something wrong and you need to face it.’ But she just looked at me blankly and refused to engage. (Rebecca, caregiver to a person with dementia, not an early diagnosis).

Even after the formal diagnosis was given, some participants noted the person with dementia did not accept their diagnosis:

There was probably a period of about six more months, I would say, he didn’t want to go to the GP to talk about it. He never in this life acknowledged that he had dementia. (Sarah, caregiver to a person with dementia, not an early diagnosis).

He knew there was some problem, but he wouldn’t. He didn’t really want to accept what, or what implications were, I’d say. (Carol, caregiver to multiple people with dementia, not early diagnosis).

Some participants linked the unwillingness to seek a diagnosis or the lack of acceptance once the diagnosis was given to delays in access to services and planning for the future:

The biggest obstacle we’ve had was him spending four years not acknowledging the situation he was in. That was the most stressful time, and it wasn’t because he didn’t get the support, it was because he wouldn’t accept that support. (Catherine, caregiver to multiple people diagnosed with dementia, not early diagnosis).

In this study, we identified three benefits of an early diagnosis of dementia from the perspective of caregivers. An early diagnosis could (1) protect the person with dementia from harm during the early stages of memory loss, (2) enable timely decision making and (3) enable access to services and treatments. We also identified three conditions necessary for an early diagnosis to be beneficial (1) adequate prognostic information, (2) someone to advocate on behalf of the person with dementia and (3) the person with dementia being willing to seek and accept a diagnosis.

Participants described how an early diagnosis of dementia could enable caregivers to intervene during the early stages of cognitive impairment to protect the person with dementia from harm. Participants particularly noted this was important for protecting people with dementia from financial harm or a road traffic accident. This is supported by previous research which found that difficulties in managing finances is one of the earlier symptoms of dementia and assessment of financial capacity can identify people with MCI who are most likely to progress to dementia [ 25 , 26 ]. Financial abuse is the most prevalent form of elder abuse in the UK [ 27 ] and people with MCI or dementia are at greatest risk [ 28 ]. Fenton et al. suggest that the early diagnosis of dementia can help identify those most at risk of financial exploitation, empower such individuals to avoid exploitation, and reduce the societal costs and consequences of exploitation [ 29 ]. Similar arguments can be made regarding an early diagnosis reducing the risk of road traffic accidents among people with MCI or dementia. People with MCI and dementia showed impaired driving performance compared with cognitively healthy individuals [ 30 ]. Despite this impairment people with MCI may be able to drive safely for many years following the onset of symptoms [ 30 ]. An early diagnosis can make people with dementia, their caregivers, and clinicians aware that the persons with driving ability will need to be regularly assessed and help them to identify an appropriate time for them to cease driving [ 30 , 31 ].

As their cognitive impairment worsens, people with dementia and MCI increasingly rely on caregivers or proxies for decision-making. Participants in this study described how an early diagnosis could enable caregivers to make decisions and plans for the future together. Previous research indicates that caregivers value the opportunity to make practical arrangements. Vernooij-Dassen et al. found that within three months of diagnosis, some people with dementia and their caregivers reported making significant life decisions, including getting married or moving house [ 32 ]. An early diagnosis enables people with dementia to be more involved in such decision-making. Participants also noted that knowing the person with dementia’s future care preferences could bring comfort during the later stages of the disease. However, people with dementia may feel differently about making decisions following a diagnosis of dementia. Some participants in this study reported that the person with dementia was reluctant to accept the diagnosis and engage in decision-making, treatments, or support, which may present a barrier to the benefits of an early diagnosis. People with dementia may be less willing to seek or accept a diagnosis due to fear of stigma [ 33 ]. Furthermore, being provided a diagnosis before they are ready to process it could be harmful to the person with dementia’s well-being [ 34 , 35 ]. Future research must examine the value of an early diagnosis from the perspective of the person with dementia.

Relatedly, participants highlighted the importance of having someone to advocate on behalf of the person with dementia. They reported concerns that people with dementia without advocates were at risk of poorer care. However, it is important to note that this sample only consisted of caregivers who may therefore have a heightened awareness of the role of caregivers as advocates. Previous research does suggest that the availability of a family caregiver may be associated with better quality care. For example, one study in the US found frequent visits from family members during a nursing home stay were associated with better quality care [ 36 ]. It is estimated that 25% of people with dementia are not supported by informal caregivers, meaning there is a significant proportion potentially lacking important support [ 13 ]. The effects of caregiving are well documented. People with dementia who are living alone with little support report less satisfaction with life and higher levels of loneliness [ 37 ] however, more research is needed to better understand the needs and experiences of this population. All people with dementia should equally benefit from a diagnosis, early or otherwise, therefore future research should examine whether outcomes differ between people with dementia who have support from a caregiver and those who do not.

Early access to services and support was identified by participants as a key benefit to an early diagnosis. They described how people with dementia were able to access nonpharmacological and pharmacological treatments to manage their cognitive decline, however, participants were aware that such treatment may be more effective if delivered during the early stages of dementia. There is evidence to suggest that early engagement with community and respite services could delay institutionalisation for people with dementia [ 17 ]. However, participants also described struggles with accessing and organising post-diagnostic support from health and social care services. On the one hand, it could be argued that ineffective post-diagnostic support could present a barrier to an early diagnosis being beneficial. On the other hand, an early diagnosis could provide people with dementia and their caregivers with extra time to navigate the complexity of dementia services. Either way, effective and well-organised post-diagnostic support is critical for improving the health and well-being of people with a diagnosis of dementia and their caregivers, early or otherwise [ 38 ]. Participants in this study highlighted the need for a single service that could provide individualised prognostic information over the course of the disease. They specifically wanted earlier information on what symptoms to expect, how to manage them when they arise, and an annual review. These findings are similar to other studies investigating priorities for post-diagnostic support following a dementia diagnosis [ 39 , 40 ] and lend further support to efforts to design more responsive services [ 41 , 42 ]. Even in cases, where post-diagnostic support was perceived to be inadequate, participants described how the early knowledge that the person with dementia’s symptoms are caused by dementia can help them to better understand that person and prepare for their future caregiving role. Previous research has indicated that this preparation for a future caregiving role can be particularly important for caregivers to people diagnosed with MCI [ 43 ].

Strengths and limitations

This study provides valuable information on caregiver perspectives on the benefits of an early diagnosis. However, the findings should be interpreted in the context of this study. This study was part of a larger Ph.D. project and the COVID-19 pandemic started during data collection for this study. The pandemic and subsequent restrictions on time and funding limited our ability to recruit a larger sample of participants for this study. Participants were identified through an online dementia registry and local support groups, meaning they were likely to be well-engaged with existing support and dementia services. Caregivers who are not as engaged with existing services may have differing perspectives, which warrants future investigation. Participants with an early diagnosis were identified via self-report, future research could consider using electronic health care records or structured cognitive assessments of the person with dementia to identify caregivers to people with an early diagnosis. Furthermore, participants in this study were largely white and middle-class. Crucially, only caregivers were interviewed in this study, therefore future research should examine the perspectives of people with dementia. Although this study reports a small and relatively homogeneous sample, the findings provide valuable insight into an important issue in dementia research and practice. Future research is needed to expand on this study with a larger and more diverse sample.

The findings of this study lend empirical support for three benefits of an early diagnosis: protecting the person with dementia from harm during the early stages of the disease, timely decision-making, and access to services and treatments following a diagnosis. However, we also identified three conditions necessary for the benefits of an early diagnosis: adequate prognostic information, a willingness to accept the diagnosis, and someone to advocate on behalf of the person with dementia. Overall, an early diagnosis can enable people with dementia and their caregivers to make practical arrangements for the person with dementia’s current and future care. Further research is needed to expand on the findings of this study with a larger, more diverse sample and the inclusion of people with dementia.

Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the sensitive and personal nature of this topic. A limited dataset is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Join Dementia Research

National Health Service

• Mild cognitive impairment

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This work is supported by a studentship for EC from the Economic Social Research Council through the London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (LISS-DTP).

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EC designed the study, conducted the interviews, analysed the data and wrote the manuscript. MC and CPA assisted with qualitative coding and data analysis. MP and VA advised and study design and provided supervision for EC. All authors provided feedback and critically revised this article. All authors read and approved this manuscript.

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Couch, E., Co, M., Albertyn, C.P. et al. A qualitative study of informal caregiver perceptions of the benefits of an early dementia diagnosis. BMC Health Serv Res 24 , 508 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-10957-6

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Qualitative study.

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• Introduction

Qualitative research is a type of research that explores and provides deeper insights into real-world problems. [1] Instead of collecting numerical data points or intervene or introduce treatments just like in quantitative research, qualitative research helps generate hypotheses as well as further investigate and understand quantitative data. Qualitative research gathers participants' experiences, perceptions, and behavior. It answers the hows and whys instead of how many or how much. It could be structured as a stand-alone study, purely relying on qualitative data or it could be part of mixed-methods research that combines qualitative and quantitative data. This review introduces the readers to some basic concepts, definitions, terminology, and application of qualitative research.

Qualitative research at its core, ask open-ended questions whose answers are not easily put into numbers such as ‘how’ and ‘why’. [2] Due to the open-ended nature of the research questions at hand, qualitative research design is often not linear in the same way quantitative design is. [2] One of the strengths of qualitative research is its ability to explain processes and patterns of human behavior that can be difficult to quantify. [3] Phenomena such as experiences, attitudes, and behaviors can be difficult to accurately capture quantitatively, whereas a qualitative approach allows participants themselves to explain how, why, or what they were thinking, feeling, and experiencing at a certain time or during an event of interest. Quantifying qualitative data certainly is possible, but at its core, qualitative data is looking for themes and patterns that can be difficult to quantify and it is important to ensure that the context and narrative of qualitative work are not lost by trying to quantify something that is not meant to be quantified.

However, while qualitative research is sometimes placed in opposition to quantitative research, where they are necessarily opposites and therefore ‘compete’ against each other and the philosophical paradigms associated with each, qualitative and quantitative work are not necessarily opposites nor are they incompatible. [4] While qualitative and quantitative approaches are different, they are not necessarily opposites, and they are certainly not mutually exclusive. For instance, qualitative research can help expand and deepen understanding of data or results obtained from quantitative analysis. For example, say a quantitative analysis has determined that there is a correlation between length of stay and level of patient satisfaction, but why does this correlation exist? This dual-focus scenario shows one way in which qualitative and quantitative research could be integrated together.

Examples of Qualitative Research Approaches

Ethnography

Ethnography as a research design has its origins in social and cultural anthropology, and involves the researcher being directly immersed in the participant’s environment. [2] Through this immersion, the ethnographer can use a variety of data collection techniques with the aim of being able to produce a comprehensive account of the social phenomena that occurred during the research period. [2] That is to say, the researcher’s aim with ethnography is to immerse themselves into the research population and come out of it with accounts of actions, behaviors, events, etc. through the eyes of someone involved in the population. Direct involvement of the researcher with the target population is one benefit of ethnographic research because it can then be possible to find data that is otherwise very difficult to extract and record.

Grounded Theory

Grounded Theory is the “generation of a theoretical model through the experience of observing a study population and developing a comparative analysis of their speech and behavior.” [5] As opposed to quantitative research which is deductive and tests or verifies an existing theory, grounded theory research is inductive and therefore lends itself to research that is aiming to study social interactions or experiences. [3] [2] In essence, Grounded Theory’s goal is to explain for example how and why an event occurs or how and why people might behave a certain way. Through observing the population, a researcher using the Grounded Theory approach can then develop a theory to explain the phenomena of interest.

Phenomenology

Phenomenology is defined as the “study of the meaning of phenomena or the study of the particular”. [5] At first glance, it might seem that Grounded Theory and Phenomenology are quite similar, but upon careful examination, the differences can be seen. At its core, phenomenology looks to investigate experiences from the perspective of the individual. [2] Phenomenology is essentially looking into the ‘lived experiences’ of the participants and aims to examine how and why participants behaved a certain way, from their perspective . Herein lies one of the main differences between Grounded Theory and Phenomenology. Grounded Theory aims to develop a theory for social phenomena through an examination of various data sources whereas Phenomenology focuses on describing and explaining an event or phenomena from the perspective of those who have experienced it.

Narrative Research

One of qualitative research’s strengths lies in its ability to tell a story, often from the perspective of those directly involved in it. Reporting on qualitative research involves including details and descriptions of the setting involved and quotes from participants. This detail is called ‘thick’ or ‘rich’ description and is a strength of qualitative research. Narrative research is rife with the possibilities of ‘thick’ description as this approach weaves together a sequence of events, usually from just one or two individuals, in the hopes of creating a cohesive story, or narrative. [2] While it might seem like a waste of time to focus on such a specific, individual level, understanding one or two people’s narratives for an event or phenomenon can help to inform researchers about the influences that helped shape that narrative. The tension or conflict of differing narratives can be “opportunities for innovation”. [2]

Research Paradigm

Research paradigms are the assumptions, norms, and standards that underpin different approaches to research. Essentially, research paradigms are the ‘worldview’ that inform research. [4] It is valuable for researchers, both qualitative and quantitative, to understand what paradigm they are working within because understanding the theoretical basis of research paradigms allows researchers to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the approach being used and adjust accordingly. Different paradigms have different ontology and epistemologies . Ontology is defined as the "assumptions about the nature of reality” whereas epistemology is defined as the “assumptions about the nature of knowledge” that inform the work researchers do. [2] It is important to understand the ontological and epistemological foundations of the research paradigm researchers are working within to allow for a full understanding of the approach being used and the assumptions that underpin the approach as a whole. Further, it is crucial that researchers understand their own ontological and epistemological assumptions about the world in general because their assumptions about the world will necessarily impact how they interact with research. A discussion of the research paradigm is not complete without describing positivist, postpositivist, and constructivist philosophies.

Positivist vs Postpositivist

To further understand qualitative research, we need to discuss positivist and postpositivist frameworks. Positivism is a philosophy that the scientific method can and should be applied to social as well as natural sciences. [4] Essentially, positivist thinking insists that the social sciences should use natural science methods in its research which stems from positivist ontology that there is an objective reality that exists that is fully independent of our perception of the world as individuals. Quantitative research is rooted in positivist philosophy, which can be seen in the value it places on concepts such as causality, generalizability, and replicability.

Conversely, postpositivists argue that social reality can never be one hundred percent explained but it could be approximated. [4] Indeed, qualitative researchers have been insisting that there are “fundamental limits to the extent to which the methods and procedures of the natural sciences could be applied to the social world” and therefore postpositivist philosophy is often associated with qualitative research. [4] An example of positivist versus postpositivist values in research might be that positivist philosophies value hypothesis-testing, whereas postpositivist philosophies value the ability to formulate a substantive theory.

Constructivist

Constructivism is a subcategory of postpositivism. Most researchers invested in postpositivist research are constructivist as well, meaning they think there is no objective external reality that exists but rather that reality is constructed. Constructivism is a theoretical lens that emphasizes the dynamic nature of our world. “Constructivism contends that individuals’ views are directly influenced by their experiences, and it is these individual experiences and views that shape their perspective of reality”. [6] Essentially, Constructivist thought focuses on how ‘reality’ is not a fixed certainty and experiences, interactions, and backgrounds give people a unique view of the world. Constructivism contends, unlike in positivist views, that there is not necessarily an ‘objective’ reality we all experience. This is the ‘relativist’ ontological view that reality and the world we live in are dynamic and socially constructed. Therefore, qualitative scientific knowledge can be inductive as well as deductive.” [4]

So why is it important to understand the differences in assumptions that different philosophies and approaches to research have? Fundamentally, the assumptions underpinning the research tools a researcher selects provide an overall base for the assumptions the rest of the research will have and can even change the role of the researcher themselves. [2] For example, is the researcher an ‘objective’ observer such as in positivist quantitative work? Or is the researcher an active participant in the research itself, as in postpositivist qualitative work? Understanding the philosophical base of the research undertaken allows researchers to fully understand the implications of their work and their role within the research, as well as reflect on their own positionality and bias as it pertains to the research they are conducting.

Data Sampling 

The better the sample represents the intended study population, the more likely the researcher is to encompass the varying factors at play. The following are examples of participant sampling and selection: [7]

• Purposive sampling- selection based on the researcher’s rationale in terms of being the most informative.
• Criterion sampling-selection based on pre-identified factors.
• Convenience sampling- selection based on availability.
• Snowball sampling- the selection is by referral from other participants or people who know potential participants.
• Extreme case sampling- targeted selection of rare cases.
• Typical case sampling-selection based on regular or average participants. 

Data Collection and Analysis

Qualitative research uses several techniques including interviews, focus groups, and observation. [1] [2] [3] Interviews may be unstructured, with open-ended questions on a topic and the interviewer adapts to the responses. Structured interviews have a predetermined number of questions that every participant is asked. It is usually one on one and is appropriate for sensitive topics or topics needing an in-depth exploration. Focus groups are often held with 8-12 target participants and are used when group dynamics and collective views on a topic are desired. Researchers can be a participant-observer to share the experiences of the subject or a non-participant or detached observer.

While quantitative research design prescribes a controlled environment for data collection, qualitative data collection may be in a central location or in the environment of the participants, depending on the study goals and design. Qualitative research could amount to a large amount of data. Data is transcribed which may then be coded manually or with the use of Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software or CAQDAS such as ATLAS.ti or NVivo. [8] [9] [10]

After the coding process, qualitative research results could be in various formats. It could be a synthesis and interpretation presented with excerpts from the data. [11] Results also could be in the form of themes and theory or model development.

Dissemination

To standardize and facilitate the dissemination of qualitative research outcomes, the healthcare team can use two reporting standards. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research or COREQ is a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. [12] The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) is a checklist covering a wider range of qualitative research. [13]

Examples of Application

Many times a research question will start with qualitative research. The qualitative research will help generate the research hypothesis which can be tested with quantitative methods. After the data is collected and analyzed with quantitative methods, a set of qualitative methods can be used to dive deeper into the data for a better understanding of what the numbers truly mean and their implications. The qualitative methods can then help clarify the quantitative data and also help refine the hypothesis for future research. Furthermore, with qualitative research researchers can explore subjects that are poorly studied with quantitative methods. These include opinions, individual's actions, and social science research.

A good qualitative study design starts with a goal or objective. This should be clearly defined or stated. The target population needs to be specified. A method for obtaining information from the study population must be carefully detailed to ensure there are no omissions of part of the target population. A proper collection method should be selected which will help obtain the desired information without overly limiting the collected data because many times, the information sought is not well compartmentalized or obtained. Finally, the design should ensure adequate methods for analyzing the data. An example may help better clarify some of the various aspects of qualitative research.

A researcher wants to decrease the number of teenagers who smoke in their community. The researcher could begin by asking current teen smokers why they started smoking through structured or unstructured interviews (qualitative research). The researcher can also get together a group of current teenage smokers and conduct a focus group to help brainstorm factors that may have prevented them from starting to smoke (qualitative research).

In this example, the researcher has used qualitative research methods (interviews and focus groups) to generate a list of ideas of both why teens start to smoke as well as factors that may have prevented them from starting to smoke. Next, the researcher compiles this data. The research found that, hypothetically, peer pressure, health issues, cost, being considered “cool,” and rebellious behavior all might increase or decrease the likelihood of teens starting to smoke.

The researcher creates a survey asking teen participants to rank how important each of the above factors is in either starting smoking (for current smokers) or not smoking (for current non-smokers). This survey provides specific numbers (ranked importance of each factor) and is thus a quantitative research tool.

The researcher can use the results of the survey to focus efforts on the one or two highest-ranked factors. Let us say the researcher found that health was the major factor that keeps teens from starting to smoke, and peer pressure was the major factor that contributed to teens to start smoking. The researcher can go back to qualitative research methods to dive deeper into each of these for more information. The researcher wants to focus on how to keep teens from starting to smoke, so they focus on the peer pressure aspect.

The researcher can conduct interviews and/or focus groups (qualitative research) about what types and forms of peer pressure are commonly encountered, where the peer pressure comes from, and where smoking first starts. The researcher hypothetically finds that peer pressure often occurs after school at the local teen hangouts, mostly the local park. The researcher also hypothetically finds that peer pressure comes from older, current smokers who provide the cigarettes.

The researcher could further explore this observation made at the local teen hangouts (qualitative research) and take notes regarding who is smoking, who is not, and what observable factors are at play for peer pressure of smoking. The researcher finds a local park where many local teenagers hang out and see that a shady, overgrown area of the park is where the smokers tend to hang out. The researcher notes the smoking teenagers buy their cigarettes from a local convenience store adjacent to the park where the clerk does not check identification before selling cigarettes. These observations fall under qualitative research.

If the researcher returns to the park and counts how many individuals smoke in each region of the park, this numerical data would be quantitative research. Based on the researcher's efforts thus far, they conclude that local teen smoking and teenagers who start to smoke may decrease if there are fewer overgrown areas of the park and the local convenience store does not sell cigarettes to underage individuals.

The researcher could try to have the parks department reassess the shady areas to make them less conducive to the smokers or identify how to limit the sales of cigarettes to underage individuals by the convenience store. The researcher would then cycle back to qualitative methods of asking at-risk population their perceptions of the changes, what factors are still at play, as well as quantitative research that includes teen smoking rates in the community, the incidence of new teen smokers, among others. [14] [15]

Qualitative research functions as a standalone research design or in combination with quantitative research to enhance our understanding of the world. Qualitative research uses techniques including structured and unstructured interviews, focus groups, and participant observation to not only help generate hypotheses which can be more rigorously tested with quantitative research but also to help researchers delve deeper into the quantitative research numbers, understand what they mean, and understand what the implications are.  Qualitative research provides researchers with a way to understand what is going on, especially when things are not easily categorized. [16]

• Issues of Concern

As discussed in the sections above, quantitative and qualitative work differ in many different ways, including the criteria for evaluating them. There are four well-established criteria for evaluating quantitative data: internal validity, external validity, reliability, and objectivity. The correlating concepts in qualitative research are credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. [4] [11] The corresponding quantitative and qualitative concepts can be seen below, with the quantitative concept is on the left, and the qualitative concept is on the right:

• Internal validity--- Credibility
• External validity---Transferability
• Reliability---Dependability
• Objectivity---Confirmability

In conducting qualitative research, ensuring these concepts are satisfied and well thought out can mitigate potential issues from arising. For example, just as a researcher will ensure that their quantitative study is internally valid so should qualitative researchers ensure that their work has credibility.  

Indicators such as triangulation and peer examination can help evaluate the credibility of qualitative work.

• Triangulation: Triangulation involves using multiple methods of data collection to increase the likelihood of getting a reliable and accurate result. In our above magic example, the result would be more reliable by also interviewing the magician, back-stage hand, and the person who "vanished." In qualitative research, triangulation can include using telephone surveys, in-person surveys, focus groups, and interviews as well as surveying an adequate cross-section of the target demographic.
• Peer examination: Results can be reviewed by a peer to ensure the data is consistent with the findings.

‘Thick’ or ‘rich’ description can be used to evaluate the transferability of qualitative research whereas using an indicator such as an audit trail might help with evaluating the dependability and confirmability.

• Thick or rich description is a detailed and thorough description of details, the setting, and quotes from participants in the research. [5] Thick descriptions will include a detailed explanation of how the study was carried out. Thick descriptions are detailed enough to allow readers to draw conclusions and interpret the data themselves, which can help with transferability and replicability.
• Audit trail: An audit trail provides a documented set of steps of how the participants were selected and the data was collected. The original records of information should also be kept (e.g., surveys, notes, recordings).

One issue of concern that qualitative researchers should take into consideration is observation bias. Here are a few examples:

• Hawthorne effect: The Hawthorne effect is the change in participant behavior when they know they are being observed. If a researcher was wanting to identify factors that contribute to employee theft and tells the employees they are going to watch them to see what factors affect employee theft, one would suspect employee behavior would change when they know they are being watched.
• Observer-expectancy effect: Some participants change their behavior or responses to satisfy the researcher's desired effect. This happens in an unconscious manner for the participant so it is important to eliminate or limit transmitting the researcher's views.
• Artificial scenario effect: Some qualitative research occurs in artificial scenarios and/or with preset goals. In such situations, the information may not be accurate because of the artificial nature of the scenario. The preset goals may limit the qualitative information obtained.
• Clinical Significance

Qualitative research by itself or combined with quantitative research helps healthcare providers understand patients and the impact and challenges of the care they deliver. Qualitative research provides an opportunity to generate and refine hypotheses and delve deeper into the data generated by quantitative research. Qualitative research does not exist as an island apart from quantitative research, but as an integral part of research methods to be used for the understanding of the world around us. [17]

• Enhancing Healthcare Team Outcomes

Qualitative research is important for all members of the health care team as all are affected by qualitative research. Qualitative research may help develop a theory or a model for health research that can be further explored by quantitative research.  Much of the qualitative research data acquisition is completed by numerous team members including social works, scientists, nurses, etc.  Within each area of the medical field, there is copious ongoing qualitative research including physician-patient interactions, nursing-patient interactions, patient-environment interactions, health care team function, patient information delivery, etc. 

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Disclosure: Janelle Brannan declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Grace Brannan declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

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• Review Evidence Brief: The Effectiveness Of Mandatory Computer-Based Trainings On Government Ethics, Workplace Harassment, Or Privacy And Information Security-Related Topics [ 2014] Review Evidence Brief: The Effectiveness Of Mandatory Computer-Based Trainings On Government Ethics, Workplace Harassment, Or Privacy And Information Security-Related Topics Peterson K, McCleery E. 2014 May
• Review Public sector reforms and their impact on the level of corruption: A systematic review. [Campbell Syst Rev. 2021] Review Public sector reforms and their impact on the level of corruption: A systematic review. Mugellini G, Della Bella S, Colagrossi M, Isenring GL, Killias M. Campbell Syst Rev. 2021 Jun; 17(2):e1173. Epub 2021 May 24.

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The Research Gap (Literature Gap)

Everything you need to know to find a quality research gap

By: Ethar Al-Saraf (PhD) | Expert Reviewed By: Eunice Rautenbach (DTech) | November 2022

If you’re just starting out in research, chances are you’ve heard about the elusive research gap (also called a literature gap). In this post, we’ll explore the tricky topic of research gaps. We’ll explain what a research gap is, look at the four most common types of research gaps, and unpack how you can go about finding a suitable research gap for your dissertation, thesis or research project.

Overview: Research Gap 101

• What is a research gap
• Four common types of research gaps
• Practical examples
• How to find research gaps
• Recap & key takeaways

What (exactly) is a research gap?

Well, at the simplest level, a research gap is essentially an unanswered question or unresolved problem in a field, which reflects a lack of existing research in that space. Alternatively, a research gap can also exist when there’s already a fair deal of existing research, but where the findings of the studies pull in different directions , making it difficult to draw firm conclusions.

For example, let’s say your research aims to identify the cause (or causes) of a particular disease. Upon reviewing the literature, you may find that there’s a body of research that points toward cigarette smoking as a key factor – but at the same time, a large body of research that finds no link between smoking and the disease. In that case, you may have something of a research gap that warrants further investigation.

Now that we’ve defined what a research gap is – an unanswered question or unresolved problem – let’s look at a few different types of research gaps.

Types of research gaps

While there are many different types of research gaps, the four most common ones we encounter when helping students at Grad Coach are as follows:

• The classic literature gap
• The disagreement gap
• The contextual gap, and
• The methodological gap

Need a helping hand?

1. The Classic Literature Gap

First up is the classic literature gap. This type of research gap emerges when there’s a new concept or phenomenon that hasn’t been studied much, or at all. For example, when a social media platform is launched, there’s an opportunity to explore its impacts on users, how it could be leveraged for marketing, its impact on society, and so on. The same applies for new technologies, new modes of communication, transportation, etc.

Classic literature gaps can present exciting research opportunities , but a drawback you need to be aware of is that with this type of research gap, you’ll be exploring completely new territory . This means you’ll have to draw on adjacent literature (that is, research in adjacent fields) to build your literature review, as there naturally won’t be very many existing studies that directly relate to the topic. While this is manageable, it can be challenging for first-time researchers, so be careful not to bite off more than you can chew.

2. The Disagreement Gap

As the name suggests, the disagreement gap emerges when there are contrasting or contradictory findings in the existing research regarding a specific research question (or set of questions). The hypothetical example we looked at earlier regarding the causes of a disease reflects a disagreement gap.

Importantly, for this type of research gap, there needs to be a relatively balanced set of opposing findings . In other words, a situation where 95% of studies find one result and 5% find the opposite result wouldn’t quite constitute a disagreement in the literature. Of course, it’s hard to quantify exactly how much weight to give to each study, but you’ll need to at least show that the opposing findings aren’t simply a corner-case anomaly .

3. The Contextual Gap

The third type of research gap is the contextual gap. Simply put, a contextual gap exists when there’s already a decent body of existing research on a particular topic, but an absence of research in specific contexts .

For example, there could be a lack of research on:

• A specific population – perhaps a certain age group, gender or ethnicity
• A geographic area – for example, a city, country or region
• A certain time period – perhaps the bulk of the studies took place many years or even decades ago and the landscape has changed.

The contextual gap is a popular option for dissertations and theses, especially for first-time researchers, as it allows you to develop your research on a solid foundation of existing literature and potentially even use existing survey measures.

Importantly, if you’re gonna go this route, you need to ensure that there’s a plausible reason why you’d expect potential differences in the specific context you choose. If there’s no reason to expect different results between existing and new contexts, the research gap wouldn’t be well justified. So, make sure that you can clearly articulate why your chosen context is “different” from existing studies and why that might reasonably result in different findings.

4. The Methodological Gap

Last but not least, we have the methodological gap. As the name suggests, this type of research gap emerges as a result of the research methodology or design of existing studies. With this approach, you’d argue that the methodology of existing studies is lacking in some way , or that they’re missing a certain perspective.

For example, you might argue that the bulk of the existing research has taken a quantitative approach, and therefore there is a lack of rich insight and texture that a qualitative study could provide. Similarly, you might argue that existing studies have primarily taken a cross-sectional approach , and as a result, have only provided a snapshot view of the situation – whereas a longitudinal approach could help uncover how constructs or variables have evolved over time.

Practical Examples

Let’s take a look at some practical examples so that you can see how research gaps are typically expressed in written form. Keep in mind that these are just examples – not actual current gaps (we’ll show you how to find these a little later!).

Context: Healthcare

Despite extensive research on diabetes management, there’s a research gap in terms of understanding the effectiveness of digital health interventions in rural populations (compared to urban ones) within Eastern Europe.

Context: Environmental Science

While a wealth of research exists regarding plastic pollution in oceans, there is significantly less understanding of microplastic accumulation in freshwater ecosystems like rivers and lakes, particularly within Southern Africa.

Context: Education

While empirical research surrounding online learning has grown over the past five years, there remains a lack of comprehensive studies regarding the effectiveness of online learning for students with special educational needs.

As you can see in each of these examples, the author begins by clearly acknowledging the existing research and then proceeds to explain where the current area of lack (i.e., the research gap) exists.

How To Find A Research Gap

Now that you’ve got a clearer picture of the different types of research gaps, the next question is of course, “how do you find these research gaps?” .

Well, we cover the process of how to find original, high-value research gaps in a separate post . But, for now, I’ll share a basic two-step strategy here to help you find potential research gaps.

As a starting point, you should find as many literature reviews, systematic reviews and meta-analyses as you can, covering your area of interest. Additionally, you should dig into the most recent journal articles to wrap your head around the current state of knowledge. It’s also a good idea to look at recent dissertations and theses (especially doctoral-level ones). Dissertation databases such as ProQuest, EBSCO and Open Access are a goldmine for this sort of thing. Importantly, make sure that you’re looking at recent resources (ideally those published in the last year or two), or the gaps you find might have already been plugged by other researchers.

Once you’ve gathered a meaty collection of resources, the section that you really want to focus on is the one titled “ further research opportunities ” or “further research is needed”. In this section, the researchers will explicitly state where more studies are required – in other words, where potential research gaps may exist. You can also look at the “ limitations ” section of the studies, as this will often spur ideas for methodology-based research gaps.

By following this process, you’ll orient yourself with the current state of research , which will lay the foundation for you to identify potential research gaps. You can then start drawing up a shortlist of ideas and evaluating them as candidate topics . But remember, make sure you’re looking at recent articles – there’s no use going down a rabbit hole only to find that someone’s already filled the gap 🙂

Let’s Recap

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this post. Here are the key takeaways:

• A research gap is an unanswered question or unresolved problem in a field, which reflects a lack of existing research in that space.
• The four most common types of research gaps are the classic literature gap, the disagreement gap, the contextual gap and the methodological gap. 
• To find potential research gaps, start by reviewing recent journal articles in your area of interest, paying particular attention to the FRIN section .

If you’re keen to learn more about research gaps and research topic ideation in general, be sure to check out the rest of the Grad Coach Blog . Alternatively, if you’re looking for 1-on-1 support with your dissertation, thesis or research project, be sure to check out our private coaching service .

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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30 Comments

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Q&A: How – and why – we’re changing the way we study tech adoption

What share of U.S. adults have high-speed internet at home ? Own a smartphone? Use social media ?

Pew Research Center has long studied tech adoption by interviewing Americans over the phone. But starting with the publications released today, we’ll be reporting on these topics using our National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) instead. The biggest difference: NPORS participants are invited by postal mail and can respond to the survey via a paper questionnaire or online, rather than by phone.

To explain the thinking behind this change and its implications for our future work, here’s a conversation with Managing Director of Internet and Technology Research Monica Anderson and Research Associate Colleen McClain. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Pew Research Center has been tracking tech adoption in the United States for decades. Why is this area of study so important?

Anderson: We see this research as foundational to understanding the broader impact that the internet, mobile technology and social media have on our society.

Americans have an array of digital tools that help them with everything from getting news to shopping to finding jobs. Studying how people are going online, which devices they own and which social media sites they use is crucial for understanding how they experience the world around them.

This research also anchors our ongoing work on the digital divide : the gap between those who have access to certain technologies and those who don’t. It shows us where demographic differences exist, if they’ve changed over time, and how factors like age, race and income may contribute.

Our surveys are an important reminder that some technologies, like high-speed internet, remain out of reach for some Americans, particularly those who are less affluent. In fact, our latest survey shows that about four-in-ten Americans living in lower-income households do not subscribe to home broadband.

Why is your team making the switch from phone surveys to the National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS)?

McClain: The internet hasn’t just transformed Americans’ everyday lives – it’s also transformed the way researchers study its impact. The changes we’ve made this year set us up to continue studying tech adoption long into the future.

We began tracking Americans’ tech use back in 2000. At that point, about half of Americans were online, and just 1% had broadband at home. Like much of the survey research world, we relied on telephone polling for these studies, and this approach served us well for decades.

But in more recent years, the share of people who respond to phone polls has plummeted , and these types of polls have become more costly. At the same time, online surveys have become more popular and pollsters’ methods have become more diverse . This transformation in polling is reflected in our online American Trends Panel , which works well for the vast majority of the Center’s U.S. survey work.

But there’s a caveat: Online-only surveys aren’t always the best approach when it comes to measuring certain types of data points. That includes measuring how many people don’t use technology in the first place.

Enter the National Public Opinion Reference Survey, which the Center launched in 2020 to meet these kinds of challenges. By giving people the choice to take our survey on paper or online, it is especially well-suited for hearing from Americans who don’t use the internet, aren’t comfortable with technology or just don’t want to respond online. That makes it a good fit for studying the digital divide. And NPORS achieves a higher response rate than phone polls .  

Shifting our tech adoption studies to NPORS ensures we’re keeping up with the latest advances in the Center’s methods toolkit, with quality at the forefront of this important work.

The internet hasn’t just transformed Americans’ everyday lives – it’s also transformed the way researchers study its impact. The changes we’ve made this year set us up to continue studying tech adoption long into the future. Colleen McClain

Are the old and new approaches comparable?

McClain: We took several steps to make our NPORS findings as comparable as possible with our earlier phone surveys. We knew that it can be tricky, and sometimes impossible, to directly compare the results of surveys that use different modes – that is, methods of interviewing. How a survey is conducted can affect how people answer questions and who responds in the first place. These are known as “mode effects.”

To try to minimize the impact of this change, we started by doing what we do best: gathering data.

Around the same time that we fielded our phone polls about tech adoption in 2019 and 2021, we also fielded some surveys using alternate approaches. We didn’t want to change the mode right away, but rather understand how any changes in our approach might affect the data we were collecting about how Americans use technology.

These test runs helped narrow our options and tweak the NPORS design. Using the 2019 and 2021 phone data we collected as a comparison point, we worked over the next few years to make the respondent experience as similar as possible across modes.

What does your new approach mean for your ability to talk about changes over time?

McClain: We carefully considered the potential for mode effects as we decided how to talk about the changes we saw in our findings this year. Even with all the work we did to make the approaches as comparable as possible, we wanted to be cautious.

For instance, we paid close attention to the size of any changes we observed. In some cases, the figures were fairly similar between 2021 and 2023, and even without the mode shift, we wouldn’t make too much of them.

We gave a thorough look at more striking differences. For example, 21% of Americans said they used TikTok in our 2021 phone survey, and that’s risen to 33% now in our paper/online survey. Going back to our test runs from earlier years helped us conclude it’s unlikely this change was all due to mode. We believe it also reflects real change over time.

While the mode shift makes it trickier than usual to talk about trends, we believe the change in approach is a net positive for the quality of our work. NPORS sets us up well for the future.

How are you communicating this mode shift in your published work?

McClain: It’s important to us that readers can quickly and easily understand the shift and when it took place.

In some cases, we’ll be displaying the findings from our paper/online survey side by side with the data points from prior phone surveys. Trend charts in our reports signal the mode shift with a dotted line to draw attention to the change in approach. In our fact sheets , a vertical line conveys the same thing. In both cases, we also provide information in the footnotes below the chart itself.

In other places in our publications, we’re taking an even more cautious approach and focusing on the new data rather than on trends.

Did you have to change the way you asked survey questions?

McClain: Writing questions that keep up with the ever-changing nature of technology is always a challenge, and the mode shift complicated this further. For example, our previous phone surveys were conducted by interviewers, but taking surveys online or on paper doesn’t involve talking to someone. We needed to adapt our questions to keep the experience as consistent as possible on the new paper and online surveys.

Take who subscribes to home broadband, for example. Knowing we wouldn’t have an interviewer to probe and confirm someone’s response in the new modes, we tested out different options in advance to help us ensure we were collecting quality data.

In this case, we gave people a chance to say they were “not sure” or to write in a different type of internet connection, if the ones we offered didn’t quite fit their situation. We also updated the examples of internet connections in the question to be consistent with evolving technology.

Which findings from your latest survey stand out to you?

Anderson: There are several exciting things in our latest work, but two findings related to social media really stand out.

The first is the rise of TikTok. A third of U.S. adults – including about six-in-ten adults under 30 – use this video-based platform. These figures have significantly jumped since we last asked these questions in 2021. And separate surveys from the Center have found that TikTok is increasingly becoming a news source for Americans , especially young adults.

The second is how dominant Facebook remains. While its use has sharply declined among teens in the U.S. , most adults – about two-thirds – say they use the site. And this share has remained relatively stable over the past decade or so. YouTube is the only platform we asked about in our current survey that is more widely used than Facebook.

These findings reinforce why consistently tracking the use of technology, especially specific sites and apps, is so important. The online landscape can evolve quickly. As researchers who study these platforms, a forward-looking mindset is key. We’ll continue looking for new and emerging platforms while tracking longer-standing sites to see how use changes – or doesn’t – over time.

To learn more about the National Public Opinion Reference Survey, read our NPORS fact sheet . For more on Americans’ use of technology, read our new reports:

• Americans’ Use of Mobile Technology and Home Broadband
• Americans’ Social Media Use
• Internet & Technology
• Research Explainers
• Survey Methods
• Technology Adoption

Anna Jackson is an editorial assistant at Pew Research Center

6 facts about Americans and TikTok

Many americans think generative ai programs should credit the sources they rely on, americans’ use of chatgpt is ticking up, but few trust its election information, whatsapp and facebook dominate the social media landscape in middle-income nations, 5 facts about americans and sports, most popular.

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Home » Research Gap – Types, Examples and How to Identify

Research Gap – Types, Examples and How to Identify

Table of Contents

Research Gap

Definition:

Research gap refers to an area or topic within a field of study that has not yet been extensively researched or is yet to be explored. It is a question, problem or issue that has not been addressed or resolved by previous research.

How to Identify Research Gap

Identifying a research gap is an essential step in conducting research that adds value and contributes to the existing body of knowledge. Research gap requires critical thinking, creativity, and a thorough understanding of the existing literature . It is an iterative process that may require revisiting and refining your research questions and ideas multiple times.

Here are some steps that can help you identify a research gap:

• Review existing literature: Conduct a thorough review of the existing literature in your research area. This will help you identify what has already been studied and what gaps still exist.
• Identify a research problem: Identify a specific research problem or question that you want to address.
• Analyze existing research: Analyze the existing research related to your research problem. This will help you identify areas that have not been studied, inconsistencies in the findings, or limitations of the previous research.
• Brainstorm potential research ideas : Based on your analysis, brainstorm potential research ideas that address the identified gaps.
• Consult with experts: Consult with experts in your research area to get their opinions on potential research ideas and to identify any additional gaps that you may have missed.
• Refine research questions: Refine your research questions and hypotheses based on the identified gaps and potential research ideas.
• Develop a research proposal: Develop a research proposal that outlines your research questions, objectives, and methods to address the identified research gap.

Types of Research Gap

There are different types of research gaps that can be identified, and each type is associated with a specific situation or problem. Here are the main types of research gaps and their explanations:

Theoretical Gap

This type of research gap refers to a lack of theoretical understanding or knowledge in a particular area. It can occur when there is a discrepancy between existing theories and empirical evidence or when there is no theory that can explain a particular phenomenon. Identifying theoretical gaps can lead to the development of new theories or the refinement of existing ones.

Empirical Gap

An empirical gap occurs when there is a lack of empirical evidence or data in a particular area. It can happen when there is a lack of research on a specific topic or when existing research is inadequate or inconclusive. Identifying empirical gaps can lead to the development of new research studies to collect data or the refinement of existing research methods to improve the quality of data collected.

Methodological Gap

This type of research gap refers to a lack of appropriate research methods or techniques to answer a research question. It can occur when existing methods are inadequate, outdated, or inappropriate for the research question. Identifying methodological gaps can lead to the development of new research methods or the modification of existing ones to better address the research question.

Practical Gap

A practical gap occurs when there is a lack of practical applications or implementation of research findings. It can occur when research findings are not implemented due to financial, political, or social constraints. Identifying practical gaps can lead to the development of strategies for the effective implementation of research findings in practice.

Knowledge Gap

This type of research gap occurs when there is a lack of knowledge or information on a particular topic. It can happen when a new area of research is emerging, or when research is conducted in a different context or population. Identifying knowledge gaps can lead to the development of new research studies or the extension of existing research to fill the gap.

Examples of Research Gap

Here are some examples of research gaps that researchers might identify:

• Theoretical Gap Example : In the field of psychology, there might be a theoretical gap related to the lack of understanding of the relationship between social media use and mental health. Although there is existing research on the topic, there might be a lack of consensus on the mechanisms that link social media use to mental health outcomes.
• Empirical Gap Example : In the field of environmental science, there might be an empirical gap related to the lack of data on the long-term effects of climate change on biodiversity in specific regions. Although there might be some studies on the topic, there might be a lack of data on the long-term effects of climate change on specific species or ecosystems.
• Methodological Gap Example : In the field of education, there might be a methodological gap related to the lack of appropriate research methods to assess the impact of online learning on student outcomes. Although there might be some studies on the topic, existing research methods might not be appropriate to assess the complex relationships between online learning and student outcomes.
• Practical Gap Example: In the field of healthcare, there might be a practical gap related to the lack of effective strategies to implement evidence-based practices in clinical settings. Although there might be existing research on the effectiveness of certain practices, they might not be implemented in practice due to various barriers, such as financial constraints or lack of resources.
• Knowledge Gap Example: In the field of anthropology, there might be a knowledge gap related to the lack of understanding of the cultural practices of indigenous communities in certain regions. Although there might be some research on the topic, there might be a lack of knowledge about specific cultural practices or beliefs that are unique to those communities.

Examples of Research Gap In Literature Review, Thesis, and Research Paper might be:

• Literature review : A literature review on the topic of machine learning and healthcare might identify a research gap in the lack of studies that investigate the use of machine learning for early detection of rare diseases.
• Thesis : A thesis on the topic of cybersecurity might identify a research gap in the lack of studies that investigate the effectiveness of artificial intelligence in detecting and preventing cyber attacks.
• Research paper : A research paper on the topic of natural language processing might identify a research gap in the lack of studies that investigate the use of natural language processing techniques for sentiment analysis in non-English languages.

How to Write Research Gap

By following these steps, you can effectively write about research gaps in your paper and clearly articulate the contribution that your study will make to the existing body of knowledge.

Here are some steps to follow when writing about research gaps in your paper:

• Identify the research question : Before writing about research gaps, you need to identify your research question or problem. This will help you to understand the scope of your research and identify areas where additional research is needed.
• Review the literature: Conduct a thorough review of the literature related to your research question. This will help you to identify the current state of knowledge in the field and the gaps that exist.
• Identify the research gap: Based on your review of the literature, identify the specific research gap that your study will address. This could be a theoretical, empirical, methodological, practical, or knowledge gap.
• Provide evidence: Provide evidence to support your claim that the research gap exists. This could include a summary of the existing literature, a discussion of the limitations of previous studies, or an analysis of the current state of knowledge in the field.
• Explain the importance: Explain why it is important to fill the research gap. This could include a discussion of the potential implications of filling the gap, the significance of the research for the field, or the potential benefits to society.
• State your research objectives: State your research objectives, which should be aligned with the research gap you have identified. This will help you to clearly articulate the purpose of your study and how it will address the research gap.

Importance of Research Gap

The importance of research gaps can be summarized as follows:

• Advancing knowledge: Identifying research gaps is crucial for advancing knowledge in a particular field. By identifying areas where additional research is needed, researchers can fill gaps in the existing body of knowledge and contribute to the development of new theories and practices.
• Guiding research: Research gaps can guide researchers in designing studies that fill those gaps. By identifying research gaps, researchers can develop research questions and objectives that are aligned with the needs of the field and contribute to the development of new knowledge.
• Enhancing research quality: By identifying research gaps, researchers can avoid duplicating previous research and instead focus on developing innovative research that fills gaps in the existing body of knowledge. This can lead to more impactful research and higher-quality research outputs.
• Informing policy and practice: Research gaps can inform policy and practice by highlighting areas where additional research is needed to inform decision-making. By filling research gaps, researchers can provide evidence-based recommendations that have the potential to improve policy and practice in a particular field.

Applications of Research Gap

Here are some potential applications of research gap:

• Informing research priorities: Research gaps can help guide research funding agencies and researchers to prioritize research areas that require more attention and resources.
• Identifying practical implications: Identifying gaps in knowledge can help identify practical applications of research that are still unexplored or underdeveloped.
• Stimulating innovation: Research gaps can encourage innovation and the development of new approaches or methodologies to address unexplored areas.
• Improving policy-making: Research gaps can inform policy-making decisions by highlighting areas where more research is needed to make informed policy decisions.
• Enhancing academic discourse: Research gaps can lead to new and constructive debates and discussions within academic communities, leading to more robust and comprehensive research.

Advantages of Research Gap

Here are some of the advantages of research gap:

• Identifies new research opportunities: Identifying research gaps can help researchers identify areas that require further exploration, which can lead to new research opportunities.
• Improves the quality of research: By identifying gaps in current research, researchers can focus their efforts on addressing unanswered questions, which can improve the overall quality of research.
• Enhances the relevance of research: Research that addresses existing gaps can have significant implications for the development of theories, policies, and practices, and can therefore increase the relevance and impact of research.
• Helps avoid duplication of effort: Identifying existing research can help researchers avoid duplicating efforts, saving time and resources.
• Helps to refine research questions: Research gaps can help researchers refine their research questions, making them more focused and relevant to the needs of the field.
• Promotes collaboration: By identifying areas of research that require further investigation, researchers can collaborate with others to conduct research that addresses these gaps, which can lead to more comprehensive and impactful research outcomes.

Disadvantages of Research Gap

While research gaps can be advantageous, there are also some potential disadvantages that should be considered:

• Difficulty in identifying gaps: Identifying gaps in existing research can be challenging, particularly in fields where there is a large volume of research or where research findings are scattered across different disciplines.
• Lack of funding: Addressing research gaps may require significant resources, and researchers may struggle to secure funding for their work if it is perceived as too risky or uncertain.
• Time-consuming: Conducting research to address gaps can be time-consuming, particularly if the research involves collecting new data or developing new methods.
• Risk of oversimplification: Addressing research gaps may require researchers to simplify complex problems, which can lead to oversimplification and a failure to capture the complexity of the issues.
• Bias : Identifying research gaps can be influenced by researchers’ personal biases or perspectives, which can lead to a skewed understanding of the field.
• Potential for disagreement: Identifying research gaps can be subjective, and different researchers may have different views on what constitutes a gap in the field, leading to disagreements and debate.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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EXPERT INSIGHTS

Apr-19-2024

The 2024 social media demographics guide

Khoros Staff

Editor's Note: This post was originally created in 2018 and has since been updated to reflect the latest data available.

According to Statista , 61.4% of the world’s population — a whopping 4.95 billion people — use social media.

That’s a lot of social media demographic research to sort through when you want to zero in on understanding audience characteristics of specific platforms — and we know the last thing a social media marketer has is time to spare. That’s why we’ve done all the heavy lifting for you.

Our updated 2024 Social Media Demographics Guide surfaces the demographic data you need to inform a smart strategy, like age, gender, and income — plus device usage and site behavior in one easy-to-read infographic.

View the 2024 Social Media Demographics Guide to discover more about what makes the audiences of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok unique or bookmark it now to reference anytime.

General social media demographics

Before we jump into platform-specific demographics, let’s cover some high-level insights about social media in general.

Social media usage over time

There are currently 4.95 billion social media users and 5.3 billion total internet users, meaning 93.4% of people who use the internet also use social media. What’s more astounding is the rate that social media usage has grown and is expected to continue growing. The number of social media users has grown by 79.1% since 2017 , when there were only 2.73 billion social media users. By the end of 2024, Statista predicts there will be 5.17 billion social media users which would be 5.7% growth compared to 2023. By 2027, the number of social media users is expected to reach 5.85 billion, with an annual growth rate between 3.7-5.7% each year until then.

(Source: Statista )

Social media usage by age

According to new data from eMarketer , most U.S. social media users are between the ages of 27 and 42 and fall under the Millennial generation. With 68.5 million Millennials using social media in the U.S., this group accounts for nearly one-third (30.3%) of all U.S. social media users. The next closest age group by usage is Gen Z (ages 11-26), with 56.4 million social media users, followed by Gen X (ages 43-58), with 51.8 million users. Baby Boomers between the ages of 59 and 77 are the age group with the lowest social media usage, with only 36.9 million users.

(Source: Oberlo )

Although Millennials are the age group that uses social media the most, eMarketer predicts their usage will remain relatively flat through 2027, while the number of Gen Z users is expected to grow significantly. The data also suggests that the number of Gen X and Baby Boomers who use social media will decrease over time.

(Source: eMarketer )

Daily time on social media

On average, people spend 2 hours and 24 minutes on social media each day. Combined, it’s estimated that users will have spent 4 trillion hours on social media in 2023. Not all social media platforms are equally engaging, as Statista found people spent more time on TikTok than anywhere else. On average, social media users in the U.S. spent 53.8 minutes on TikTok, with the next closest being YouTube at 48.7 minutes per day. After that, there was a steep drop off to 34.1 minutes for Twitter/X and other platforms before reaching last place, Reddit at only 24.1 minutes per day.

Despite TikTok having the most time on average per day, DataReportal found that YouTube has the highest average session duration at 7 minutes and 29 seconds. This could be because users are watching longer-form content on YouTube compared to the shorter content that TikTok is known for.

(Source: DataReportal via Exploding Topics )

Facebook demographics

Given that Facebook is the number one platform for adults , understanding its audience is crucial for devising the social media strategy for your business.

2024 Facebook demographics data

Active monthly users

Facebook has 3.03 billion active monthly users

Active daily users

Facebook has 2.085 billion daily active users

4.6% of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 13-17

22.6% of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 18-24

29.4% of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 25-34

19.1% of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 35-44

11.4% of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 45-54

7.2% of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 55-64

5.7% of Facebook’s users are 65+

43.7% of Facebook users are female

56.3% of Facebook users are male

On average, U.S. Facebook users spend 30.9 minutes a day on the platform

98.5% of users access Facebook via mobile devices

81.8% of users access Facebook via mobile devices only

16.7% of users access Facebook via mobile devices and computers

1.5% of users access Facebook via laptop or desktop only

Businesses and shopping

19% of U.S. users search for products on Facebook before shopping

The global advertising audience of Facebook is 2.249 billion

90% of social media marketers use Facebook to promote their business.

Most followed accounts

Cristiano Ronaldo: 163 million followers

Mr. Bean: 136 million followers

Shakira: 122 million followers

Instagram demographics

Instagram is the Meta-owned photo and video sharing app that continues to grow its user base, with 2 billion people using Instagram every month (up from 800 million in 2018).

2024 Instagram demographics data

Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users

Instagram has 500 million daily active users

8% of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 13-17

30.8% of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 18-24

30.3% of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 25-34

15.7% of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 35-44

8.4% of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 45-54

4.3% of Instagram’s users are between the ages of 55-64

2.6% of Instagram’s users are 65+

48.2% of Instagram users are female

51.8% of Instagram users are male

On average, U.S. Instagram users spend 33.1 minutes per day on the platform

90% of Instagram users follow a business

2 out of 3 people say Instagram enables interaction with brands

83% of Instagram users say they discover new products and services on Instagram

Cristiano Ronaldo: 613 million followers

Lionel Messi: 494 million followers

Selena Gomez: 429 million followers

Pinterest demographics

Pinterest is a visual search engine that pioneered online shopping through social media. On Pinterest, people are 90% more likely to say they’re ‘always shopping’ than on other platforms. Additionally, shoppers on Pinterest spend 80% more monthly than on other platforms. Why? Pinterest claims it’s because they take the best of shopping offline and bring it online, with strong visual connections between products and what users can do with those products. There’s a lot marketers can learn from the platform, but it all starts with gaining a better understanding of the audience.

2024 Pinterest demographics data

Pinterest has 465 million monthly active users

27% of Pinterest’s users are between the ages of 18-24

30.9% of Pinterest’s users are between the ages of 25-34

15.8% of Pinterest’s users are between the ages of 35-44

10.4% of Pinterest’s users are between the ages of 45-54

8.7% of Pinterest’s users are between the ages of 55-64

4.3% of Pinterest’s users are 65+

Pinterest is one of the most gendered social media channels, which may inform which brands target this audience and how they do so.

76.2% of Pinterest users are female

17.2% of Pinterest users are male

6.6% of Pinterest users did not specify their gender

On average, U.S. Pinterest users spend 14.2 minutes per day on the platform

85% of users access Pinterest via the mobile app

Business and Shopping

More than 25% of time spent on Pinterest is spent shopping

85% of users have bought something based on pins from brands

X (formerly Twitter) demographics

X (formerly known as Twitter) allows users to reach practically any person or business simply by tagging them in a Tweet. That’s why Twitter is such a popular platform for customer service — allowing users to air complaints in real time and for customer service teams to react quickly.

2024 X demographics data

X has 666 million monthly active users

X has 245 million monetizable daily active users

28.35% of X’s users are between the ages of 18-24

29.63% of X’s users are between the ages of 25-34

17.96% of X’s users are between the ages of 35-44

11.63% of X’s users are between the ages of 45-54

7.61% of X’s users are between the ages of 55-64

4.83% of X’s users are 65+

Like Pinterest, X is highly gendered, although this channel skews the other direction.

23.28% of X users are female

66.72% of X users are male

On average, U.S. X users spend 34.1 minutes per day on the platform

Elon Musk: 156.9 million followers

Barack Obama: 132 million followers

Justin Bieber: 111.7 million followers

Business and shopping

82% of B2B content marketers use X

79% of X users follow brands on the platform

X drives 40% higher ROI than other social media channels

LinkedIn demographics

LinkedIn is a professional networking site and the top social media platform for B2B marketing . As a result of its focus on business, it’s a great way for companies to drive leads, share news, and keep up with others in their industry.

2024 LinkedIn demographics data

LinkedIn has 310 million monthly active users

16.2% of LinkedIn’s users login to the platform daily

21.7% of LinkedIn’s users are between the ages of 18-24

60% of LinkedIn’s users are between the ages of 25-34

15.4% of LinkedIn’s users are between the ages of 35-54

2.9% of LinkedIn’s users are 55+

43.7% of LinkedIn users are female

56.3% of LinkedIn users are male

On average, LinkedIn users spend just over 7 minutes per day on the platform

58.5% of LinkedIn traffic is through desktop devices

41.5% of LinkedIn traffic is through mobile devices

More than 61 million companies are on LinkedIn

96% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for organic social marketing

Marketers see up to 2x higher conversion rates on LinkedIn compared to other social media platforms

Most Followed Accounts

Bill Gates: 34.9 million followers

Richard Branson: 18.7 million followers

Jeff Weiner: 10.4 million followers

YouTube demographics

YouTube is as utilitarian (think “how to change a spare tire”) as it is entertaining (think funny pet videos). With 2.5 billion monthly active users, YouTube offers expansive opportunities for businesses to share and market information.

2024 YouTube demographics data

YouTube has 2.491 billion monthly active users

YouTube has 122 million daily active users

15.5% of YouTube users are between the ages of 18-24

21.3% of YouTube users are between the ages of 25-34

17.5% of YouTube users are between the ages of 35-44

12.5% of YouTube users are between the ages of 45-54

9.2% of YouTube users are between the ages of 55-64

9.2% of YouTube users are between the ages of 65+

45.6% of YouTube users are female

54.4% of YouTube users are male

On average, U.S. YouTube users spend 48.7 minutes per day on the platform

70% of viewers have made a purchase after seeing a brand on YouTube

54% of marketers use YouTube

T-Series: 254 million subscribers

MrBeast: 217 million subscribers

Cocomelon: 168 million subscribers

Snapchat Demographics

Snapchat has become popular among teens and young adults under 35, making it a great platform for marketers to reach Gen Z. Interestingly, Gen Z spends less time looking at content on Snapchat but shows higher advertising recall than other generations. After watching two seconds or less of an advertiser video, 59% of Gen Z was able to recall it. Outside of Gen Z Snapchat statistics, here’s some other information about the platform’s demographics.

2024 Snapchat demographics data

Snapchat has 750 million monthly active users

Snapchat has 406 million daily active users

19.7% of Snapchat users are between the ages of 13-17

38.1% of Snapchat users are between the ages of 18-24

23.4% of Snapchat users are between the ages of 25-34

14% of Snapchat users are between the ages of 35-49

3.8% of Snapchat users are 50+

51% of Snapchat users are female

48.2% of Snapchat users are male

On average, U.S. Snapchat users spend 30 minutes per day on the platform

Snapchat users hold $4.4 trillion in global spending power

Snapchat users are 2x more likely to share their purchases with their network

Kylie Jenner: 37 million followers

Kim Kardashian: 27.2 million followers

Khloe Kardashian: 15 million followers

TikTok demographics

TikTok’s explosive growth in recent years has marked its place as a major player in the social media world (even though it doesn’t call itself a social media platform ). Like Snapchat, younger audiences dominate TikTok’s user base with 37.3% of users being between 18-24. It’s also a great platform for brands, with spending reaching 2.5 billion globally. Here’s some other information about TikTok’s user demographics to bear in mind when creating marketing strategies.

2024 TikTok demographics data

TikTok has 1.218 billion monthly active users

TikTok has 45.1 million daily active users

37.3% of TikTok users are between the ages of 18-24

32.9% of TikTok users are between the ages of 25-34

15.7% of TikTok users are between the ages of 35-44

8.3% of TikTok users are between the ages of 45-54

5.8% of TikTok users are 55+

49.2% of TikTok users are female

50.8% of TikTok users are male

On average, U.S. TikTok users spend 53.8 minutes per day on the platform

Khabane lame: 162 million followers

Charli D’Amelio: 151.6 million followers

Bella Poarch: 93.6 million followers

Consumer spending on TikTok has surpassed $2.5 billion globally

58.2% of TikTok users said they used the platform for shopping inspiration

49% of TikTok users say the platform helped them make purchasing decisions

55% of TikTok users made a purchase after seeing a brand or product on the platform

Which social media networks should your business prioritize?

Of course, knowing who’s using each social media platform is one thing, and engaging those people is a completely different thing. If your business needs help organizing and managing your social media activity, request a demo of our social media management software to see how you can understand your audience and seamlessly manage efforts across social media channels.

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