Research Designs and Special Education Research: Different Designs Address Different Questions

Abstract

The aim of this article is to provide practitioners and other nonresearchers a basic understanding of research designs to aid in appropriately interpreting and applying research findings in special education. Research design provides the blueprint for conducting a research study and shapes what kind of knowledge is generated by the study. We discuss the purpose of, types of questions addressed by, and different types of studies associated with four research designs commonly used in special education—descriptive, relational, experimental, and qualitative designs, as well as briefly review an example study using each research design. The take‐away message of this article is that different research designs address different types of questions. Therefore, it is important that research consumers know what type of questions each research design addresses and interpret and apply research findings accordingly.