CHARACTERISTICS OF DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH Descriptive research has the following characteristics: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Descriptive research ascertains prevailing conditions of facts in a group or case under study. It gives either a qualitative or quantitative, or both, description of the general characteristics of the group or case under study. What caused the prevailing conditions is not emphasized. Study of conditions at different periods of time may be made and the change or progress that took place between the periods may be noted or evaluated for any value. Comparison of the characteristics of two groups or cases may be made to determine their similarities and differences. The variables or conditions studied in descriptive research are not usually controlled. Descriptive studies, except in case studies, are generally cross-sectional, that is, it studies the different section belonging to the same group. Studies on prevailing conditions may or can be repeated for purposes of verification and comparison.
VALUE, IMPORTANCE, AND ADVANTAGES OF DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH Among the value, importance, and advantages of descriptive method of research are the following: 1.
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Descriptive research contributes much to the formulation of principles and generalizations in behavioral sciences. This is especially true in casual-comparative and correlation studies. When several register the same findings on a certain subject, then a principle or generalization may be formed about the subject. Descriptive research contributes much to the establishment of standard norms of conduct, behavior, or performance. This is especially true in psychological testing, as for instance, norms in an intelligence test. Normative standards are based on what are prevalent. Descriptive research reveals problems or abnormal conditions so that remedial measures may be instituted. It reveals to us what we do not want, what we want, and how to acquire what we want. Descriptive research makes possible the prediction of the future on the basis of findings on prevailing conditions, correlations. For instance, the winning candidate in an election may be predicted on the basis of survey. Descriptive research gives a better and deeper understanding of a phenomenon on the basis of an indepth study of the phenomenon. Descriptive research provides a basis for decision-making. Business managers often base their decisions upon business researches. Government policy makers usually rely upon descriptive investigations for making the needed policies. In education, the curriculum has been constructed based upon descriptive researches in child and adolescent psychology. Descriptive research helps fashion many of the tools with which we do research, such as, instruments for the measurement of many things, instruments that are employed in all types of quantitative research. These instruments include schedules, checklists, score cards, and rating scales. Descriptive studies contribute to the development of these data-gathering devices in two ways-first through creating directly a demand for them, and second through providing the normative, standardizing procedures by which the scales are evaluated and calibrated.
