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Running head: RESEARCH DESIGN PAPER 1

Research Design Paper

Author’s Name:

Institutional Affiliation:

RESEARCH DESIGN PAPER 2

PART I: QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN

Research question and hypothesis

Research question: If railway stations are seen as non-places within society, points of transit

and nothing more, how will it be possible to make it a place fullness at the Central Station in

Breda?

Hypothesis: People who use railway transport save a lot of money and it is convenient for long

distances but consumes more time to reach the destination.

I believe my prediction railway transport will save money, carry bulk goods as well as a

convenient way of transportation. Considering products and distance to travel, then Central

Station in Breda remains the place to be. Railway transport has got neglected for quite a long

time but with the technology and modernization has led to much development in Central Station

in Breda.

Methodology

Time design: A cross-sectional study is the best way to gather data about my topic. All

records about Central Station in Breda statistics from the 1855-2018 are public record, which is

very easy to obtain. I don’t need to create a cohort study because I’m following events in the past

and not in the future. Cohort study will try to find an exposure (a variable that will cause a

result), but before I conduct my research, I have limited myself to only two exposures: distance

and time (Adler & Clark, 2015). These two exposures will and have always occurred in Central

Station in Breda development over time, so I don’t think I need to study future cases. With these

two exposures at hand, I could find patterns and what their relationship to the dependent variable

(place fullness). It will be an excellent methodology for my research because it would be

inexpensive and the data collection process won’t take long (all data is collected on readily

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available sources) (Adler & Clark, 2015). The disadvantages of a cross-sectional study should

be limited because the time-order can get established (night travels).

Method: I will be using available data. I will be using secondary data and existing data.

Secondary data is data collected by someone else, in this case, Alexander’s research, which has

been released to the public (Adler & Clark, 2015). Secondary data collection would align with

my study because of the unit of analysis in my and Alexander’s research places fullness at the

Central Station in Breda (Adler & Clark, 2015).

For testing reliability, since all of my data is secondary so that safety can be a big

problem. I can’t be entirely sure that the information I collect measures the distance between the

railway stations 100% accuracy. I can’t figure out the traveling plans of all People. Travelling

might not be the best measures to determine place fullness of Railway of Breda.

Sampling: My units of analysis are placed fullness of Railway Breda. My sampling frame

consists of people who use railway transport regularly and for long distances. I will choose my

sample by finding which people have that characteristic in my sampling frame- people who use

railway transport periodically and for long distances. The sampling technique I will use is

purposive sampling. As a researcher, I have determined people who use railway transport

regularly and for long distances are the right elements that will serve in my investigation. It is a

very convenient sample for me. It is suitable because I can access the data quickly.

Ethical Principles

All the information obtained is public record. I’m sure a lot of People don’t want their

mode of transport and goods transported to be listed in an academic journal (Alexander &

Hamilton, 2015). As a result, I should not register which People had used railway as a mode of

transport. If Alexander agrees to be involved with my study, I should check my interpretation of

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his work and see if I was right in my analysis. If Alexander thinks that I misinterpreted his

research, I should validate my literature review until Alexander is satisfied.

All the information obtained is public record, so this doesn’t apply to my work. I should

inform the participants that their answers will be kept anonymous and confidential.

My results could spark the particular interest of many people who use railway transport

regularly, and for long distances, I could receive a generous donation from one of these users of

Central Station in Breda:

For the public, I think that they should know the advantages and disadvantages of using

Central Station in Breda. It can place an unfair disadvantage Central Station in Breda especially

(Sando, 2014).

Data analysis:

Levels of Measurement

The three indicators of distance can be in the level of Ratio. The three categories: 0-999

miles, 1,000-1,999 miles, and 2000 extra miles are categories with a standard range from one

another. Notice that every possible number of miles is accounted for Thus, all the groups are

mutually exclusive (a component of ordinal levels of measurement). “Distance Travelled” carries

a ranked-order system from least to greatest; therefore, my data analysis has ordinal variables,

but it isn’t ordinal because, after my data collection, I’m going to calculate the mean of railway

transport compared to other means of transport. With ordinal data, you can’t calculate the mean.

“Distance Travelled” intends to establish numbers. Thus, all of my data is based on ratio data.

The mean has been designed to summarize both interval level and ratio level variables. My

results would fit in the ratio data category because the number ‘0’ indicates that a phenomenon

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never occurred. Like ordinal levels of data, ratio levels of data can have its groups be in a ranked

order. The order is ascending: 0-999 miles, 1,000-1,999 miles, and 2000 extra miles.

Quantitative analysis technique

I would use frequency distributions. Why am I using these: what can you learn from

them? Frequency distributions are involved with percentages. The word ‘frequency’ in research

terms means the number of times a phenomenon occurs. I would add up all the people that

experienced each event and railway transport. These percentages are a pretty good way of

showing a comparison between the ordinal groups, the distances traveled.

PART II: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN

Observation

I will visit Central Station in Breda. Thus, I will be watching how many people board the

train, which is very inexpensive and simple. By looking at borders, a person can’t see the effects

traveling have on a passenger. With that understanding, I could make theories of exactly how or

why the time of traveling affects railway transport. I would need to watch out for the reliability

of my observations and my ability to generalize.

Qualitative Interviewing

I would like to conduct a semi-structured interview with current and past management at

Central Station in Breda because through interviewing these people; I can hear their stories about

their experience day and night railway travelers (Alexander & Hamilton, 2015). Before the

interview begins, I shall create a list of topics that I want to cover and possibly develop questions

that are related to those topics at hand. If I make these lists ahead of time, I can re-word some of

the problems, where to place follow-up questions and tell if the topics at hand are appropriate for

my respondents. The semi-structured approach works best when the researcher knows in advance

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what type of questions will be in the interview, the interviewer can speak the same language as

the interviewee, and the interviewer can apply the same information to all interviewees (Adler &

Clark, 2015).

For sampling purposes, I would first need to get in contact with the Central Station in

Breda management. If that were not possible, I would use my networks (twitter, facebook,

Instagram and Link in) to recruit passengers for an interview. The thing that I would have to

watch out for is generalizability. If some of the travelers recruited and identified, there is a pretty

good chance I cannot apply the results from those travelers who rarely use Central Station in

Breda. Another thing I have to look out for is how I question, respond and act in the interview

because it could affect how an interviewee responds to a question. One way to avoid this is to

establish a rapport with the interviewees (Alexander & Hamilton, 2015). I can create a rapport

through matching. The theory behind pairing is that if the interviewer and interviewee are from

similar backgrounds, the chance of an affinity might increase (Adler & Clark, 2015). It would be

unethical to lie to an interviewee about my experience, so I should become familiarized with the

history of my interviewees to lower the differences between us. Interviewees who differ from

their interviewers on essential characteristics tend to give different answers and answer

dishonestly. If I establish a rapport, the interviewee might feel guilty in responding dishonestly.

Faulty memories and miscommunication are the most significant validity concerns in qualitative

interviewing (Adler & Clark, 2015). For dealing with miscommunication, I would have to say

my thoughts about the meanings about what my interviewees said. In response, my interviewees

can tell me if I understood what they were trying to convey.

The most significant ethical concern would be to get verbal consent from my

interviewees. Verbal consent would be better for me because I can explain the purpose of the

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study, offer confidentiality, and inform the interviewee that by answering questions, he or she is

giving away consent (Adler & Clark, 2015). With that mentioned, I would also make a written

consent form. The written consent form will explain more details: the identity of the researcher,

the status of the researcher’s sponsor, the purpose of the study, potential benefits, the potential

risks and who will have to access to the interview’s results. It makes the decision process clearer

for potential interviewees.

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References

Adler, S. E., & Clark, R. (2015). An Invitation To Social Research: How It's Done. Stamford:

Cengage Learning.

Alexander, M., & Hamilton, K. (2015). A ‘placeful’station? The community role in place is

making and improving hedonic value at local railway stations. Transportation Research

Part A: Policy and Practice, 82, 65-77

Sando, M. (2014, may 18). Modelling passenger flows in public transport facilities.

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