Descriptive design
Describe the phenomenon on its own terms
Descriptive design characterises what is present, how it is distributed or how it is experienced, without making causal explanation its primary goal. Quantitative description estimates frequencies or distributions, while qualitative description offers a contextual account relatively close to participants' language. Each requires a clear target, defensible sampling and explicit limits on coverage.
Use when the decision requires a reliable account of prevalence, characteristics, practices or experiences before explanation or intervention, and access permits appropriate coverage of the target setting.
Strengths
- Directly answers practical what and how-much questions
- Can provide usable accounts without overstating causal inference
Limitations
- Representativeness depends on sampling and response
- Descriptions can hide conceptual choices and measurement error
Know the boundary
A descriptive difference does not explain why it exists; qualitative description still involves interpretation.