I have chosen the research question “Why are thereless women in the construction industry?”. I chose this question because it is a common issue in the industry.  The ability to understand the answer to thequestion may help me in developing a better method of recruiting women into theconstruction industry. The three research designs that can be used onthis paper would be qualitative, quantitative, and a mixed method of thetwo.  I would choose the qualitiveresearch design because it this design uses open ended questions and directobservations.  This would allow utilizationof a pattern from decade to decade of how the information was documented andreceived.  Qualitative design would allowme to bring my personal values and experiences to the paper.

  This design is better known for helpingsomeone understand the issue and explore why it is the topic of the paper.The Quantitative design would work for this researchquestion as well; however, it is used mainly to test a theory and the topic Ichose is factual and not theory.  Thisdesign would allow both the open-ended questions and the closed ended ones.  The quantitative design allows for theories andtests instead of personal values and concepts. Quantitative design would narrow my searches down to only experimentaland survey designs.

  This design I wouldfind more helpful if I were to ask a question such as “what makes a bananayellow?”.The mixed method would be a design that would blend bothquantitative and qualitative together. This method allows for the use of both quantitative and qualitative datato form the strategy of the research.  Itwill allow the use of data at different stages and allow the subject to reflecton time as part of the research.  Thismethod should be used when the other two are not able to meet the need withinthe perimeters of the research.

In conclusion, all three of the designs could be used in aresearch paper.  The design of the paperwould be the preference of the writer and the research question.  The author would have to determine how theywanted to present the information gathered and how what they would like thereader to understand about the report. The design is a preference unless it is stated by the professor that acertain design be used and that may change the research question all together.