This episode takes a look at what you need to think about to develop your research design for a higher degree thesis. We begin by thinking of a topic we want to research. There a number of steps we follow that include establishing a research aim and specific research questions (RQ’s). The RQ’s emerge from a critical review of relevant literature. In this step we are drawing boundaries around the topic and establishing the central focus for the study. It is often referred to as framing the research study. Once we have done this we have to translate the RQ’s into specific research objectives. Many research methods texts offer guidance on this. Following on to our next step we need to develop the empirical research design. This involves adopting a particular approach for the study informed by our ontological position e.g. are you an outsider or an insider? Answering this simple question might establish your own preference. The outsider often adopts a scientific approach – an expert examing the research subject objectively. The insider may see themselves as part of the research process – anthropologists, ethnographers and constructivists often follow this approach. The specific methods you choose and the particular tools and techniques of analysis will be different depending on your choices here. So too will the data you choose to use be different. As an example in what some call a variance study you examine and evaluate data to confirm or reject extant theoretical positions (hypotheses tests). Research questions are often descriptive, relational or causal. Data are quantitative. An alternative approach to this positivist ontological position might be constructivism where the starting point is to look at particular groups of people from within their own setting with the aim of generating theory or theoretical understanding as the knowledge contribution. These epistemological limits are established by the research design.