Your study
On this landing page we consider the points of departure for your study—your aims and prior knowledge that you base your study design on. In a well-designed study, all elements of your research—theory, measurement, and analysis are carefully aligned to suit your aims.
Your study begins with defining your research question and goals, and considering the state of your knowledge about the constructs and processes you are interested in. It can be helpful to make the latter explicit by forming a theory in more or less detail, such that it is easier for you and others to reflect on the knowledge and assumptions that will inform how you measure and analyze the process. Sometimes, your research goal may even be to build or evaluate such a theory. In any case, your goals and ideas about your process of interest will largely determine your study design and analyses.
Based on these goals and ideas, you will select and define the constructs you want to measure, the [temporal lens] that is of interest for your study (i.e., what timescale(s) you will focus on), and the population you want to focus on (i.e., the units or cases you wish to study). This in turn will inform how you measure your constructs, how you structure data collection, and analyze your results. For example, the way you conceptualize a psychological process influences whether you measure a single person or multiple individuals, how frequently you collect data, and which analyses are appropriate for capturing the features of interest. A strong study design ensures that these components reinforce rather than contradict each other.
Designing your study is not a set of isolated methodological choices about measurement and analyses, but is instead about coherence. Your research question sets the scope, your theory defines the constructs and expected relationships, and your measurement and analytical choices determine how well you can capture and test those relationships. Each of these elements informs the others, shaping both what you can learn from your study and the insights it can provide into the underlying processes.
Below, we have specified key topics to consider with respect to the outset of your study.
Themes
Research question and goals
The objectives you aim to achieve with your study.
Constructs
The variables and processes you focus on, and how you define them.
Temporal lens
The timescale(s) you will focus on.
Population
The cases of study (e.g., groups, individuals) you will focus on.