Research design is a comprehensive plan for data collection in an empirical research
project. It is a “blueprint” for empirical research aimed at answering specific research
questions or testing specific hypotheses, and must specify at least three processes: (1) the data
collection process, (2) the instrument development process, and (3) the sampling process. The
instrument development and sampling processes are described in next two chapters, and the
data collection process (which is often loosely called “research design”) is introduced in this
chapter and is described in further detail in Chapters 9-12.