So sánh phương pháp

	Nghiên cứu mô tả	Nghiên cứu định lượng thăm dò	Nghiên cứu Dài hạn
Lĩnh vực	Thiết kế nghiên cứu	Thiết kế nghiên cứu	Thiết kế nghiên cứu
Họ	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Năm ra đời	Late 19th century; formalized in social/behavioral sciences ~1960s–1980s	Mid-20th century (codified in social research methods texts c. 1950s–1970s)	Late 19th–early 20th century; methodologically codified through the 20th century
Người khởi xướng	Francis Galton, Karl Pearson (early empirical tradition); formalized in social science by Fred Kerlinger	Earl Babbie; John Creswell (systematic codification in social science methods)	No single originator; foundational methodological treatments by Stuart Menard and Judith Singer & John Willett
Loại	Non-experimental quantitative research design	Non-experimental quantitative research design	Quantitative (or mixed) observational research design
Công trình gốc	Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (4th ed.). Sage. ISBN: 978-1452226101	Babbie, E. (2021). The Practice of Social Research (15th ed.). Cengage Learning. ISBN: 978-0357360767	Menard, S. (2002). Longitudinal Research (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. ISBN: 978-0761922841
Tên gọi khác	descriptive study, descriptive survey design, observational descriptive research, non-experimental descriptive research	quantitative exploratory design, exploratory survey research, initial quantitative investigation, preliminary quantitative study	longitudinal study, longitudinal design, prospective longitudinal study, repeated-measures observational study
Liên quan	3	4	4
Tóm tắt	Descriptive research is a non-experimental quantitative design that systematically documents the characteristics, frequencies, or distributions of variables in a defined population at a given point in time. It answers 'what is' questions — who, what, when, where, and how much — without manipulating variables or drawing causal conclusions. It is one of the most widely used research designs across the social, behavioral, health, and education sciences.	Exploratory quantitative research is a non-experimental design used when a phenomenon is insufficiently understood to support formal hypothesis testing. The researcher collects numerical data — typically through surveys, structured observation, or existing records — to describe distributions, detect patterns, and generate hypotheses that more targeted confirmatory studies can subsequently test. It occupies the first stage of a cumulative quantitative research programme.	Longitudinal research is an observational design in which the same participants, groups, or units are measured repeatedly over an extended period. Rather than capturing a single snapshot, it tracks change, stability, and temporal sequencing of variables — making it the primary non-experimental strategy for studying development, growth, decline, and the unfolding of causal processes across time.