A note on research strategy: for Housing Studies students

A note on research strategy: for Housing Studies students

 

Regarding the subject of Research Methods for Housing Studies, I have come across a term called "research strategy". I could not tell the differences between research strategy and research methodology. Could you highlight 4 main ideas of research strategy and then also suggest 2 main differences between research strategy and research methodology in the context of Housing Studies.

 

Meaning of research strategy

In Housing Studies, a research strategy is the overall plan for answering the research questions. It connects the research questions to the type of evidence required, the research setting, the participants or cases selected, and the procedures for collecting and analysing data. Saunders et al. describe it as the general plan for how the researcher will answer the research questions.

It is useful to distinguish it from the everyday meaning of “strategy” in housing policy. Here, research strategy does not mean a government’s housing strategy; it means the design or route adopted by the researcher.

Four main ideas

1. It provides the overall research plan

A research strategy establishes the logical route from the research problem to the conclusions. It helps the researcher decide:

• What evidence is needed.
• From whom or what the evidence will be collected.
• Whether the study should examine breadth, depth, change over time, or causal relationships.
• How the evidence will be used to answer each research question.

For example, a study asking, “What factors influence tenants’ satisfaction with public housing?” might adopt a survey strategy because it seeks evidence from a relatively large number of tenants.

2. It determines the broad design of the study

A strategy normally takes the form of a broad research design, such as:

• Survey or census.
• Case study.
• Experiment or quasi-experiment.
• Ethnography or field study.
• Participatory action research.
• Evaluation research.
• Mixed-methods research.
• Modelling, mapping, or spatial analysis.

Housing research commonly uses a wide range of designs, including surveys, experiments, modelling and mapping, textual studies, field studies, case studies, participatory research, mixed methods, intervention research, and evaluation research.

For example:

• A case study could examine the redevelopment of one public-housing estate.
• An evaluation strategy could assess whether a rent-subsidy programme improves housing affordability.
• A mapping strategy could investigate the geographical distribution of unaffordable housing.
• An ethnographic strategy could explore how homeless people experience temporary accommodation.

3. It should fit the research questions and the nature of the housing problem

The strategy should be selected because it is appropriate for the question, not simply because it is familiar or convenient.

Research purpose	Potential strategy	Housing example
Measure prevalence or patterns	Survey	Estimate the proportion of households experiencing housing stress
Understand lived experience	Ethnography or qualitative case study	Explore residents’ experiences of overcrowding
Explain a programme’s effects	Evaluation or quasi-experimental strategy	Assess the impact of a housing allowance
Examine a specific housing institution or project	Case study	Investigate a housing association’s allocation policy
Combine measurement and explanation	Mixed-methods strategy	Survey tenant satisfaction and then interview selected tenants

A good strategy therefore creates alignment between the research questions, the evidence, and the intended conclusions. A large questionnaire may measure the frequency of housing insecurity, but it may not adequately explain how households experience or respond to it.

4. It guides, but does not replace, detailed methods

The strategy provides the broad structure within which specific methods are selected. A case-study strategy, for instance, may use:

• Semi-structured interviews with residents and housing officers.
• Analysis of tenancy and policy documents.
• Direct observation of the estate.
• Administrative statistics.
• Photographs, plans, or spatial data.

Case studies often benefit from multiple sources because interviews, observation, and documents can provide complementary evidence about the same housing situation. Similarly, a mixed-methods strategy can combine quantitative and qualitative evidence, with the findings analysed separately and then integrated.

Thus, “case study” or “mixed methods” identifies the broad strategy, whereas “semi-structured interviews,” “questionnaires,” “document analysis,” and “thematic analysis” are more specific methodological or procedural choices.

Two main differences

Difference 1: Level of abstraction

Research strategy is the broad plan; research methodology is the rationale and logic of inquiry.

Research strategy answers:

“What overall route will I use to answer the research questions?”

Examples include a survey, case study, ethnography, evaluation, or mixed-methods design.

Research methodology answers:

“Why is this way of producing knowledge appropriate, and what assumptions guide it?”

It addresses issues such as:

• Whether knowledge will be treated as objective and measurable.
• Whether reality is understood as socially constructed and context-dependent.
• Whether the study uses deductive, inductive, or abductive reasoning.
• Why particular forms of evidence are considered credible.
• How validity, reliability, reflexivity, ethics, and interpretation will be addressed.

Methodology is therefore more than a list of techniques. It concerns the theory of how research should be conducted and the assumptions underlying the inquiry.repository.up.ac+1

Difference 2: Function in the research process

Research strategy organises the study; research methodology justifies and evaluates the way the study is organised.

For example, suppose a student investigates the experiences of residents displaced by an urban-renewal project.

• The research strategy might be a qualitative case study of one redevelopment project.
• The methods might include interviews, observations, and document analysis.
• The methodology might be an interpretivist approach, because the study aims to understand how residents interpret displacement, fairness, loss, and belonging.

Alternatively, if the objective is to estimate the effect of urban renewal on housing costs, the strategy might be a quantitative or quasi-experimental design using administrative and property-market data. A more positivist or post-positivist methodology might be used because the study is concerned with measurement, comparison, and estimated relationships.

The strategy tells the reader how the investigation will be organised. The methodology explains why that organisation and those forms of evidence are intellectually and practically appropriate.

A simple hierarchy

A useful way to present the relationship is:

Research philosophy and methodology → research approach → research strategy/design → methods → data analysis

For example:

Interpretivist methodology → inductive approach → qualitative case-study strategy → interviews, observations and document analysis → thematic analysis.

Another example is:

Post-positivist methodology → deductive approach → survey strategy → structured questionnaire → descriptive and regression analysis.

The categories are not always used identically across textbooks. Some authors use “methodology” broadly to include philosophy, approach, strategy, methods, time horizon, and analysis, while others reserve “methodology” for the underlying theory and justification of inquiry. The safest practice is to define the term explicitly in a Housing Studies dissertation.

Practical dissertation wording

A student could write:

This study adopts a qualitative case-study strategy to investigate residents’ experiences of housing displacement in one urban-renewal project. An interpretivist methodology is used because the study seeks to understand how residents construct meanings around displacement, compensation, home, and community. Data will be collected through semi-structured interviews, site observations, and policy-document analysis, and will be analysed thematically.

In this example, case study is the research strategy, interpretivism is the methodology, and interviews, observations, document analysis, and thematic analysis are the methods and analytical procedures.