Research Instruments

Research Instruments

1. Questionnaires

   • Limitations
     • According to the detail: 1. The information obtained is superficial. 2. The impossibility of being certain that the information provided by the interviewee is real or corresponds to reality. 3. Difficulty of reliability. 4. The incorrect interpretation of the questions. 5. The percentage of unanswered questions is high on many occasions.
   • Data analysis
     • 1. Analyze your main research questions 2. Cross-tabulate and filter your results 3. Analyze the numbers 4. Get your conclusions
   • Types
     • I. Open questionnaires. They are those in which the subject is asked something and is left free to answer as he wants. II. Closed questionnaires. They are structured in such a way that the informant is offered only certain response alternatives.
   • Definition
     • It allows exploring public opinion and the current values of a society, issues of scientific significance and importance in democratic societies
   • Issues
     • 1. Lack of sincerity. 2. Difficulty in understanding. 3. The questionnaire is applied to people with different ways of thinking 4. Skipping questions 5. Very fast answers without thinking much about it

2. Interviews

   • Definition
     • They are essential elements in contemporary life, it is primary communication that contributes to the construction of reality, an effective instrument of great precision insofar as it is based on human interrelation.
   • Types
     • I. Structured interviews. ii. Unstructured interviews. iii. Focus interviews. iv. Non-directive interviews.
   • Procedures
     • 1. Properly choose the person you are going to interview 2. Document yourself on the subject in advance 3. Prepare the questions 4. Record both what was said and what was omitted 5. Interpret the information
   • Data analysis
     • I. When you need to explore the experiences, views and beliefs of the respondents. ii. When little is known about a phenomenon. iii. When it comes to sensitive issues. iv. When you want to explain statistical data or present a topic. This is important to help add a human dimension to statistical data.
   • Uses
     • I. Journalism II. Medicine III. Ethnography, Anthropology and Sociology IV. Job V. Fiscal and police investigation VI. research

3. Focus Groups

   • Definition
     • Focus groups entails the process through which a researcher acquires data from a large sample/ group of people concurrently.
   • Purposes
     • The main purpose is to provide data to enhance, change or create a product or service targeted at a key customer group.
   • Advantages
     • 1. Clarify and test pre-conceived notions and findings 2. Understand met and unmet needs 3. Hear customer feedback in their own words and voices 4. Discover the decision making process 5. Have the flexibility to dive deeper into issues that come up during the discussion
   • Uses
     • it is frequently used as a qualitative approach to gain a deep understanding of social problems. The method aims to obtain data from a purposely selected group of individuals rather than a statistically representative sample from a larger population.

4. Content analysis

   • Procedure
     • 1. Define the universe and the sample 2. Establish and define the units of analysis 3. Establish and define the categories and subcategories
   • Quantitative models
     • It is a technique that allows the structuring of vast amounts of unstructured (textual) data with a view to formulating valid and reproducible inferences.
   • Qualitative models
     • It is a strategy or methodology that is applied to the social sciences, and that has been evolving over the years, with a perspective focused on numerical values in which the meaning and grouping of thematic categories are prioritized.
   • Uses
     • 1. Description of the components of information. 2. Testing of hypotheses. 3. Comparison of media content with the real world. 4. Evaluation of the image of specific social groups. 5. Establishment of a starting point for studies on the effects of the media.
   • Definition
     • Research technique used to study and analyze communication in an objective, systematic and quantitative way.

5. Observation

   • Uses
     • An example where the observation could be applied is to observe the acceptance of a group of students towards a new teacher
   • Issues
     • The observer is both the strength and its crucial weakness; he must understand the information obtained from his observations and then make inferences about constructs
   • Conducting an observation
     • I. Determine the object, situation or case to be observed. II. Determine the objectives. III. Determine how the data will be recorded. IV. Observe carefully and critically. V. Record the observed data. VI. Analyze and interpret data. VII. Draw conclusions. VIII. Prepare the report.
   • Planning
     • To plan the observation, you can establish four steps: 1. Determine the purposes. 2. Define a sample of the behaviors to be observed . 3. Specify the conditions of the observation. 4. Develop observation instruments
   • Definition
     • It is the process of looking closely, the experiment, the process of submitting behaviors of some things or conditions manipulated according to certain principles to carry out the observation.
   • Data analysis
     • I. When the subject is quite sensitive. ii. When it is necessary to observe the phenomena. iii. When you are not sure what you are looking for. By observing, you can decide which approach or theories to adopt in a study.