Using Research Instruments

Using Research Instruments

1. Questionnaires

   • Definition
     • The questionnaire is the favoured tool of many of those engaged in research, and it can often provide a cheap and effective way of collecting data in a structured and manageable form. Questionnaires can be designed and used to collect vast quantities of data from a variety of respondents.
   • Types
     • The mail survey
       • The mail survey is, by far, the most common questionnaire type. This instrument is addressed to respondents and delivered by mail, and can be an efficient way of collecting large amounts of data. The mail survey is, however, sometimes considered impersonal and can suffer from low response rates.
     • The group-administered questionnaire
       • Is a useful instrument for collecting data from a sample of respondents who can naturally be brought together for the purpose.
     • The household drop-off survey
       • Is a hybrid of the mail and the groupadministered survey. Using this approach, the researcher delivers the questionnaire by hand to a member of an identified household for collection at some later date.
   • Issues
     • In our experience of using questionnaires we have found that the provision of short and clear instructions to the respondent, at relevant places in the questionnaire, can generate more useful and reliable data.
   • Data Analysis
     • Most questionnaires require respondents to register replies to questions by ticking boxes, completing statements, or by providing written replies according to the question type. Coding in this way makes data analysis much easier for the researcher.
   • Uses
     • Types of Questionnaires
       • Using subtly different questions, and approaches to questioning, can allow us access to the information we require. Questionnaires usually are comprised of a number of different approaches to asking questions – the essential ones being.
         • Closed questions. Most questionnaires consist of a collection of closed questions.
         • Multiple-choice questions. Many questionnaires include questions which provide a number of predefined responses.
         • Open-ended questions. Open-ended questions impose none of the restrictions of closed and multiplechoice questions.
   • Limitations
     • Questionnaires are successfully used in many situations to gather data and information on a broad range of issues, but they do have application and data-collection limitations, most of which are the product of poor design in the instrument. The major limitations we have found with this much-abused research instrument are discussed below.

2. Interviews

   • Definition
     • Are not an easy option. They are often likened to a conversation between two people, though a competent researcher knows that he or she are more than this: he or she require orchestrating, directing and controlling to varying degrees.
       • involve a set of assumptions and understandings about the situation which are not normally associated with a casual conversation
   • Types
     • The unstructured interview is a very flexible approach. Areas of interest are established by the researcher but the discussion of issues is guided by the interviewee.
     • The semi-structured interview.There is less flexibility with the semi-structured interview. The interviewer directs the interview more closely. More questions are predetermined than with the unstructured interview, though there is sufficient flexibility to allow the interviewee an opportunity to shape the flow of information.
     • The structured interview. Some see the structured interview as no more than a questionnaire that is completed face-to-face. The interviewer has control over the order of questions, all of which are predetermined.
   • Procedures
     • Stages in developing and using interviews Draft the interview Pilot your questions Select your interviewees Conduct the interviews Analyse the interview data Draft the interview The unstructured interview is a very flexible approach.
       • The interviewer should indicate how the data from the interview will be used and whether anonymity will be preserved. Open-ended questions encourage the interviewee to provide more information than do closed questions.
   • Uses
     • Interviews have long been used in research as a way of obtaining detailed information about a topic or subject. Often interviews are used where other research instruments seem inappropriate: for instance a recent study, in which we were involved, exploring basic literacy skills among adults
       • interviews were used because it seemed In this chapter we: ◆ define interviews in a research setting 43 ◆ discuss drafting and piloting interview questions 44 ◆ identify three interview types: the unstructured, semi-structured and structured interviews 45 ◆ explore the use of recording devices 47 ◆ provide guidance on sampling and selecting interviewees 52 ◆ outline procedures for conducting interviews 52 ◆ discuss the use of telephone interviews 55 ◆ examine interview analysis techniques 63 inappropriate to ask respondents who had limited literacy skills to complete lengthy questionnaires.

3. Content Analysis

   • In other chapters we discuss the collection of data through a number of instruments including questionnaires, interviews and focus groups.
     • Content analysis is an extremely broad area of research – its coverage includes both quantitative and qualitative approaches to analysis.
   • Definition
   • Sources
     • Sources consulted over a year-long period included: twelve national newspapers, four local newspapers, a number of magazines, national and local television news programmes, and national and local radio news programmes
       • All sources were scanned for mentions of research conducted by social science researchers, and codes were subsequently developed.
   • Qualitative researchers argue that because some form of quantification occurs, the real meanings of the data are overlooked in favour of frequencies
   • Qualitative
   • Qualificative
     • Each chapter is well written in an accessible style.

4. Focus Groups

   • There can be few people who emerge from a particularly uncomfortable job interview feeling that they had said everything they wanted to say, and in the way they wanted to say it, to the panel sitting opposite them. With the eyes of all the interviewers on you, and their attending to your every word, the pressure to do your best can seem overwhelming. You are on your own. The panel has prepared in advance the questions you will be asked. You are expected to answer whatever is put to you.
     • The panel’s members In this chapter we ◆ define focus groups 89 ◆ distinguish between focus groups and other kinds of interviews 90 ◆ discuss the distinctive nature of focus groups 91 ◆ examine their merits and possible shortcomings 93 ◆ explain the purposes of focus groups 94 ◆ guide you through the process of conducting focus groups, from establishing your groups to analysing your data 98 ◆ draw on illustrative examples from our own experience of conducting research using focus groups 101 ◆ provide a practice exercise using a transcript from a genuine focus group discussion 110 have some idea of what counts as a good or a bad answer to each of those questions. They are judging your performance, which has as much to do with your temperament, your preparation and your attitude as the relevant professional knowledge, skills and experiences you could bring to the job.
       • Focus-group interviews are at the opposite end of the spectrum altogether, modified yet further until they resemble hardly at all the kinds of interviews you are obliged to endure in your efforts to find your ideal job.
   • Purpose
     • Researchers have many different, sometimes competing, points of view as to the purposes of carrying out research, and what the relationship between the research, the researcher and their subjects should be.
   • Procedure
     • Krueger argues that a major strength of the focus-group interview is that it is a ‘socially-oriented research procedure
   • Advantages
     • the main advantage being that the data it yields may more accurately reflect people’s genuine thoughts and feelings about a subject than that obtained through individual interviews in which respondents feel forced to answer with, perhaps, insufficient time to consider all the issues.

5. Observations

   • Definition
     • Merely asking about or reporting the activities people carry out in different social settings and situations will no doubt give you a flavour of what is involved, but in order to understand fully what these activities mean to people, how they themselves perceive them and what their perspective is on them, it is necessary to see those people in action, to experience what it is they do, even to wade in and have a go yourself. This is the research method called observation, and one of the clearest basic definitions we have found of observation as a research method tells us that it is ‘research characterised by a prolonged period of intense social interaction between the researcher and the subjects, in the milieu of the latter, during which time data, in the form of field notes, are unobtrusively and systematically collected
   • Conducting an observation
     • the focus of your study
       • the topic of your research, what it is you wish to explore and learn more about
     • the research questions you intend to address.
   • Data Analysis
     • As well as discussing in depth issues surrounding the nature of fieldwork, qualitative and quantitative data analysis, and writing research reports, this title is one of the first (and best) to consider the ‘new frontier’ of observational research – the internet.