Dissertation Studies

Dissertation Studies Data Collection Methods

Outline • Choosing your participants • Quantitative collection methods • questionnaires • Qualitative collection methods • Interviews • Focus groups

Choosing your Participants • relevance or convenience methods • usually associated with qualitative methods but can be applied to surveys or evaluations of programmes • probability methods • usually associated with experimental and survey methods

Choosing your Participants-relevance methods • It is the relevance to the research topic rather than their representativeness which determines the way in which the people/subjects are chosen

Choosing your Participants-relevance methods • convenience (haphazard) • get any participants in any manner that is convenient • person on the street interviews of media • snowball • get cases using referrals form one or a few participants, and then referrals from those people…and so on • extreme/deviant case • get participants that substantially differ from the dominant pattern

Choosing your Participants-relevance methods • theoretical • (sometimes called purposive sampling) • Get participants that will help reveal features that are theoretically important about a particular setting / topic • establish criteria for selection of participants • certain knowledge • certain experiences

Choosing your Participants-relevance methods • Number of participants? • depends on: • research purpose • type of data analysis • on population characteristics • number is far less important than sampling method • saturation sampling • keep selecting / interviewing data/ participants until no new information occurs

Choosing your Participants-probability sampling • Everyone in your population has an equal chance of being selected • simple random • create a sample frame for all cases, then select cases using a purely random process • pull names out of a hat • allocate random numbers to cases • sample frame is a list of all possible participants

Choosing your Participants-probability sampling • stratified • you may wish to ensure a balance of particular traits (gender or age etc.) • divide (stratify) your sampling frame into groups according to your traits • draw a random sample from each of the subgroups then combine the samples

John • Peter • Toni • Rebecca • Amanda • Vicky • Andrew • Robert • Bart

John Male Peter Peter Toni Andrew Rebecca Robert Amanda Bart Vicky Females Andrew Toni Robert Rebecca Bart Amanda Vicky

John Male Peter Peter Toni Andrew RebeccaRobert AmandaBart Vicky Females Andrew Toni Robert Rebecca Bart Amanda Vicky 2 Males randomly 2 Females 4 Random

Choosing your Participants-probability sampling • systematic • create a sampling frame • specify the total number of cases required. • divide the sampling frame by the no. of cases • choose a random starting place, select every Xth case

1. a programme has 100 students • 2. you wish to select 10% e.g. 10 • 3. select every 10th student

Choosing your Participants-probability sampling • Cluster • identify sub groups (clusters) of your population (usually geographical) • create a list (a sampling frame) of the clusters • randomly select an agreed number of clusters • create a sampling frame for each selected cluster • select a random sample from within each cluster

you need to cluster your sampling • time of day • day of week • quota for each sample period

Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun 7-9 9-12 12-2 2-5 5-7 7-10 suppose you were undertaking a satisfaction survey for a university library

Sample Size • depends on: • research purpose • type of data analysis • on population characteristics • size is far less important than sampling method. • the larger the population the smaller sampling ratio is required (95% confidence)

Sampling

response rate • 0-20% Your project has not succeeded - unless representativeness doesn’t matter or somehow it is so homogeneous that a tiny sample is still representative • 20-40%Too low - unless there are reasons. You must account for the low rate - it may represent too strong a bias • 40-60%Bearable - but again you must account • 60-80%You can relax. As a formality: account for the non response • 80-100%Good …but still account for non responses

Questionnaires • A questionnaire is a set of standardised questions for gathering the same information from a group of individuals • Aim • To make comments about the group • To generalise from the group to a wider population • You can administer questionnaires by: • Mail • Telephone • Face-to-face interviews • Hand-outs • Electronically (e-mail or through Web-based questionnaires).

Purpose & types • Descriptive • The descriptive survey is designed to find out the extent of a particular phenomena within a population • Typically descriptive surveys seek to determine 'how many' participate in a certain behaviour or hold a particular opinion • Need to ensure the sample and sample size are representative • Analytical • The analytic relational survey is set up specifically to explore associations between particular concepts • It is less orientated towards representativeness and more towards finding associations and explanations • It is more than often used in theory-building/testing research therefore statistically staple sample sizes are more important (Oppenheim, 2000)

Question formats • Open question [write whatever you want] Please use the space below to tell us about your peanut butter experiences.

Question formats • Open question [write what one wants] What brand of peanut butter do you use? _________________

Question formats • Category Questions • forced choice Do you like peanut butter? o Yes o No

Question formats • Category Questions • inventory Which brands of peanut butter do you like? Kraft o Sunbeamo Daffodil o Nature’s Owno Tesco’s finesto

Question formats • Category Questions • ranking Please rank the following brands of peanut butter Kraft o Sunbeamo Daffodil o Nature’s Owno Tesco’s finesto

Question formats • Numerical Questions • (behaviour/frequency) • Please indict how times a week you would have a peanut butter sandwich _______________ • How many times a day do you dream of peanut butter ____________________

Question formats • Numerical Questions • (scales) To me peanut butter is the best food in the world strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree I think I would die if I didn’t have peanut butter disagree 1 2 3 4 5 agree (Likert Scale)

Response format- Likert Scale • respondents indicate the extent of their agreement or disagreement with a statement • usually 5 / 7 / 9 options provided Problems • too many options confuse the respondent • what does the middle position represent • response set • Which direction? (increasing/decreasing?) • General rule of thumb… 5 or 7 options

Single or multiple Questions To what extent are you satisfied with peanut butter Very Unsatisfied Very Satisfied 1 2 3 4 5 To what extent are you satisfied with the following aspects of peanut butter Satisfaction with the colour 1 2 3 4 5 Satisfaction with taste 1 2 3 4 5 Satisfaction with the texture 1 2 3 4 5 Satisfaction with the aroma 1 2 3 4 5 Satisfaction with packaging 1 2 3 4 5

Pre-published questionnaires? Advantages Proven set of items Reliability / Validity tested Potential for benchmark comparisons Prior data analysis framework Disadvantages Items may not fit your research question (s) Inappropriate norms for your group (e.g. US vs. UK) Advantages Relevant set of items Involvement of stakeholders Disadvantages Time consuming- development of items, formatting, printing, check reliability & validity, etc.) Unknown reliability/validity Develop my own questionnaire?

Basic statistical approaches • Category • Numercial description of a particular phenomena associations of particular behaviours and conditions differences between certain sub-groups or conditions relationships between variables prediction of variables modelling of relationships

What is an Interview? • Interviewing is a meeting between two persons to exchange information and knowledge through questions and responses, resulting in a communication and joint construction of meaning about a particular topic • (Janesick, 1998)

When do we use interviewing? • When the aim is to explore ‘in-depth’ a particular topic or situation • more detailed knowledge • straightforward ideas are more complicated than thought • surface appearance is misleading • When there is limited ‘theory’ available about a topic • When the population of participants is small • When the response mode of other methods is inappropriate for the participants

Advantages • relatively unobtrusive • can be undertaken quickly • flexible can redirect • probing • can seek further explanation • can follow-up leads • provide ‘rich’ information • empowerment of respondents • holistic • not just cognitive or behavioural or affective

Question Content Interviewer Questioning Skills and Technique Importance Structured Semi-Structured Unstructured Structure

Structured (Deductive) • an exact set of questions are specified • the order of questions is specified • responses usually short (or even multiple response) • the interview is very focussed • variation from structure is discouraged Aim: to compare responses of various groups • Potential advantages • control, reliability and speed (including analysis) • Potential disadvantages • constrained, superficial and stilted

Unstructured (inductive) • no predetermination of questions or issues • questions emerge from immediate context, asked as they arise • questions relate to circumstances of individuals Aim: to let participants dictate the research problem and develop theory • Potential advantages • detail, faithful, participant engagement • Potential disadvantages • narrow, high level of skill (questioning & analysis)

Unstructured - a Model(Wengraf, 2001) Usually three subsections • Section 1 • the interviewer asks a single initial question designed to elicit the full narrative I would like you to tell me about your use of technology in your teaching, all the events and experiences that are important for you Start wherever you like. Please take the time you need. I will listen, I won’t interrupt, and I will just take some notes for afterwards.

Unstructured - a Model(Wengraf, 2001) • Section 2 • During Section 1 the researcher takes notes about the main topics. • In Section 2 the researcher repeats those topics in the exact order and words and asks them to tell you more. • No new points are to be raised by the researcher only elaboration of the points raised.

Unstructured - a Model(Wengraf, 2001) • Section 3 • Usually follows about a week or more after sections 1/2. • After transcribing and analysing your interview you will form questions about their ‘story’ that you wish to elaborate even further. • This section will be relatively structured but should leave room for new ideas to emerge and may be followed up.

Semi-structured(deductive / inductive) • General topics and issues specified in advance • interviewer decides the order and wording of questions during the course of the interview • the interview schedule helps to makes data collection systematic for each respondent Aim: to develop theory about your topic • Potential advantages • rapport, flexibility and depth/richness • Potential disadvantages • lack of control, danger of leading, analysis

Semi-structured(deductive / inductive) • Interview Schedule • Usually 12-15 questions/topics/issues derived from previous research or literature or theory. • Sub questions used as prompts. • Interesting /emergent ideas followed up.

Can you describe what your job involves? do they ever conflict with each other? when do they conflict? in what ways? Who are the people you mix with in your job? what parts of your job are these people are related to? can you describe the way others expect you to behave? how do you respond? What is the difference between the way they see your role and the way you see your role? how do you respond to the difference? how do they respond to the differences? do people outside the organisation have a different view of your role (professional/peers)? Who are the people you report to? formally? /informally? how much interest do these people take in the organisation? in your opinion is this too much? too little? how does this affect you?

Group Interviews(Focus Groups) • usually 2-10 people • usually semi-structured • tend to move from experiences/behaviour to values/opinions • interviewer acts as a moderator/guide Aim: draw out collective view of the group • Possible advantages: • Insight into the collective nature of an issue • Possible disadvantages: • moderator skills required to prevent ‘hijacking’ or turning into multiple individual interviews

Dissertation Studies