Colin Clarke-Hill and Ismo Kuhanen 1 Research Methods Seminar Data Collection Choosing a Strategy Quantitative Data Qualitative Data Getting StartedNextResearch.

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Colin Clarke-Hill and Ismo Kuhanen

Research Methods SeminarData Collection

Choosing a StrategyQuantitative Data

Qualitative Data

Getting Started Next

Research Methods

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Choosing A Research Strategy

• The general principle is that the research strategy or strategies, and the methods or techniques employed must be appropriate for the questions you answer

• Quantitative / Qualitative

• Qualitative Methods:

– “An array of interpretive techniques which seek to describe, decode, translate and otherwise come to terms with the meaning, not the frequency, of certain more or less naturally occurring phenomena in the social world” (Van Maanen (1983)

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First3 Traditional Research

Strategies• Experimental

– measuring the effects of manipulating one variable on another variable

• Case Study– development of detailed, intensive

knowledge about a single ‘case’, or of a small number of related ‘cases’

• Survey– collection of information in

standardised form from groups of people

• May also have a Hybrid Strategy or Action Research

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Classification of the Purposes of Enquiry• Exploratory:

– to find out what is happening

– to seek new insights

– to ask questions

– to assess phenomena in a new light

– usually, but not necessarily, qualitative

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• Descriptive:– to portray an accurate profile of persons,

events or situations

– requires extensive previous knowledge of the situation etc. to be researched or described, so that you know appropriate aspects on which to gather information.

– May be qualitative and/or quantitative

• Explanatory:– seeks an explanation of a situation or

problem, usually in the form of causal relationships

– May be qualitative and/or quantitative

Classification of the Purposes of Enquiry

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Purpose & Strategy

• case studies as appropriate for exploratory work

• surveys as appropriate for descriptive studies

• experiments as appropriate for explanatory studies

• NB: These links are not immutable & each strategy can be used for any or all of the three purposes (See Yin, 1981)

Past use of the 3 main strategies has tended to make following links:

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Experiment & Case Study

Survey

How

Why

Who

What

Where

How much / how many

Strategy Research Question

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Collecting Quantitative Data

SamplesSurveys

Pitfalls etc...

Research Methods

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Research Design

•Defining the Problem

•What Data is needed to solve it

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Typical Stages

• Problem Definition• Review of Secondary Sources• Select Appropriate Approach for the

Collection of New (Primary) Information

• Determine the Details of the Research Design

• Data Collection• Analysis and Interpretation of the

Data• Evaluation and Recommendations

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Data Types

• Secondary Data - Information that that is available from existing published sources– Internal to the Company– External to the Company

• Primary Data - Information has been collected for the first time– Can come from internal sources– External sources - survey data

etc..

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Data Sources Cont.

• Primary Data is usually collected by the means of:– A Survey– Depth Interviews– Observation of behaviour– Establishing Motivations– etc..

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The Questionnaireand its Design

The questionnaire is usually the common form of collection of

survey data

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Questions can either:

•Classify - organizations or people

•Describe Behaviour•Discover Attitudes and Perceptions

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Types of Questions

• Open Ended - Some sort of free form and expression on the part of the respondent

• Closed ( Structured)– Yes/No– Multiple Choice– Rankings– Check Lists

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Wording the Questions

• Avoid Ambiguity• Consider the Respondent’s

ability to answer• Consider the Respondent’s

willingness to answer• Avoid Influencing the

Answer

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FirstQuestion Sequence

• Initial questions to provide motivation

• Logical order - general to the specific. This is known as funnelling.

• Rotating the questions to reduce bias

• Difficult questions - where do you place these in the questionnaire ?

• Routing and Excluding - be careful of the logic of your questionnaire.

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Some Standard Questions

• Have you ever?• Do you ever ?• How Often ?• When did you last ?• Who does it ?• In what way do you do it ?• Which do you do more ?• In the future will you ?

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FirstSome Points to Consider

• Is your questionnaire too long ?• Do you need cards for your respondents ?• Do you need to aid recall ?• What is going to happen after the

survey ?• Avoid multi punch data - this leads to

coding problems and data analysis problems

• How are you going to administer the survey?

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Measuring Attitudes

• Attitudes influence preferences and are related to behaviour. They usually contain three components: – Beliefs– Emotions and – Behaviour

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Measuring Attitudes

• Two Stages:– Pilot - some form of depth

interview with a small group to ascertain the key characteristics

– Survey to measure the attitudes and perceptions

• Use:– Adjective check lists– Multiple choice questions– Rating scales: Monopolar vs Bipolar

Scales, Likert Scales - 5 point or 7 point scales

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Some Problems with Scales

• Are the chosen adjectives ambiguous ?

• Can meaning differ between respondents ?

• Scale length - short scales may not be sensitive enough, long scales may be unmanageable.

• What about the ‘don’t know’• Respondents often tend to

choose the mid point.

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FirstHow do you Reach your

Respondent ?

• Mail• Telephone• Personal Interview

All have different advantages and disadvantages for the researcher - Follow up to obtain a better response rate.

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Sampling

Why do we sample ?Types of Sample

Issues about Samples

Sample Size CalculatorMarket Research

Glossary of sampling and quantitative research

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Basic Premise of Sampling

• The researcher is looking to generate data has is representative of the population from which the sample is drawn.

• Samples are practical as resources are finite

• Samples can give an accurate view of a phenomenon.

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Sampling Process Decisions

• Who is to be surveyed ? The sampling unit.

• How many to be sampled ? The sample size.

• How can they be selected ? The sampling procedure.

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Sampling Procedures• Two broad categories:• Probability Samples

– Random - everyone in the population has an equal change of being chosen.

– Stratified Random Sample - to account for a variable in the population

– Sequential Sample– Cluster Sample

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Sampling Procedures• The opposite of Probability

Samples is the Non Probability Sample:– Quota Samples– Judgmental Samples

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FirstSampling Procedures

• In Selecting samples and sample size allow for non response. This can reduce the validity of your results

• Also be aware of bias in your survey. – Bias in non response– Bias by the interviewer– Bias through the questions asked– Sample bias– Bias from the respondents

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Sample Frame• Adequacy - in coverage of the

population• Completeness - missing units

cannot be selected introducing bias• No duplication - double counting • Accuracy - is the sample frame up

to date ?• Convenience - Can the sample

units be accessed at reasonable cost ?

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Finally• Editing

– Has each relevant questions been answered ?

– Accuracy - some inaccuracies can be spotted by eye.

– Uniformity - have interviewers interpreted the questions and instructions in a uniform way ?

• Coding - think about your coding for data input

• Tabulating - think about your tables and cross tabulations. This is useful for the next stage on analysis

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Research Methods

Qualitative Data Techniques

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Planning Qualitative ResearchQualitative design involves articulating compelling & researchable questions salient to target respondents


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Qualitative Research• Qualitative inquiry demands an

ever-present curiosity on the one hand and an ever-present suspicion on the other. The curiosity is manifested in the uneasiness with existing answers. This uneasiness generates new questions (Hawes,1975)

• Works at many levels... In the early stages the researcher asks questions about a problem that grows increasingly subtle, pertinent and penetrating.

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Qualitative Research• In the field questions used as

navigational tools - simple, naive, wise or purposely contradictory ones; asking the same question of a number of people; mutating it to fit different segments, expertise, etc.

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Qualitative ResearchQualitative researchers develop unique design solutions for every project

• Need for understanding drives the qualitative researcher to take time to understand culture or research segment.

• Not just a language issue, social/cultural taboos as well.

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Some issues of importance

Uncertain control qualitative researcher can expect to exercise in the field

• Researcher must be able to fit-in with events or people, that operate by their own rules of conduct. Must learn when to watch, when to listen, when to go with the action, when to reflect on pieces of info, and when to intervene tactically (& tactfully). This is totally alien to quantitative research which strives to be in control.

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FirstSummary of Qualitative Design

Process

1. Question formulation in myriad forms is the core feature of designing and starting a study.

2. Every scene & situation presents a unique, never-before encountered configuration of features, requiring strategic flexibility on the part of the investigator.

3. The researcher willingly shares control in the research scene in the interest of learning the rules and meanings of social life from the inside.

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Phenomenology• This kind of inquiry recognises that the

phenomena being studied are sentient.• Ambiguity is anticipated and planned

for.• The best preparation consists of a

sense of purpose, some researchable questions, an understanding of resources available and an idea of the overall features and dynamics of the setting to be entered.

• Link with presentation on Research Approach

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Depth Interviews (Individual & Group)

Allows access to a different level of reality, ...deeper than in quantitative research.

Interviews are dominant method in qualitative research.

Qualitative Data CollectionNextPreviousResearch Methods

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FirstDepth Interviews –

individual and group

Totally different from structured, rigid quantitative interviews, qualitative interviews referred to as “conversation with a purpose”! The interview is loose, informal, flexible, interactive.

But interviewing is not just conversation, it is informedby its purpose .... conversation occurs within thisremit.

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FirstDepth Interviews –

individual and group

Process is also dynamic ...

“What distinguishes in-depth interviewing is that the answers given continually inform the evolving conversation. Knowledge thus accumulates withmany turns at talk. It collects in stories, asides, hesitations, expressions of feeling and spontaneous associations ... The specific person interviewing the “I” that I am, personally contributes to the creation of the interview’s content because I follow my own perplexities as they arise in our discourse.” (Paget 1983)

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ObservationGuidelines:

• Best conducted in relationships with respondents.

• Characterised by a difficult and often ambiguous course of study.

• Analyst must be disciplined.• Requires attention to detail.• Invaluable for ethnography and case

study research.• Observation allows the subtleties of

responses to be noted and placed within the overall spectrum of data collected for the study.


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ObservationParticipant observation preferred ...

“The participant observer gathers data by participating in the daily life of the group or organisation he studies.

He watches the people he is studying to see what situations they ordinarily meet and how they behave in them. He enters into conversation with some or all of the participants in these situations and discovers their interpretations of the events he has observed.” (Backer 1970)


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Case Study Methodology• Typical features:

– selection of a single case (or a small number of related cases) of a situation, individual or group of interest or concern

– study of the case in its context

– collection of information via a range of data

– collection techniques including observation, interview and documentary analysis


Resources• Case Study

Method

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Case Study Methodology

• Case study is a strategy for doing research which involves an empirical investigation of a particular contemporary phenomenon within its real life context using multiple sources of evidence (Robson, 1993)

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Characteristics of Qualitative Research

• DIAGNOSTIC

• DEEPER UNDERSTANDING

• IMPRESSIONISTIC

• PROBING

• OBSERVES & REFLECTS

• SUBJECTIVE

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Focus of Qualitative Research

• WHAT?

• WHY?

• HOW?

NOT HOW MANY

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FirstQualitative Approach Used in

Research Requiring:

• EXPLORATION OF CONSUMER

MOTIVATIONS, ATTITUDES & BEHAVIOUR

• IDENTIFICATION OF DISTINCT BEHAVIOURAL GROUPS

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Qualitative Research Techniques

• DEPTH INTERVIEWS

• FOCUS GROUPS

• PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

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FirstCharacteristics of

Depth Interviews

• UNSTRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRE

• QUESTION AREAS (DERIVED FROM RESEARCH OBJECTIVES), NOT FORMAL QUESTIONS

• RESPONDENT TALKS FREELY WITHIN CONFINES OF BRIEF


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Characteristics of

Depth Interviews

• INTERVIEWER PROMPTS AS NECESSARY

• DURATION - 1 TO 3 HOURS

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Characteristics of Focus Group Interviews

• 6 TO 12 PEOPLE• RESPONDENTS UNIFORM TO CREATE COHESIVE GROUP

• FRIENDS OR RELATIVES NOT RECOMMENDED

• OPINIONS ASKED, DISCUSSED AS A GROUP


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Characteristics of Focus Group Interviews

• INTERVIEWER FACILITATES DISCUSSION

•DURATION 1 TO 3 HOURS

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FirstAdvantages of Depth

and Focus Group Interviews

• RICHNESS OF INFORMATION

• INSIGHT & UNDERSTANDING

• EXPLORATION

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FirstDisadvantages of

Depth and Focus Group Interviews

NEED SKILLED INTERVIEWS

LACK OF STRUCTURE

DURATION OF INTERVIEW

DIFFICULT TO SET UP

DIFFICULT TO MODERATE

SPECIALISTS FOR DATA ANALYSIS

REQUIRED

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Qualitative vs Quantitative Research Research

QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE

EXPLORATION ASSESSMENT

DIAGNOSIS DESCRIPTION

UNDERSTANDING QUANTIFICATION

INSIGHT ENUMERATION

AGGREGATION


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QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE

UNSTRUCTURED STRUCTURED

FLEXIBLE RIGID

UNSTRUCTURED/ STRUCTUREDSEMI-STRUCTURED

SMALL SAMPLE LARGE SAMPLE

Qualitative vs Quantitative Research Research

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Qualitative Approach Used

in Research Requiring:

•GREATER UNDERSTANDING &

KNOWLEDGE

•CLARIFICATION OF REAL ISSUES

•GENERATION OF HYPOTHESIS

• IDENTIFICATION OF RANGE OF BEHAVIOUR

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That’s all folksPrevious

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