C11 Flashcards
Task and skills of qual researcher throughout research process
Qual researcher, unlike quant researcher, not only designs research but undertakes fieldwork and data analysis. Thus skills are different.
Qual interviewers must be able to understand research briefs, unpack what client needs (business problem, research problem and ROs), and choose a research approach that will provide the sort of evidence needed to address business problem with understanding of briefs. Researchers also need to be able to convince clients of suitability and quality (reliability and validity) of this approach. Researchers may be responsible for managing fieldwork processes inc either recruiting themselves or briefing recruiters to find a sample of population of interest. Interviewer then has to design a data collection tool, research plan, interview guide, DG. Once the plan / guide is approved by client fieldwork can begin. Researchers may act as observers, managing online discussion boards, moderating discussions or delivering IDIs. in all fieldwork situations researchers job is to create an atmosphere in which participants are willing to talk and shae; this requires attentive listening, relaring what is being said (and not said) to research objectives, deciding what to explore / follow up / clarify / challenge, when to reiterate or sum up and when to bring conversation to an end.
List skills and what active listening means
Skills needed are summarised below:
Personal capacity for empathy, sensitivity, imagination and creativity
Ability to become involved and yet remain detached
Articulate but good listener
Intellectual ability but common sense
Capacity for logical analysis
Conceptual ability and eye for detail
Think analytically yet tolerate disorder
Verbal skills
Confidence to handle verbal presentations.
As qual research models conversations; researcher should be active listening and creating an active rapport between researcher and participant. Active listening involves:
Creating an atmosphere of trust and acceptance
Looking for ambiguities and alternative meanings
Being aware of any non-verbal expressions
Attuning to internal conversation that participant is having
Identifying issue that may need proving or exploring
Checking reliability by asking the same thing in different ways
What is sampling in qual?
With small samples, probability theory and notions of statistical representativeness do not apply; the aim is not to achieve a sample that is statistically representative of the population from which it is drawn. This does not mean that representativeness of some sort is of no interest - neither does it mean designing / selecting samples is not a rigorous or systematic process.
It is essential to define clearly the target population and what relationship the sample has with the wider pop. sample may aim to be broadly rep of wider pop in terms of key characteristics such as age, gender and ethnicity but will be impossible to achieve in a truly rep sample with a small sample. Aim in designing samples may be to encapsulate a range of characteristics relevant to the topic under study, provide detailed view of behaviour, experiences or events that are seen among people with those characteristics in wider pop. important to think back to research objectives ahead of analysis / interpretation of findings. Choosing sample units / elements on the basis of their relevance to the research problem, analytical framework or explanation you hope to develop is known as theoretical sampling.
Sampling process in qual?
Begin by defining target pop and how this relates to pop of interest. Recruiters should be briefed by the fieldwork manager / researcher involved in the project; providing them with details needed about the project in order to get informed consent. Those who recruit research participants and keep lists or databases of participants and potential participants to conform with UK DPA 98 must notify the Office of the Information Commissioner.
Recruitment method depends largely on the nature of the sample, who they are, where they are / where you might find the theme, what information you have on them already and their incidence. Gird / matrix drawn up identifying types of people / orgs relevant to research is typically drawn up and defined in terms of demographic characteristics / usage / attitudes. Care should be taken not to over-specify as this may make recruitment unnecessarily difficult and expensive. If necessary recruitment / screening can be used to ensure a standard reliable approach. This can be administered F2F or phone, contacting people at home or on the street, specific places where incidence of those likely to fit the recruitment criteria is relatively high.
Sampling methods in qual?
Recruiting at specified sites is a form of convenience sampling, and can also be done online at sites likely to visit.
Recruitment qnn may also be administered by email / post - likely used if sampling frame for target pop is available. Clients may provide a list of possible contacts or you may use a specialist sample / list provider / recruitment / fieldwork agency. Sourcing samples from lists may raise issues in relation to data protection (owner of list should be registered under DPA 98). The quality of the sample will depend on the quality of the sampling frame.
Using a network of contacts and asking these contacts to refer you to others is known as snowball sampling, useful if list or sampling is unavailable or if sample is difficult to find / access or has low incidence / visibility in a wider population. Disadvantage is that you may end up with sample made up of people with similar characteristics.
Piggy-backing / multi-purposing is where respondents are asked if they would be willing to be recontacted to take part in future research - they are contacted again at the recruitment
Advertising can be used in places / sites where type of people are likely to be found e.g. newspapers, specialist magazines, newsletter, posters placed in relevant locations, online e.g. websites / social-networking sites. Those responding can be screened to check that they meet recruitment or sampling criteria - useful if individuals are hard to find.
Sample size
Though sample sizes in qual are typically small, they should be large enough to provide information needed to address the research problem clearly and unequivocally, large enough to include sub-groups of relevance and allow comparisons between these. You should be guided by experience in similar studies / studies in similar areas / markets. One approach is take a rolling / dynamic sample - sample until you reach ‘theoretical saturation’, until you are seeing or hearing nothing new in data.
Incentives or participation fees
Being told up front, participation fees act as a form of incentive to take part. This is a useful strategy as it saves money on sampling and recruitment costs by ensuring that those recruited turn up and avoids need for over-recruitment and rescheduling. Incentives do not cover the total cost of taking part in research, but showing you value participants’ time and recognise inconvenience they may have experienced. MRS COC states that you must tell participants who are administering incentives and that clients goods or services, vouchers to purchase these, must not be used as incentives.
Ethical issues in sampling - MRS COC
Research must conform to national and international legislation relevant to given project inc DPA 18
Members must act honestly in dealings with respondents, clients (actual or potential), employers, employees, sub-contractors and the general public
Written or oral assurances made by ember involved in commissioning or conducting projects must be factually correct
Follow up interviews with respondents can be carried out only if respondents permission has been obtained at the previous interview. Only exception is to re-contact for quality control purposes
Any re-contact must mach assurances given to respondents at time that permission was gained
Respondent details must not be passed on to another third party for research or any other purposes without prior consent of respondent
Respondents must not be misled when being asked for cooperation
Members must ensure that all the following are clearly communicated to respondent:
Name of interviewer
Assurance that interview will be carried out according to MRS COC
General subject of interview
Purpose of interview
If asked, likely length of interview
Any costs likely to be incurred by respondent
At time of recruitment member must ensure that respondents are told all relevant information
Location of exercise and if it is to take part in viewing facility
Whether observers are likely to be present
When / how exercise is to be recorded
Likely length of exercises inc start / finish time
Member / moderator / agency that will conducting exercises
Member must ensure that any completed recruitment qnn, incentive and attendance lists or any other outputs that identify respondents are not passed to or accessed by clients or third parties without explicit permission of respondents.
Take reasonable steps to ensure that all hard copy and electronic lists containing personal data are held, transferred and processed securely in accordance with relevant data retention policies e.g. DPA 18
Other ethical issues to consider
Ethical issues in relation to nature of pop from which planning to draw sample e.g. children, vulnerable groups, learning disabilities, those involved in illegal activities. Assess how you will manage research in these cases in particular gaining informed consent and ensuring no harm comes to participants as a result of taking part of research.
Online research can generate personal data which may be recorded; if you plan to record (audio / video) you must ask participants for consent in writing at the recruitment stage. Must also ask for permission at this stage for any observers.
whta are venues for reseeach
F2F interviews, group discussions and workshops are conducted in a variety of settings including; recruiter / respondent home, central venue such as a hotel or in a specialised research venue (viewing facilities).
Viewing facilities comprises a room in which a group / individual sits and an adjoining viewing room, where clients can sit to view the interview through one-way mirror (and, depending on interview ona monitor enabling close-ups of respondents face). Equipment used to record groups is built in such a way that it is unobtrusive.
How should you choose venue for research?
Choice of venue for research will be determined by:
Nature of research and ROs
Availability / accessibility of viewing facility of central venue
Whether client or funder wants to watch discussions / interviews
Suitability of venue for topic under investigation / type of respondents e.g. study of household products may be more suited to home environment
Type of interview - respondents in IDIs may feel uncomfortable in viewing facility knowing that they are being observed
Need to record / transmit it - high-quality recording is often not possible anywhere but a viewing facility
Need to provide catering service to client / respondent (fieldwork may take place at meal times)
Culture of country in which fieldwork is being done - in some cultures inviting people into private home may not be appropriate
Cost - hiring a viewing facility can add considerable cost to project
Whatever venue is chosen, must be ensured that respondents have no difficulty in getting to it - may involve organizing transport or ensuring adequate parking facilities. Making sure that the physical environment is comfortable, temp / lighting / noise levels / seating. Rearranging furniture so that there are no barriers between you and the respondent may be advisable.
Ethics and observation / recording
If observers are present you have an ethical responsibility to tell participants that they will be observed or recorded; including by who and for what reason - MRS COC ‘if there is any recording, monitoring, observation during an interview respondent must be informed at both recruitment and at beginning of interview’ and ‘ member must ensure that respondents, on attending venue, are informed about nature of any observation, monitoring, recording and given choice to withdraw from exercise’.
Members must also alert observers of their ethical and legal responsibilities, particularly in relation to confidentiality. If respondents have given consent for data to be passed on in form which allows them to be personally identified (inc audio, video recordings), then MRS member must take all reasonable steps to ensure that it will only be used for purposes of which it was collected and must be informed as to what will be revealed, to whom and for what purpose. Any material given to a client (inc report or pres) without the respondents consent must be done in an anonymised form. Verbatim transcriptions made from recordings must not contain anything that allows respondent to be identified.
Designing interview / DG
Can vary from a simple list of topics that a researcher plans to discuss and explore with participants in a group within an interview or ethnographic exercise, to one tht has more structure with a series of questions listed under headings or topics. Style depends on:
Objectives of research e.g. exploratory may be less structured
Method of data collection - IDIs, paired interview, interview during ethnographic exercise, group discussion or any other variations and whether F2F, phone or online
Need for comparability between groups e.g. more standardised approach is sensible if there is more than one researcher
Experience / knowledge of researcher / interview - more experienced interviewer with in depth understanding of topic may find it easier to work from topic guide rather than fully fleshed out DG
House style / preference of researcher or client - some prefer a more detailed and structured guide
Questioning style
Most questions in a quant interview are closed or pre-coded, questions in qual data collection tend to be open ended and non-directive; projective and elicitation techniques are also used. Style / model of interview most often used is the ‘psycho-dynmaic’ model - based on the assumption that public statements may be rationalisations dictated by what respondents believe interviewers want to hear or what they ought to say (SDR). The aim of this is to try and get below rational response, and encourage respondents to talk in depth and detail about their experiences, attitudes, opinions, thoughts and feelings.
Open-ended , non-directive questions allow respondents to relate to a topic on their own, and use their own language with little / no direction in how to answer from the interviewer or moderator
Probing
Probing - using follow up questions to clarify meaning or encourage more depth / detail, are used extensively. Other techniques include rephrasing questions, using non-verbal cues - encouraging looks, nods of head, pauses / silences. It is important to keep balance between encouraging respondents to answer and leading them - or putting words in their mouths.
It is important in qual exercise to listen to exactly how things are being said so that you can ask relevant follow-up questions - listen for sweeping claims and generalisations and think of questions to challenge these claims in a gentle but probing way. Some examples are:
Is there any exception? Never? Always? What makes it impossible? What prevents you? What if? What would happen if they did not? What doesn’t work?
Other useful techniques include summarising / restating / reflecting what the respondent has said to clarify meaning, help increase understanding and build empathy.
