Qualitative Flashcards
What are the advantages of a quantitative approach?
- able to study large numbers
- able to assign numbers and develop forecasting figures
- potential for wider geographical scope
- generally cheaper per interview
What are the limitations of qual?
- unable to assign statistical weighting
- potential for interviewer bias
What are the values of observation to a researcher?
Allows us to record actual rather than reported behaviour
What are the values of interviewing to a researcher?
Allows us to understand reason behind a behaviour
What are the difficulties associated with observation?
- people sometimes change once they know they are being observed
- viewing without consent is unethical
- can take a lot of time
What are the limitations of interviewing?
- respondents may say what they think they should say rather than what they feel
- may take people out of their natural environment, changing how they react
How can you collect quantitative data with observation?
- sales data (e.g. Tesco club card)
- mystery research
- eye tracking
- cookies on the Internet
- to viewing meters
How can you collect qual data with observation?
Ethnography
Shadowing respondents
“Lived experience”
Body language (even in interviews)
Advantages of group discussions?
- creative
- constructive
Weaknesses of group discussions?
- difficult if it’s a sensitive subject
What are the advantages of telephone qual survey?
- easy to reach lots of people
What are the disadvantages of a phone survey (qual)?
- not everyone has a landline anymore and mobile numbers are harder to come by
- harder to build rapport over the phone so harder to get people to open up
How would you go about secondary research?
Build a plan
Key questions
Think of most likely place to find the answers
What’s the purpose of qual individual interviews?
- good for sensitive subjects
- good for in depth detail
- good for exploratory work
- good for “journey” type work
What’s the purpose of Individual quant interviews?
- good for assigning numbers to a theory
- quick for the respondent (can make recruitment easier)
How do you ensure consistency in qual across multiple geographies?
- ensure all interviewers are clear on the main objectives of the research
- have a centrally written discussion guide
Give an example of a projective technique
Tbc
What is the main purpose of qual into quant?
Go from breadth into depth and give greater info that can inform the questionnaire for the quant
What is the main purpose of quant into qual?
If you already have clear values that you want to measure, then can gain the numerical data which can be followed up with why in the qual
What are the advantages of telephone quant?
- access those that don’t have a computer
- greater degree of perceived anonymity than f2f
- may be the only way of reaching some populations
- record open end answers in full
- greater quality control possible (removes cheaters)
Benefits of the Internet for conducting qual research?
- video interviews
- online ecommunities
Difficulties conducting qual online?
- lack of eye to eye contact
- harder to analyse body language
- not everyone has access to a computer
- fears about online security (especially with sensitive subjects)
Advantages of online qual?
- easy to access people
- quicker to analyse as doesn’t require data entry by research staff
- sometimes preferred by respondents as more convenient than pen and paper (not having to post a letter)
- faster turnaround than alternatives (not waiting for the post)
- cheaper than phone qual as doesn’t require staff time
Difficulties of online qual?
- not everyone has a computer
