Qualitative research: data collection Flashcards
interviews can be
structured or informal
structured interview
pre-set questions
informal interview
goes with the flow of a convo, researcher must keep the convo focused on topic
positive of structured interview
time efficient and easy to synthesise data
negatives of structured interview
less unexpected responses
-goal of interview may bias results
positives of informal interview
can produce unexpected results
more natural responses
negatives of informal
data not comparable or generalisable
-more time consuming
focus groups
an interview of 6-10 people in a group discussion of Q and A
positives of focus groups
- info about several people in one session
- less intimidating environment
- valuable for observing social influences on participants behaviour and attitudes
negatives of focus groups
confounding
less depth and breadth of info
less likely to discuss personal topics
participants may not share minority view
observations
taking notes while observing behaviour and activities of individuals or groups
positives of observations
when participant may not be able to accurately report their experiences
useful in exploring topics that participants may not want to talk about
unusual details notices
negatives of observations
confidentiality issues
presence of researcher may influence behaviour
relies on researcher being attentive
document review
collection of public docs (newspapers) or private focus (diaries) in order to collect data
positives of document review
participants own words
saves time and money transcribing
negatives of document review
info may be protected
material may be incomplete
inaccurate
audio and visual materials
data collected from photographs, art, video tapes and audio recordings
positives of audio and visual materials
unobtrusive and allows participants to share their reality in a creative way
negative of audio and visual materials
difficulty in interpretation
no accessible
presence of an observer may effect the response
observations require
collecting additional info through informal conversations and interviews
the time necessary to process obs
should be considered
challenges in collecting data
- social skills and boundaries
- time and personal commitment
- reflexivity
research interviews are used to compliment obs when
not convenient, affordable, acceptable or possible
focus groups
discuss one or more topics
participants in focus groups are
carefully chosen in terms of relevance, experiences and sims and diffs
diffs and sims are then
linked to backgrounds of participants
focus groups requires 2 researchers
one to ask qs and one to note
