Research Methods

Question 1

Describe a questionnaire and what it measures

Answer 1

Measures risk factors, lifestyle, knowledge, attitudes, satisfaction.
Must be valid and reliable.
Mainly closed questions

Question 2

What are the positives and negatives of questionnaires?

Answer 2

Pro: good at describing, measuring, comparing and finding relationships

Cons: can force into inappropriate categories, no personal expression allowed, may miss important info, ineffective in establishing causality

Question 3

What are qualitative methods?

Answer 3

Aims to make sense of a phenomenon in terms of meanings people bring to them
Ethnography, interviews, focus groups, media analysis

Question 4

What are the pros and cons of qualitative?

Answer 4

Pros: See perspective, emphasise experience, see behaviour, explain relationships, extra info, analyse thoughts, how thoughts changed over time
Cons: labour intensive, time consuming, focus groups could give strange views or some keep quiet or needs good facilitator, small sample sizes so hard to find relationships, less generalisable

Question 5

How do you decide whether to use quantitative or qualitative?

Answer 5

Depends on topic, question, time, money, funders, audience, team preference, desired outcome

Question 6

What are quantitative methods and give examples

Answer 6

Collection of numerical data, begins with hypothesis, allow conclusions by deduction

RCTs, cohort studies, case-controls, surveys, 2* census analysis, questionnaires