Week 5, Structured Methods Flashcards
Standardizing
Wording the questions in the same way for each respondent.
Scheduling
Asking questions in the same order for each respondent.
Semi structured interview
List of topics to be covered, specific wording and scheduling is not important.
Open question
Formulate own answer
Closed question
Constraining answer
Fixed-choice question
Pick answer from options
4 levels of measurement for structured research
Nominal
Ordinal
Interval
Ratio
Nominal variables
Categorical variables
Placing participants into categories
Ordinal variables
Involves some notion of order or rank
Interval variables
Equal intervals between points
Ratio scales
Score data
Like interval scales but math is appropriate.
Structured methods
A variety of different types of data collection where the researcher is at arms length and maintains a distance from the research participants.
Includes surveys, structured interviews, questionnaires, and/or observations.
Goal of structured methods
To learn about the ideas, knowledge, feelings, opinions/attitudes, and self reporting behaviours of a population.
Can structured methods supplement other forms of research?
Yes.
How do structured methods ensure reliability?
Through consistency and structure.
Structured methods often involve
large numbers of participants with large amounts of numerical data and some qualitative responses.
Designing structured methods
- Determine the information to be sought.
- Define the population.
- Construct interview/survey/questionnaire questions.
- Draw a representative sample.
- Administer the instrument.
- Analyze and interpret the results.
- Communicate the results.
Structured observation protocols
- Not normally statistically analyzed
- Researchers figure out ahead of time what event is relevant
- Open mind
- Reliable and generalizable truth
