Observation
This involves watching, recording and analysing events of interest. The observation method can be very time consuming because you have to observe classes or have to fit into someone else's schedule. It can be difficult to collect all the data that you need because you may not see anything of interest when you are observing. On the other hand it can be a very useful tool because usually in observation the participants aren't talking and therefore you can pick up on the behavioural side of things.
Interviews
This involves asking questions to people that have experience and knowledge of your subject. You can have varied interview types like; semi structured, open interviews and informal interviews. You have to pick which one is most beneficial for your inquiry and which will give the data that you need. Before you do an interview, you have to consider where it will take place? What information do you need to collect? Why have I chosen this person to do the interview? How will you record the information? Is everything going to be on the record? Will all the interviews include the same questions, if not why not? What is the structure of the interview? So there are a lot of things to take into consideration and it can be very time consuming. But also you can uncover data that you didn't think was there.
Focus groups
Focus groups are similar to interviews. You have a group of people all with knowledge on your topic area and you ask the questions. The positive thing about focus groups is you can collect a lot of data because of how many people are giving their opinion. It also allows people to debate within the group giving you ideas you didn't have before and you wouldn't have got with a one on one interview. The down side is it can be hard to control. If lots of people are talking at once it could be impossible to analyse the data and the group could be taken off topic with the flow of the conversation. If you choose this method, you need to know how to control the group and keep on topic. Maybe you want participants to state their name before they talk so there's no confusion.
Surveys and questionnaires
Surveys and questionnaires are a good way to get quantitative results. To ensure that you get feasible data from these surveys you have to make sure you ask a range of people. Surveys are usually quite a popular tool because it is relatively easy for participants to do. Surveys aren't time consuming and it isn't an ongoing process. With surveys you need to make sure your questions make sense, they are in the right order and it looks presentable. You also need to know which type of questions you're going to use e.g. yes or no questions or questions where the participants are given the option to write their opinions. The participants need to know why they are taking part in the survey and need to be thanked after. The down side of surveys and questionnaires is you may not get in depth answers to help with your inquiry or enough people to take part which will affect the reliability of your data.
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To help me know what tools I want to use I have decided to do a pilot survey. I have included yes or know questions, questions that give participants the option to give their opinion and questions that have more narrative responses. I would really appreciate people taking part, it will only take a couple of minutes because it isn't that long.
My Survey
Any feedback would be very helpful! Thank you.
Bibliography
Reader 6 (2015-16), BAPP, Middlesex University
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