What are the five key issues when doing data gathering?
- Setting goals
- Identifying participants (Decision about sample group & size)
- Relationship with participants (clear & professional, informed consent)
4.Triangulation (look on data from different perspectives, collect more than one type of data)
- Pilot study (small trial runs)
How can data be recorded?
Notes, audio, video and photographs can used.
What types of interviews exist?
Unstructured: no script –> not replicable, but rich of info
Structured: tight script –> replicable, but may lack richness
Semi-structured: guided by script & interesting topics can be explored in more depth –> good balance between richness & replicability
Focus group: a group interview
What are the different types of interview questions?
Closed questions: have a predetermined answer format
Open question: no predetermined format
What should be avoided when asking questions?
- long questions
- compound sentences
- jargon & language that may not be understood
- leading questions
- unconscious biases
What is the typical structure of an interview? And what happens in these steps?
Introduction: introduce yourself & explain the goals, reassure about ethical issues, ask to record, present informed consent form
Warm-up: easy and non-threatening questions
Main body: questions in logical order
Cool-off period: few easy questions to defuse tension
Closure: Thank interviewee & signal the end
What are important things to consider about the questionnaire design?
- the question order may influence the answers –> may different versions with varying sequence
- provide clear instructions on how answer
- avoid long questions & questionnaires
- decide whether phrases will all be positive, negative or mixed
What are frequent used response formats?
- checkboxes (yes/no or with many options)
- rating scales (Likert scales, semantic scales)
- open-ended responses
How can a good response be encouraged?
- make sure that purpose of the study is clear
- promise anonymity
- ensure well designed questionnaire
- offer a short version of questionnaire
- follow-up with emails, phones calls, or letters
- provide an incentive
(40% response rate is good, 20% is acceptable)
What are advantages and disadvantages of online questionnaires?
Advantage: easy & quick to distribute, responses received quickly, cost-effective, data format is quickly analyzable, errors can be corrected easily
Disadvantage: sampling is problematic (population size is unknown), individuals can response more than once
What types of observations exist?
- direct observation in the field (field experiment)
- direct observation in controlled environment (laboratory experiment)
- indirect observation: tracking users´activities (diaries, video,…)
What elements does a structuring framework to guide observations contains?
3 easy to remember parts:
- the person: who?
- the place: where?
- the thing: what?
more detailed framework by Robson 2014:
- Space
- Actors
- Activities
- Objects
- Acts
- Events
- Time
- Goals
- Feelings
How to choose the right technique? (or combine)
Depends on:
- focus of the study
- participants
- nature of the techniques
- resources available
- time available
What are the most important points about data gathering? (summary)
- clear goals
- informed consent
- 5 key issues: goals, choosing participants, participants relationship, triangulation, pilot study
- how data is recorded (notes, audio…)
- interview type (structured, unstructured or semi-structured)
- direct or indirect observation
- choose of appropriate technique or combination of techniques
