Chapter 4 - Research Design & Methods

Question 1

What are Observations?

Answer 1

1. Observations, as a social research data collection method, involve direct observation of phenomena, or observations of individuals or groups of individuals interacting in a natural setting.
2. It is a systematic way of collecting data of real-time actions / behaviour displayed by individuals with the goal of recording what is seen.

Question 2

What are the guidelines when conducting Observations?

Answer 2

1. Carry out observation in natural settings where attitudes and behaviours can be best understood. Researchers often go to the scene of the action to observe participants directly.
   
   2. Observers need to take lengthy and descriptive notes of the behaviour of the individuals being observed. The researchers must be trained to record the behaviour of these individuals as specifically as possible. Alternatively, observations can be recorded for further analysis.
   3. Observations can yield a deeper understanding of the social phenomena provided the researcher observes in a deliberate, well-planned, and active way. Therefore, the researcher must plan for the observation. Depending on the nature of the study, the researcher may need to prepare a pre-coded observation checklist to guide the observations and to record what needs to be observed.
   4. Observations typically yield qualitative data. Therefore, there is room for subjective interpretation of what is happening. The recording of the observations should be accurate, thorough, complete, and should include only what is being observed.

Question 3

What is covert research?

Answer 3

In a Covert research, the researcher may or may not participate. The individuals are not aware that they are being observed.

Question 4

What are the Advantages of covert research?

Answer 4

1. When covert observation is used, individuals do not know that they are being observed, and will behave naturally.
   
   2. The researcher can observe the flow of behaviour of individuals in their natural setting
   3. Provides a more valid view of the group being studied
   4. Allows the researcher to expand knowledge on lesser-known social groups

Question 5

What are the Challenges of covert research?

Answer 5

1. Raises serious ethical concerns such as deceiving the individuals being observed
   
   2. Lack of informed consent
   3. As a covert observer, the researchers might miss out on important observations as they are participating the process
   4. Researchers may inadvertently affect the social processes they are studying if they are acting as observer-participants

Question 6

What is Overt research?

Answer 6

The participants know that they are being observed.

Question 7

What are the Advantages of overt research?

Answer 7

1. Allows the researcher to be honest with the participants, thus avoiding problematic ethical issues such as deception or lack of informed consent.
   
   2. Prevents researcher from becoming over-familiar with the participants. It keeps the observation objective and free from bias.
   3. As a complete observer, the researcher will be less likely to inadvertently affect the social processes they are studying

Question 8

What are the Challenges of overt research?

Answer 8

1. When participants know they are being observed, they may modify their behaviour. This is known as ‘reactivity’.
   
   2. Participants may act in a way which they believe is expected by the observer. This is known as the ‘observer effect’. Participants may be even more prone to the observer effect when they understand the aims of the observer.

Question 9

What are the Tools to facilitate the recording of observations?

Answer 9

• Observation Notes where events and behaviours are recorded Observation notes can take the form of notebooks
• Pre-coded Observation sheets with pre-determined observational categories
• Video-recorders or audio-recorders to record observations for further analysis. Where possible, obtain consent from participants to video or audio-record observations.

Question 10

What are the General Ethical Issues of conducting observations?

Answer 10

The role of observer is to observe, not to interfere with the participants’ usual behaviour. However, researchers are ethically obliged to protect participants from harm. This may create an ethical dilemma for the researcher. For example: if a researcher studying school bullying observes a school bully beating up another student, should the observer intervene in the situation to prevent more harm?

Question 11

What are Focus Group Discussions?

Answer 11

1. A qualitative focus group discussion involves a group of individuals who have some common interest or characteristics. The group is brought together by a moderator, who uses the group and its interaction to gain information about a specific or focused issue.
   
   2. The recommended size of the sample group is typically 6 - 10 people who are unfamiliar with each other.
   3. The moderator’s role is to ensure that all participants are given the opportunity to express their feelings, perceptions and opinions.
   4. Depending on the issue being studied, and the range of views required, the researcher may want to conduct several focus group discussions in order to collect comprehensive information about the topic being studied.

Question 12

What are the advantages of Focus Group Discussions?

Answer 12

1. Focus groups are less time and resource intensive than conducting multiple one-to-one interviews, as researchers are collecting information from several participants simultaneously.
   
   2. Focus groups enable researchers to understand how groups of individuals react to issues or shared experiences.
   3. Participants may be more open and willing to share their experiences when they are with similar individuals.

Question 13

What are the disadvantages of Focus Group Discussions?

Answer 13

1. Participants in focus groups should have something in common that is central to the research study. Focus groups are not ideal when participants are too dissimilar, or when participants have widely differing viewpoints or experiences.
   
   2. Focus group participants are less likely to be selected through rigorous, probability sampling methods. As such, participants may not be representative of the population that is being studied.
   3. The success of the interview depends on the skill and experience of the facilitator. Facilitators need to be able to maintain good dynamics among the members during the interview. One participant may dominate the interview and this can reduce the likelihood of others participating in the interview. It may lead to ‘groupthink’, which refers to the tendency of other people in a group to agree with the opinions and decisions of the most outspoken members of the group. Hence, the facilitator needs to manage the focus group and ensure that all members of the group are given enough time to share their views.
   4. Interviewer bias may set in if interviewers cannot resist bringing their own views into the discussion by over-directing the interview and the interviewees.

Question 14

What are Interviews?

Answer 14

1. An interview is a conversation or a social interaction between the interviewer and the respondent(s).
   
   2. There are three types of interviews: structured interviews, semi-structured interviews, and unstructured interviews.

Question 15

What are Structured Interviews?

Answer 15

Structured interviews are usually based on standardised questionnaires, and produce mainly quantitative research.

Question 16

What are Structured Interviews?

Answer 16

Semi-structured interviews are based on interview guides, which outline key questions that define the areas that the researcher wants to explore. The interviewer can follow up with prompts to obtain more in-depth responses from participants where necessary. The interviewer usually follows the order of questions in the interview guide.

Question 17

What are Structured Interviews?

Answer 17

Unstructured interviews are more flexible and less structured than semi-structured interviews.

Question 18

What are the characteristics of Structured Interviews?

Answer 18

• To provide mainly quantitative data for analysis
• Standardised questionnaires are used to interview an individual or a group.
• The number of questions is pre- determined and the order of the questions is fixed

Question 19

What are the characteristics of Unstructured Interviews?

Answer 19

• The purpose is to provide more in-depth data
• Interviewer asks the questions and allows the respondents to respond freely
• Typically, fewer questions are asked. The purpose of the questions is to guide the interviewer to facilitate the interview. The interviewer may prompt the participants and/or ask them to elaborate on their responses. The order of the questions may not be fixed.

Question 20

What is Sampling in Research?

Answer 20

A process of selecting a sample to represent the population.

Question 21

What is the Population in Sampling in Research?

Answer 21

It is the entire group targeted for the research, from which the researcher wishes to describe or draw conclusions about.

Question 22

What is the Sample in Sampling in Research?

Answer 22

It is the sub-set of the target population from which the researcher hopes to draw valid conclusions about the target population after the research.

Question 23

What is the Sample Size in Sampling in Research?

Answer 23

The total number of participants in the research study.

* The sample size should be sufficient (large enough) such that the researcher can make meaningful conclusions about the target population being studied.
* Ideally, the sample size should be large enough for researchers to be reasonably confident that the sample represents the population.
* Often not possible, especially in social service research.
* The bigger the sample size, the better is the representation of the population.

Question 24

What are the 2 approaches to Sampling Methods?

Answer 24

• Probability

* Non-probability

Question 25

What are Probability sampling methods?

Answer 25

A probability sampling method utilises some form of random selection in which the different units in the population have equal probabilities of being chosen.

Question 26

What are the 3 Probability sampling methods?

Answer 26

1. Simple Random Sampling
2. SYSTEMATIC RANDOM SAMPLING
3. Stratified Random Sampling

Question 27

What is Simple Random Sampling?

Answer 27

1. Simple Random Sampling

Definition
Each member of the population has an equal and known chance of being selected.

Process
* Starts by preparing a sample frame which has a complete list of all the members in the population and it must not include the same member more than once. ‘Draw lots’ randomly to select the research participants from this sample frame to avoid any personal bias. No substitutions are allowed.

Advantages

	* Suitable for smaller populations whose members can be identified individually.
	* The estimates are easy to calculate.
	* The process is easy to implement.
	* Eliminates sampling bias
	* Samples are more representative of the target population.

Disadvantages
* Not suitable for very large populations because it is almost impossible to identify every member of the population.

Question 28

What is SYSTEMATIC RANDOM SAMPLING?

Answer 28

2. SYSTEMATIC RANDOM SAMPLING

Definition
* It involves arranging the target population according to some ordering scheme first.

Process

	* After the required sample size has been calculated, every nth member is selected from a list of population members in the sample frame.
	* It is important that the starting point is not automatically the first in the list; instead it is randomly chosen from within the first to the nth member in the list.

Example: It is frequently used to select a specified number of records from a computer file. If every 10th record from the computer file is selected, this is referred to as an ‘every 10th’ sample.

Advantages of systematic sampling

Systematic sampling is often used instead of Simple Random Sampling because:

	* Easy to select the sample.
	* Easy to identify a suitable sampling frame
	* Sample evenly spread over entire reference population

Disadvantages of systematic sampling:

	* Runs the risk of sampling error if periodicity in the list matches the sampling interval. However, this is rare.

Example: If this is an ‘every 4th’ sample, then only P will be selected and B, Y
and R will never be selected.

	* Difficult to assess precision of estimates from just one survey.

Question 29

What is Stratified Random Sampling?

Answer 29

3. STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLING

More superior to simple random sampling because it reduces sampling error.

Definition
The entire population is stratified before applying random sampling methods to ensure that the sample accurately reflects the population being studied in terms of the criteria used for stratification.

Process

	* The researcher first divides the population into groups or strata with distinct characteristics. The strata must be the actual representation of the population. Therefore a stratum is a subset of the population that shares at least one common characteristic; for example males and females, or social workers and non-social workers.
	* Each stratum is then randomly sampled as an independent sub-population, out of which individual elements can be randomly selected. Every unit in a stratum has same chance of being selected.

Advantages of stratified sampling:

	* It reduces selection bias. Stratifying the entire population before applying random sampling methods helps to ensure a sample that accurately reflects the population being studied in terms of the criteria used for stratification.
	* There is adequate representation of minority subgroups of interest.
	* Oversampling small groups improves intergroup comparisons.

Disadvantages of stratified sampling are:

	* Sampling frame of entire population has to be prepared separately for each stratum. This is time consuming.
	* When examining multiple criteria, stratifying variables may be related to some but not to others. This further complicates the sampling process and potentially reducing the utility of the strata.

What are Non-probability sampling methods?
There are times when probability sampling is not appropriate or possible, for example research on homelessness. This is when non-probability sampling has to be used to collect the data. It is referred to as any technique in which samples are selected in some way not suggested by probability theory.

Question 30

What are 2 Non-probability sampling methods?

Answer 30

1. Convenience Sampling

2. Quota Sampling

Question 31

What is Convenience sampling

Answer 31

1. Convenience sampling
   * In convenience sampling, each member of the population does not have the same chance of being selected. Instead, researchers recruit participants according to their availability, or through methods that are more practical or feasible,
   * Advantage: It is quick, convenient and less costly. It is useful if a quick estimate is desired.
   * Disadvantages: The estimates derived from a convenience sample may be biased. Therefore, the sample may not represent the population.

Examples of convenience sampling:

A) No quota: standing at street corners and interviewing passers-by.

B) Crude quota: First 100 people who enter the shopping mall will be asked to take part in the survey.

Question 32

Explain Quota Sampling

Answer 32

Quota Sampling

* In quota sampling, researcher aims to represent the major characteristics of the population by sampling a proportional amount of each group.
* The participants are selected into a sample based on a set of pre-specified characteristics which will achieve the purpose of the research.
* The total sample will have the same distribution of characteristics assumed to exist in the population being studied.

A 2-step process of Quota sampling
Step 1: The researcher first specifies a list of relevant criteria/ characteristics of the participants, such as age, gender, income, or education. Then the target population is segmented into mutually exclusive sub-groups, which means that one individual can be a member of only one category or sub-group.
Step 2: Researcher proceeds to collect a sample that has the same properties and proportions as the target population.
Example
If a researcher has prior knowledge that in a given population 40% of the students are male and 60% are female. For a sample size of 1,000, the researcher will select 400 males and 600 females to be interviewed from that population.
Advantages of quota sampling
* When all the sample elements are so weighted, the overall data should provide a reasonable representation of the total population according to the sample elements.
* It is a useful technique to use in the preliminary stages of research when detailed accuracy is not important.
* It is easily administered and it is relatively less costly than stratified random sampling

Disadvantages of quota sampling

* The quota frame (the proportions that different cells represent) must be accurate, and it is often difficult to get up-to-date information for this purpose.
* Selection of the subjects / units to interview are determined by the interviewer which might result in some bias in the data collection process.

Question 33

How to increase Response Rate?

Answer 33

1. Increase the sample size to have an in-built allowance for non-response. Build in buffer above the required sample size, according to the estimated non- response rate (if this can be estimated based on prior research on a similar sample).
   
   2. In all types of survey, explain the purpose of the survey and assure respondents that all information will be kept confidential.
   3. Be sensitive to the respondents’ needs for privacy. Do not pressure them to give their particulars if they feel uncomfortable.
   4. In self-completion survey, provide them a contact number to get in touch if they have any questions regarding the survey.
   5. Contact the respondents to encourage them to complete and return the questionnaire to the researcher.

Question 34

State 3 good practices organisations should follow when conducting survey research.

Answer 34

1. Explain the intended use of the data/information to the participants and organisations. They have the right to withdraw if they feel uncomfortable or have other concerns regarding the purpose or procedures.
   
   2. If necessary and appropriate, get written agreement from the participants/ organisations to take part in the research.
   3. Dress code of the researcher/interviewer/observer must be appropriate and in accordance to organisational standards.
   4. Be respectful to the participants/organisations throughout the research duration.
   5. Assure the participants at all times that the information will be kept private and confidential.

Question 35

What is research design?

Answer 35

Research design is the overall strategy researcher uses to help researcher decide on:

1. Method of study
2. What information is needed to answer research question