week 4 Flashcards
(36 cards)
aims of a study
Goal is to collect information that is:
- Valid:
- Reliable:
- Unbiased:
- Discriminating:
whats vail
measures the quantity, attribute, attitude or concept that is supposed to be measured
whats reliable
measures the quantity, attribute, attitude or concept in a consistent or reproducible manner
whats unbaiased
measures the quantity, attribute, attitude or concept in a way that does not systematically under- or overestimate the true value
whats discriminating
can distinguish adequately between respondents for whom the underlying level of the quantity, quantity, attribute, attitude or concept or concept is different or varied
whats the 6 steps to designing a questionnaire
- Write out the primary and secondary aims of your study.
- Write out concepts/information to be collected that relates to these aims.
- Review the current literature to identify already validated questionnaires that measure your specific area of interest.
- Compose a draft of your survey questionnaire.
- Revise the draft of the survey questionnaire.
- Assemble the final survey questionnaire.
whats step 1 define the aims of the study
- Write out the problem and primary and secondary aims using one sentence per aim. Formulate a plan for the statistical analysis of each aim.
- Make sure to define the target population in your aim(s)
whats sep 2 degene the variables to be collected
- Write a detailed list of the information to be collected and the concepts or attributes to be measured in the study. Are you trying to identify: • Attitudes • Needs • Behaviour • Demographics • Some combination of these concepts
- Translate these concepts & attributes into variables that can be measured.
whats step 3 review the literature
- Review current literature to identify related surveys and data collection instruments that have measured concepts similar to those related to your study’s aims.
- Saves development time and allows for comparison with other studies if used appropriately.
- Proceed with caution if using only a subset of an existing questionnaire as this may change the meaning of the scores. Contact the authors of the questionnaire, scale or instrument to determine if a smaller or shorter version of it exists that has also been validated.
whats step 4 compose draft
- Determine the mode of survey administration: face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, self-completed questionnaires, computer-assisted/web-based approaches.
- Write more questions/items than will be included in the final draft.
- Format the draft as if it were the final version with appropriate white space to get an accurate estimate as to its length – longer questionnaires reduce the response rate.
- Place the most important items in the first half of the questionnaire to increase response on the important measures even in partially completed surveys.
- Make sure questions flow naturally from one to another
whats step 5 revise
- Shorten the set of questions for the study. If a question does not address one of your aims, discard it.
- Refine the questions included and their wording by testing them with a variety of respondents.
- Ensure the flow is natural.
- Verify that terms and concepts are familiar and easy to understand for your target audience.
- Keep recall to a minimum and focus on the recent past.
whats step 6 assemble the final questionnaire
- Decide whether you will format the questionnaire yourself or use computer-based programs for assistance: • SurveyMonkey.com • Adobe Live Cycle Designer 7.0 • Qualtrics
- At the top, clearly state: • The purpose of the study • How the data will be used • Instructions on how to fill out the questionnaire • Your policy on confidentiality
- Include identifying data on each page of a multi-page, paper-based questionnaire such as a respondent ID number in case the pages separate.
- Group questions/items concerning major subject / topic areas together and introduce them by heading or short descriptive statements.
- Order questions/items in order to stimulate recall.
- Order and format questions/items to ensure unbiased and balanced results.
- Include white space to make answers clear and to help increase response rate.
- Space response scales to items widely enough so that it is easy to circle or check the correct answer without the mark accidentally including the answer above or below. • - - Open-ended questions: the space for the response should be big enough to allow respondents with large handwriting to write comfortably in the space.
- Closed-ended questions: line up answers vertically and precede them with boxes or brackets to check, or by numbers to circle, rather than open blanks.
Use larger font size (e.g., 12 or 14) and high contrast (black on white
how to engage the response rate
- When writing questions and assembling the final questionnaire, edit with a view towards saliency: apparent relevance, importance, and interest of the survey to the respondent
- Consider either pre-notifying those in your sample or sending reminders to those who received the survey (if self-administered). Studies have shown that making contact with the sampled individuals increases the response rate.
- If possible, offer an incentive. Need to be careful with the use of incentives since you do not want it to appear that you are bribing participants or that there is undue ‘inducement’ to take part in the survey
whats seven strategies for successful surveys
- Collect the highest level of data possible
- Use valid survey instruments
- Evaluate the reliability of survey instruments
- Ensure a good response rate
- Use a random sample
- Keep meticulous records
- Keep meticulous records (throughout and keep organised records)
advantages / disadvantage mail survey
ad: can be completed at the respondents convinces, no time contstraint
dis: can be time-consuming. many follow up may be require
adv/dis. direct survey
adv: take less time, no mailing cost
dis: limits sampling strategies, less flexible in time frame
adv/dis online survey
adv: fast, data can be directly imported for analysis
dis: only people with computers can use
adv/dis face to face survey
dv: ideal for contacting hard to reach populations, reduces missing dat
dis: cost of travel, longer data collection period
aim of in depth interview
According to Taylor (2005, p. 39), ‘the aim of the indepth interview is to explore the “insider perspective,” to capture, in the participants’ own words, their thoughts, perceptions, feelings and experiences’.
whats an interview trasnciprt
The written record of an interview that has been transcribed from the verbal conversation. It is used for indepth data analysis in qualitative research.
How should interviews be transcribed? We suggest that each interview is transcribed verbatim (word for word), keeping all the informal conversation style and emotional expressions, such as pauses, emphases, laughter and sighing, and non-lexical sounds like ‘hmm’, ‘oh’, ‘ah’. Importantly, both questions and answers must be transcribed for contextual clarity. What the questions were, how the researchers ask the questions and how the participants answer are all important.
range of qualitative data collection methods
- Non-numeric data, commonly in form of words
- Use a single or multiple data collection methods
- Examples of qualitative data collection techniques:
- Field/direct observations with or without participation
- Documents
- Objects e.g. cultural artifacts
- Audio-visual material e.g. photographs
- In-depth interviews e.g. individual or focus group
what are in depth interview
- Common qualitative data collection method
- Aims to “explore the “insider perspective,” to capture, in the participants own words, their thoughts, perceptions, feelings and experiences” (Taylor, 2005, p. 35, as cited in Serry & Liamputtong, 2017 p. 68).
- Interviewer & interviewee interact
- Conducted face to face (most common), telephone, video conference
limitation of in depth interview
- Generate large amounts of data that require time or costs to conduct and transcribe interviews and analyse data
- Self-report data, thus unable to confirm or disconfirm participants responses
three levels of in depth interview
Unstructured (conversational) interview
Semi structured interview: brings structured and unstructured together, some questions are prepared, flexibility in participant to provide response that answers question
Structured/standardised interview: questions are the exact same for participants, not much flexibilty