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CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH DESIGN

Secondary data
Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the user. Common sources of secondary data for social science include censuses, surveys, organizational records and data collected through qualitative methodologies or qualitative research. Primary data, by contrast, are collected by the investigator conducting the research.

Secondary data analysis saves time that would otherwise be spent collecting data and, particularly in the case of quantitative data, provides larger and higher-quality databases than would be unfeasible for any individual researcher to collect on their own. In addition to that, analysts of social and economic change consider secondary data essential, since it is impossible to conduct a new survey that can adequately capture past change and/or developments.

(A) Sources of secondary data

As is the case in primary research, secondary data can be obtained from two different research strands:

Quantitative: Census, housing, social security as well as electoral statistics and other related databases.

Qualitative: Semi-structured and structured interviews, focus groups transcripts, field notes, observation records and other personal, research-related documents.

A clear benefit of using secondary data is that much of the background work needed has been already been carried out, for example: literature reviews, case studies might have been carried out, published texts and statistic could have been already used elsewhere, media promotion and personal contacts have also been utilized.

This wealth of background work means that secondary data generally have a pre-established degree of validity and reliability which need not be re-examined by the researcher who is reusing such data.

Furthermore, secondary data can also be helpful in the research design of subsequent primary research and can provide a baseline with which the collected primary data results can be compared to. Therefore, it is always wise to begin any research activity with a review of the secondary.

(B) Secondary analysis or re-use of qualitative data

Qualitative data re-use provides a unique opportunity to study the raw materials of the recent or more distant past to gain insights for both methodological and theoretical purposes.

In the secondary analysis of qualitative data, good documentation can not be underestimated as it provides necessary background and much needed context both of which make re-use a more
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worthwhile and systematic endeavour . Actually one could go as far as claim that qualitative secondary data analysis can be understood, not so much as the analysis of pre-existing data; rather as involving a process of re-contextualising, and re-constructing, data.

After the investigator is convinced that the gain fiom primary data outweighs the money cost, effort and time, shehe can go in for this. Shehe can use any of the following methods to collect primary data:

a) Direct Personal Investigation b) Indirect Oral Investigation c) Use of Local Reports d) Questionnaire

a) Direct Personal Investigation

Here the investigator collects information personally fiom the respondents. She1he meets them personally to collect information. This method requires much investigator such as: 1) She or he should be polite, unbiased and tactful. 2) She or he should know the local conditions, customs and tradition. 3) She or he should be intelligent possessing good observation power. 4) She or he should use simple, easy and meaninglid questions to extract information.
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This method is suitable only for intensive investigations. It is a costly method in terms of money, effort and time. Further, the personal bias of the investigator cannot be ruled out and it can do a lot of harm to the investigation. The method is a complete flop if the investigator does not possess the above mentioned qualities.

b) Indirect Oral Investigation Method

This method is generally used when the respondents are reluctant to part with the information due to various reasons. Here, the information is collected h m a witness or from a third party who are directly or indirectly related to the problem and possess sufficient kndwledge. The person(s) who islare selected as informants must possess the following qualities:

1) They should possess full knowledge about the issue. 2) They must be willing to reveal it faithfdly and honestly. 3) They should not be biased and prejudiced. 4) They must be capable of expressing themselves to the true spirit of the inquiry.

C) Use of Local Reports

'This method involves the use of local newspaper, magazines and journals by the investigators. The information is collected by local press correspondents and not by the investigators. Needless to say, this method does not yield sufficient and reliable data. The method is less costly but should not be adopted where high degree of accuracy or precision is required.

D) Questionnaire

It is the most important and systematic method of collecting primary data, especially when the inquiry is quite extensive. It involves preparation of a list of questions relevant to the inquiry and presenting them in the form of a booklet, often called a questionnaire. The questionnaire is divided into two parts:

1) General introductory part which contains questions'regarding the identity of the respondent and contains information such as name, address, telephone number, qualification, profession, etc.

2) Main question part containing questions connected with the inquiry. These questions differ from inquiry to inquiry.

Limitations of Secondary Data

Although the secondary source is cheap in term of money, time and effort, utmost care should be taken in their use. It is desirable that such data should be vast and current inquiry. The suitability of the data may be judged by comparing the nature and scope of the present inquiry with that of original inquiry. Secondary data will be reliable if these were collected by unbiased, intelligent and trained investigators.

The time period to which these data belong, should also be properly scrutinized.Comer has rightly remarked, "Statistics, especially other people b statistics are full ofpitfalls for the user". Needless to say, before using secondary data, the investigator must weigh the advantage in terms of saving of money, time and effort with the disadvantage of reaching misleading conclusions. Whether secondary data are safe or not should be judged from its adequacy, suitability and reliability.

Thus, before the use of secondary data, i.e., otherpersons' data, we must properly scrutinize and edit them to find whether these data are: 1) Reliable, 2) Suitable, and 3) Adequate.

(1) Reliability of data has to be the obvious requirement of any data, and more so of secondary data. The user must make hirnseWherself sure about it must check whether data were collected by reliable, trained and unbased investigators hm dependable sources or not. Second, we should see whether data belong to almost the same type of class of pedple or not. Third, he should make sure that due to the lapse of time, the conditions prevailing then are not much different from the conditions of today in respect of habits, customs, fashion, etc.Of course we cannot hope to get exactly the same conditions.

(2) Suitability of data is another requirement. The research worker must ensure that the secondary data he plans to use suits his inquiry. He must match class of people, geographical area, definitions of concepts, unit of measurement, time and other such parameters of the source he wants to use with those of his inquiry. Not only this, the aim and objectives should also be matched for suitability.

(3) Secondary data should not only be reliable and suitable, but also adequate the present inquiry. It is always desirable that the available data be much more than required by the inquiry. For example, data on, say, consumption pattern of a state cannot be dedived from the data on its major cities and towns.

Quantitative Research Design

In quantitative research your aim is to determine the relationship between one thing an independent variable and another a dependent or outcome variable in a population. Quantitative research designs are either descriptive subjects usually measured once or
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experimental subjects measured before and after a treatment. A descriptive study establishes only associations between variables. An experiment establishes causality.

For an accurate estimate of the relationship between variables, a descriptive study usually needs a sample of hundreds or even thousands of subjects; an experiment, especially a crossover, may need only tens of subjects. The estimate of the relationship is less likely to be biased if you have a high participation rate in a sample selected randomly from a population. In experiments, bias is also less likely if subjects are randomly assigned to treatments, and if subjects and researchers are blind to the identity of the treatments.

Qualitative research is concerned with the opinions, experiences and feelings of individuals producing subjective data. Qualitative research describes social phenomena as they occur naturally. No attempt is made to manipulate the situation under study as is the case with experimental quantitative research.

Data are used to develop concepts and theories that help us to understand the social world. This is an inductive approach to the development of theory. Quantitative research is deductive in that it tests theories which have already been proposed Qualitative data are collected through direct encounters with individuals, through one to one interviews or group interviews or by observation. Data collection is time consuming.

The intensive and time consuming nature of data collection necessitates the use of small samples.

Different sampling techniques are used. In quantitative research, sampling seeks to demonstrate representativeness of findings through random selection of subjects. Qualitative sampling techniques are concerned with seeking information from specific groups and subgroups in the population. Criteria used to assess reliability and validity differ from those used in quantitative research

(a) The main methods of collecting qualitative data are: Individual interviews Focus groups

(i) The interview

Interviews can be highly structured, semi structured or unstructured. Structured interviews consist of the interviewer asking each respondent the same questions in the same way. A tightly structured schedule of questions is used, very much like a questionnaire. The questions may even be phrased in such a way that a limited range of responses can be elicited. For example: "Do you think that health services in this area are excellent, good, average or poor? Bearing in mind the cost of conducting a series of one to one interviews, the researcher planning to use structured interviews should carefully consider the information could be more efficiently collected using questionnaires.

Qualitative interviews are semi structured or unstructured. If the interview schedule is too tightly structured this may not enable the phenomena under investigation to be explored in terms of either breadth or depth. Semi structured interviews tend to work well when the interviewer has already identified a number of aspects he wants to be sure of addressing. The interviewer can decide in advance what areas to cover but is open and receptive to unexpected information from the interviewee. This can be particularly important if a limited time is available for each interview and the interviewer wants to be sure that the "key issues" will be covered. Semi structured interviews should not be seen as a soft option requiring little forethought. Good quality qualitative interviews are the result of rigorous preparation. The development of the interview schedule, conducting the interview and analysing the interview data all require careful consideration and preparation. These matters are discussed in the Trent Focus Resource Pack: Using Interviews in a Research Project.

(ii) Focus groups

Sometimes it is preferable to collect information from groups of people rather than from a series of individuals. Focus groups can be useful to obtain certain types of information or when circumstances would make it difficult to collect information using other methods to data collection. They have been widely used in the private sector over the past few decades, particularly market research. They are being increasing used in the public sector.
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Limited resources prevent more than a small number of interviews being undertaken. It is possible to identify a number of individuals who share a common factor and it is desirable to collect the views of several people within that population sub group. Group interaction among participants has the potential for greater insights to be developed. (a) Characteristics of a focus group The recommended size of a group is of 6 10 people. Smaller than this limits the potential on the amount of collective information. More than this makes it difficult for everyone to participate and interact. Several focus groups should be run in any research project. It would be wrong to rely on the views of just one group. The group may be subject to internal or external factors of which the investigator is unaware. This can lead to idiosyncratic results. Individual groups may not go very well: the members may be reluctant to participate or not interact well with each other and limited insight will be gained. Sufficient groups should be run to provide adequate breadth and depth of information but a small number of groups may achieve this, as few as three or four. There is no upper limit on the number of focus group interviews that could be held although this will be limited by resources. The members of each focus group should have something in common, characteristics which are important to the topic of investigation. For example, they may all be members of the same profession or they may work in the same team. They may all be patients at a practice or have experienced a similar health problem or be receiving

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similar treatment. Participants might or might not know each other. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Following on from, focus groups are usually specially convened groups. It may be necessary or even desirable to use pre formed groups but difficulties may occur. This is usually due to the pre existing purpose of the group which can lead to the group having a particular perspective or bias which limits their potential for providing information. For example, pressure groups or groups with some political basis. Qualitative information is collected which makes use of participants feelings, perceptions and opinions. Just as in individual interviews data collection and analysis is time consuming. Using qualitative approaches requires certain skills. The researchers require a range of skills: groups skills in facilitating and moderating, listening, observing and analysing.

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Comparison of qualitative and quantitative research terms.

Each of the various features of qualitative research may be viewed as a strength or as a weakness. This depends on the original purpose of the research. For example, one common criticism levied at qualitative research is that the results of a study may not be generalisable to a larger population because the sample group was small and the subjects were not chosen randomly. But the original research question may have sought insight into a specific subgroup of the population, not the general population because the subgroup is special or different from the general population and that specialness is the focus of the research. The small sample may have been necessary because very few subjects were available such as is the case with some ethnic groups or patient groups suffering from a rare condition. In such studies, general visibility of the findings to a wider, more diverse population is not an aim.

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