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Data Collection Techniques

This document outlines various qualitative data collection techniques including observation, interviews, focus groups, and visual methods. It discusses naturalistic observation, participant observation, unstructured interviews, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. For each technique, it describes how they are conducted and important aspects to consider such as rapport, question construction, sampling, and ethics. The goal is to provide researchers with guidance on collecting rich qualitative data.

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134 views35 pages

Data Collection Techniques

This document outlines various qualitative data collection techniques including observation, interviews, focus groups, and visual methods. It discusses naturalistic observation, participant observation, unstructured interviews, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. For each technique, it describes how they are conducted and important aspects to consider such as rapport, question construction, sampling, and ethics. The goal is to provide researchers with guidance on collecting rich qualitative data.

Uploaded by

Tinotenda
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Qualitative Data Collection

Techniques
Data Collection techniques
• Include observation, interviews, focus group
discussions and visual methods.
• Interviews are the most common data
collection technique in qualitative research
(Forrester, 2010).
Observation
• Observation may be used as the only data
gathering technique or it can be used
alongside other techniques.
• The major purpose of observational research
is to provide clear and accurate descriptions of
behavior (Goodwin & Goodwin, 2017).
• There are two popular observation techniques
namely: naturalistic observation and
participant observation.
Naturalistic observation
• Also known as simple observation or non participant
observation.
• Researchers study their participants from ‘outside’.
• There is no direct interaction with one’s participants.
• The researcher’s position is clearly defined and
different from that of the participants
(Sarantakos,2005).
• Naturalistic observation has the following
weaknesses
• People may alter their behaviour, become
uneasy or stop activities altogether when they
are aware that they are being observed.
Participant observation
• Can be used to avoid interference with the observed
person.
• Observers hide the real purpose of their presence by
becoming an integral part of the group, and
observations are made as a member of the group
(Brekwell, 2012).
• Becoming an insider allows a deeper insight into the
research problem since one enjoys the confidence of
participants and shares their experiences without
disturbing their behaviour.
• The researcher may become emotionally
engaged and therefore lose detachment from
people and events.
• Inaccurate information may be recorded, since
notes are taken down secretly or from
memory.
Interviews
• Qualitative interviewing characteristically
involves questions and probes by the
interviewer designed to encourage the
interviewee to talk freely and extensively
about the topic(s) defined by the researcher
(Howitt, 2013).
• A good qualitative interviewer needs highly
developed listening skills, on-the-spot analytic
skills, satisfactory interpersonal skills and
experience.
Unstructured interviews
• They are characterised by their lack of a
predetermined interview schedule (Landridge,
2004.
• They are usually explorative and most useful
where little is known about the topic.
• They are appropriate for certain theoretical
perspectives such as ethnography.
Semi structured interviews
• The most widely used data collection
technique in qualitative research in
psychology (Willig, 2013).
• The researcher has a set of questions on an
interview schedule, but the interview will be
guided by the schedule rather than dictated
by it (Smith & Osborn, 2003).
• The interviewer is free to probe interesting areas
that arise.
• The respondent is perceived as the experiential
expert on the subject and should therefore be
allowed maximum opportunity to tell their own
story.
• Semi structured interviews facilitate
rapport/empathy, they allow greater flexibility of
coverage and allow the interviewer to go into novel
areas and they tend to produce richer data.
• This form of interviewing reduces the control
the investigator has over the situation, takes
longer to carry out and is harder to analyse.
Constructing the interview schedule

Constructing the schedule itself involves the


following;
1. Thinking about the broad range of issues the
interview has to cover
2. Arranging the topics in the most appropriate
sequence.
• 3. Thinking of appropriate questions related to
each area in order to address the issues the
researcher is interested in.
• 4. Thinking about the probes and prompts
which could follow from the answers given to
some of the questions
• A probe is a follow up question that
encourages a participant to expand on an
initial answer in order to obtain more depth in
their response.
Constructing the questions
• The respondent should be encouraged to
speak about the topic freely .
• At times initial questions will be insufficient to
elicit a satisfactory response.
• The researcher has to construct probes that
are framed more explicitly.
The interview
• The researcher has to make sure that the
interview can proceed without interruption as
possible.
• It is better and fruitful to conduct the
interview with the respondent alone.
Interviewing techniques
• Try not to rush in too quickly (Smith & Osborn,
2007).
• It is ideal to begin with general questions then
move on to personal matters when rapport
has been established.
• Rapport is a key ingredient in qualitative
research interviews (Kings & Horrocks, 2010),
it is essentially about trust, enabling the
participant to open up to the interviewer.
• Use minimal probes, e.g can you tell me more
about that or how did you feel about that?
• Ask one question at a time.
• The interviewer needs to find a right balance
between maintaining control of the interview
and where it is, allowing the interviewee space
to redefine the topic under investigation and
thus to generate novel insights for the
researcher.
• The interviewer also needs to monitor the
effect of the interview on the respondent.
• The researcher also needs to be aware of
linguistic variability.
Focus Groups
• A FG is a small number of people in an
informal group discussion focused on
particular topics or set of issues (Wilkinson,
2015).
• A focus group is a collective interview, directed
by the researcher (moderator), which exploits
the interactive potential of the situation in
order to generate rich data (Howitt, 2013) .
• The researcher takes on the role of a
moderator whose task is to introduce the
group members to another, to introduce the
focus of the group and to steer the issues
raised by others (Willig, 2013).
• Important characteristics of a moderator are
avoiding expressing personal opinions and
avoiding appearing to be judgemental (Gibbs,
1997)
• The discussion is based around a series of
questions known as the focus group schedule
(Wilkinson, 2015).
• The technique inherently allows observation
of group dynamics, discussion and first hand
insights into the respondents’ behaviour,
attitudes, language.
• FGDs do not allow all individuals to express
themselves freely and this is likely to increase
the effects of social desirability.
• FGs are best reported in ways which preserve
the participants own words e.g by using
illustrative quotations.
Ethical issues
• Informed consent, ethical clearances and
avoiding physical and psychological harm to
participants in the form of stress and anxiety.
Preparing Materials
• The focus group schedule should engage the
participants, use appropriate vocabulary, the
questions should flow logically.
• It should also provide the opportunity for a
variety of viewpoints to be expressed, allow
participants to raise points which may not
have occurred to the researcher.
• Write out the introduction to the session
(include a recap of the study, the procedure to
be followed and the ground rules for the focus
group) and the closing comments (include a
summary of the session, any necessary
debriefing and a reiteration of thanks).
Selecting participants
• In order to optimise the choice of group
participants, the researcher must ask
themself what sort of participants will yield
the most satisfactory information relevant to
your research question.
• They should be chosen in order to maximise the
productivity of the discussion (Howitt & Cramer,
2011).
• Depending on the research question,
participants may be heterogeneous or
homogeneous.
• Focus group members should generally be varied
in terms of obvious factors.
• Always over recruit participants by about 50%.
Choosing the venue
• The location should set the tone of the
research as professional and where possible
on neutral ground.
• Where there is no choice of venue, the group’s
own territory might be ideal.
• Where there is choice, the main consideration
is balancing participant comfort , convenience
and a good recording environment.
• Participants should be seated in a circle either
in easy chairs or around a table.

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