Effective Questioning Techniques and Research Methods in Social Sciences, Lecture notes of Social Statistics and Data Analysis

Download Effective Questioning Techniques and Research Methods in Social Sciences and more Lecture notes Social Statistics and Data Analysis in PDF only on Docsity!

A Good Questioning Route

 Focus groups employ different types of

questions…each has distinct purpose.

 5 Basic Question Types: Opening,

Introductory, Transition, Key,

Ending.

Opening Questions

 Goal: get people talking & make them

comfortable. Ask by going one by one

around table.

 Easy to answer….ask facts not opinions or

attitudes.

 Avoid asking things which translate into

power, status, expertise differences (e.g.,

occupation, education).

Transition Questions

 Move conversation toward key questions.

 Link introductory & key questions.

 Strengthen connection between participants

& topic.

Key Questions

 Valuable information.

 10 - 20 minutes each.

 Moderator pauses & probes.

 1/3 to 1/2 way through focus group.

Making Questions Open-Ended...

 Respondents direct their response.

 Reveals what is on interviewee’s mind.

 Beware of questions that only appear to be open-

ended…questions with phrases such as “how satisfied”, “to what extent”, “how much”.

 Avoid asking “Why” questions….can lead people

to rationalize attitudes, responses, behaviors.

More on making questions open-ended...

 Break “why” questions into different open-ended

questions: (Do not ask “Why did you attend Nipissing University?”). Instead….

What prompted you to attend NU?

What aspects of NU do you like?

What aspects of NU do you dislike?

 Ask “What” or “How”.

 Religion…..attend church services.

 Homeless.…become a homeless person for several days or weeks.

 Labor disputes…sit in on collective bargaining, attend union meetings, march a picket line.

 Technology….enter a workplace and observe reactions of workers.

Major Types of Field Studies:

 Participant Observation

 In-depth Interviewing

 Field Experiments

 Covert Observational Studies

 With Participant Observation (PO), the researcher develops close, direct attachment to group.

 PO researchers adopt perspectives, share in activities & interactions, learn language, habits, & lifestyles.

More on Participant Observation …

 Document richness, depth, meaning of social behaviors in ways that experiments & surveys cannot match.

 Advantages: can directly gather data on social behaviors occurring in real social environments or contexts****. Observations occur in natural environment… less contrived & reactive.

 Potential for longitudinal research…or documenting behaviors over time!

Disadvantages of Participant Observation…

 Little or no control over the context of data collection ….lots of observations can be missed.

 Difficult to quantify (and statistically analyze) many observations.****.

 Data usually collected from small, non- probability samples…can have dubious external validity.

 Vulnerable to ethical (and even legal) issues.

 PO in public settings is less problematic, gaining access is a matter of convenience & practicality.

 Permission (other than from ethics committees) is typically not needed.

 Once access to the site is achieved, gaining rapport with “informants” is important. With suspicious or hostile groups gaining rapport can difficult; with other groups gaining rapport can be easy.

 Observe & record data ….should always be guided by hypotheses & research questions.

Non-reactive Research Designs

 (1) Secondary Data Analysis, (2) Content Analysis, (3) Comparative Studies.

 Secondary Data Analysis (SDA) is research based on data, usually from surveys, collected by others…such as Statistics Canada.

 While popular today, SDA has a long history in sociology (Durkheim’s study of suicide used vital statistics gathered from several governments in Europe).

Limitations of SDA:

 Gap between ideal data for testing hypotheses

and what is available from secondary sources.

 Time delays…often must wait 12 to 24 months

before data is available to outside researchers. In the case of private sources (corporations), the data sets may never be made available.

 Huge number of data sets out there can make

finding best one a challenge.

Content Analysis (CA):

 A method for objectively studying the content of communications (e.g., television / radio shows, books, magazines, movies, advertising etc.,).

 Aside from testing hypotheses, major uses of CA include: (1) describing trends, (2) auditing communications, (3) analyzing techniques of persuasion, (4) identifying authors.

 Indirect observation through examining & analyzing communications people produce and consume.