Researching People: Using questionnaires and interviews

Jenna CondieUniversity of Salford

@jennacondie

Image: Flickr: allthecolor

Overview

• A session for you – what are your research questions?

• Research as a continuum• Differences between questionnaires and interviews• Being a pragmatic researcher and ‘bricolage’ • The importance of being ethical• Questionnaire & interview design• Data collection and data analysis• Interdisciplinarity as the future.

What kind of research questions are you asking?

What?

When? Why?

Where?

Who?

How?

Flickr: dullhunk

Which?

Can?

Do?

Does?Could?Would? Should?If?

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Research as continuum

Positivism Interpretivism/Constructionism

RealismOntology – what can we know?

Relativism

Epistemology – how can we know?

Methodology – how can we find out?Quantitative Qualitative

Method – what tool to use?e.g. experiments, surveys e.g. interviews, diaries

So, before you make any decisions about method…

…ask yourself the following:• What kind of knowledge does your

methodology aim to produce?• What kinds of assumptions does the

methodology make about the world?• How does the methodology conceptualise the

role of the researcher? (Willig, 2001)

Questionnaires - tools for gathering structured

information from people (Coolican, 1999)

Interviews – opportunity for researcher to learn

about participants lived experience

(Willig, 2001)

Questionnaires and interviews most dominant methods in research with people

Why? – Building blocks of market research (Hague, 1993) and social research (Robson, 2002)– Survey/interview society– Easy?

But there are many other ways!

Flickr: AhmadHammoud

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The pragmatic researcher

Do whatever is best to answer the research question

Bricolage: concept adopted by qualitative researchers to define those who are increasingly using an eclectic range of methodological approaches together (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000, McLeod, 2001, Kincheloe, 2001)

Researcher-as-bricoleur (from French word for craftsman)

Blurred boundaries: “We are no longer bound by the rigid scientific rigour and instead we seem to adopt a ‘pick n mix’ approach that is adaptable to the circumstance and needs of the research question” (Watt, 2010, p. 51). Flickr: gregheo

British Psychological Society (2009) – Respect and integrity– Confidentiality– Informed consent– Right to withdraw– Avoid harm– Debrief

• Consent form• Information sheet• Internet Mediated Research (IMR)

The importance of being ethical

9Flickr: Michael D. Dunn

Questionnaire(Realist, Positivist, Quantitative?)

o Larger data setso Frequencieso Statistical infoo Measuring responseo Closed/Open Q’so Knowingo Cost

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Qs and Is – general differences…Interviews(Relativist, Interpretivist, Qualitative?)

Smaller data sets Meaning Language Lived experience Open Q’s Understanding Cost

What method best fits your research question?

1. Plan – what do you really want to know? (Back to the question!)

2. Secondary research – how have others asked the questions?

3. Future – what are you going to do with data? What will it be used for?

4. Pilot – always (always!) test out your Q/I5. Sample – who do you need to include?6. Practical – what is possible? Realistic strategy7. Target – how many Q’s/I’s needed?8. Reflection – reflect along the way

How to…good advice

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Usually followed as a script

- Replicable - Standardised- Objective

Structured Questionnaires

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1. Think about the objectives of the survey2. Think about how the interview will be carried out3. Think about the knowledge and interest of the

respondent4. Think about the introduction5. Think about the order of the questions6. Think about the type of questions7. Think about the possible answers at the same time

as thinking about the question itself8. Think about how the data will be processed.

(Hague, 1993)

These apply to interviews too!

8 rules for framing questionnaires

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Structured Questionnaires

Routing – only asking the relevant questions

Flickr: skittledog

Response scales (to measure)

Strongly Agree

Agree Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree Strongly DisagreeLikert

1Cold

2 3 4 5 6 7Hot

Semantic Differential

Numerical 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Question Wording

Understandable

Jargon Free

Consistent

Grammatically simple

Concise

Ethical

Focused

Answerable

Flickr: Orange Steeler

Question Order

No surprises!

Time to build rapport

Flickr: *¦·sindorella·¦*

Open Questions

• Semi-structured questionnaire• Capture nuances

“In giving this rating, are there any particular aspects of this event that you are thinking of?” _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Look towards already established ways

• Key phrase ‘Do you mind me asking’

• Gender, age, occupation, ethnicity, tenure, car owner, location…and so on… (ask at the end!)

• What will make your sample representative?

Asking about socio-demographics

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Data Collection• Collate and clean• Software - SPSS/Excel

Data Analysis• Frequencies (e.g. 79% of respondents said)• Differences (e.g. females were more likely to)• Correlations (e.g. between two scales)• Open questions e.g. quantify or treat as interview data?

• Link to your theoretical framework!

What to do with the data?

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• Often use an interview schedule• Audio-recorded• Co-constructed • Rapport• Role of interviewer

• A different researcher would get a different story

Semi-structured interviews

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Flickr: MyDigitalSLR

Example interview schedule

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JC: erm what about the sort of more pleasant sounds you know not necessarily

MP: like the birds and things yeah you do get a lot of wild life and awful lot of wild life around here and its like because we’re so close to the park its like living in the countryside cos you get the birds chirping first thing in the morning outside your window so it is really nice for the wildlife as well

JC: is that different from where you were living before?

MP: well we used to live right next to the woodland

JC: aw so its quite similar

MP: so it it is similar apart from you don’t hear the owls [JC: right ok] so (laughs) yeah that’s the only difference really

JC: so is that a good thing?

MP: well not really cos I like the owl sound and because I’d lived on [PLACE OMITTED] for like 23 years it was what I was used to and coming over here at first it was very hard cos I’ve never been so far away from my mum and dad erm but now I’ve just gotten used to it all and everything

Example interview data

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“…how does who I am, who I have been, who I think I am, and how I feel affect

data collection and analysis”

(Pillow, 2003, p. 176)

ReflexivityContemplating the ways the researcher may have influenced the research and findings (Yardley, 2008)

Flickr: tonyhall

• Transcription (1 hr audio = 10 hrs work)• Be systematic and organised• Interpretation required!

Thematic Analysis “the first qualitative method of analysis that researchers should learn” (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p. 78)

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What to do with the data?

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• Social science research methods• Psychology• What assumptions are you making about people? • How does Q/I data relate to your discipline?• Objective (e.g. technical measurements) • Subjectivity (e.g. attitudes, emotions, cognitions)

• Innovation

Interdisciplinarity as the future

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• DEFRA Vibration Project

Example: Interdisciplinarity

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Social Science TeamAcoustics Team

Human response to vibration in residential

environments

• Criticisms of any method• Acknowledge criticism • Advantages to all methods• Acknowledge advantages• Evaluate research using criteria that is method-

appropriate• Justify reasons for using methods you choose –

back to your research question!• Make suggestions for further research

No right or wrong way

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• Toolkits – Realities at University of Manchester• Online survey tools www.surveymonkey.com • BPS ethical guidelines

http://www.bps.org.uk/the-society/code-of-conduct/code-of-conduct_home.cfm • BPS conducting research on the internet

http://www.bps.org.uk/publications/guidelines-for-practitioners/guidelines-for-practitioners.cfm

• Sage Research Methods Online http://srmo.sagepub.com/ • Hague (1993) E-book - questionnaire design

http://www.b2binternational.com/b2b-blog/free-ebook-questionnaire-design/• Braun, V., & Clark, V., (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology

http://www.resilienceresearch.org/files/braun_clarke_using_thematic_analysis_in_psychology.pdf

• Dancey, C., & Reidy, J. (2005) Statistics without maths for psychology: using SPSS for Windows (AL)

• Field, A. (2005) (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (CW/AL) & stats website http://www.statisticshell.com/

• Robson, C. (2002) Real World Research (CW)• Willig, C. (2001) Introducing qualitative research in psychology: adventures in theory and

method (AL)

Some Resources

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Researching people: Using questionnaires and interviews

Jenna CondieUniversity of Salford

@jennacondie