ResearchMethods.docx
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ResearchMethods.docx
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ResearchMethods
MULTIMEDIATRAININGKIT
INTRODUCTIONTOBASICRESEARCHMETHODSHANDOUT
Developedby:
AlanFinlay
MULTIMEDIATRAININGKIT1
INTRODUCTIONTOBASICRESEARCHMETHODSHANDOUT1
Aboutthisdocument1
Copyrightinformation1
Introduction:
Whatisresearch?
1
Quantitativeresearch3
Overview3
Qualitativeresearch5
Overview5
Face-to-faceinterviewsandfocusgroups6
Sitevisitsandobservation7
Casestudies8
Participatoryresearch10
Planningyourresearch11
Stepone:
What?
11
Steptwo:
How?
Where?
Who?
12
Stepthree:
When?
14
Stepfour:
Why?
(Gettingtheanswer)15
Aboutthisdocument
ThesematerialsarepartoftheMultimediaTrainingKit(MMTK).TheMMTKprovidesanintegratedsetofmultimediatrainingmaterialsandresourcestosupportcommunitymedia,communitymultimediacentres,telecentres,andotherinitiativesusinginformationandcommunicationstechnologies(ICTs)toempowercommunitiesandsupportdevelopmentwork.
Copyrightinformation
ThisunitismadeavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution-ShareAlikeLicense.Tofindouthowyoumayusethesematerialspleasereadthecopyrightstatementincludedwiththisunitorseehttp:
//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/legalcode
Introduction:
Whatisresearch?
Mostofusareresearchersmostofthetime.Wedon’tnecessarilythinkofourselvesasresearchersbutresearchisreallyaboutcollectinginformationthattellsusaboutsomethingandithelpsusmakeinformeddecisions.Wedothiseveryday,whetherit’sreadinganewspaperorlisteningtotheradio.Perhapswewanttoknowwhatpoliticalpartytovotefor,andwanttofindoutmoreaboutit,orweneedtophoneacompanytofindoutmoreaboutajobvacancy.Perhapswe’reenquiringaboutaschool,orthebestpriceforbuyinganewcomputer.Mostoftheseprocessesinvolveresearchatsomelevel.Infact,somepeoplemightarguethatmerelyobservingwhatisgoingonaroundusisaformofresearch–awayofgatheringdataorinformationwhichwethenorganizeinacoherentway,sothatwecanact.
Ofcoursewhatwecallresearch(asin’basicresearchmethods’)isamoreformalwayofgoingaboutaskingquestions.Weusuallybeginwithsomethingveryspecificwewanttoknow.Thenweaskthequestionorquestionsinastructuredway.Thisstructureiscalledamethodology.Inresearch,therearealotofdifferentkindsofmethodologies,andsomeofthemcanbeverycomplicated.However,therearesomebasiconesthathavebeentriedandtested,andwhichcanbeeasilylearned.
Therearemanydifferentkindsofresearch.Forexample:
Marketresearchislearningaboutbusinessmarketssothatinvestmentorbusinessdecisionscanbemade.Thekindsofquestionsthatgetaskedhereinclude:
Whoarethepotentialcustomers?
Whatdothecustomersneed?
Whoarethecompetitors?
Andwhatisthemarketenvironment?
Economicresearchhasitsownwayofgoingaboutthings.Forinstance,itmayinvolvespeciallyconstructedformulasandequationsthatfacilitateanunderstandingoftheeconomicenvironment.Itmayaskquestionssuchas:
Aretheeconomicfundamentalsinplace?
Whataretheeconomictrendsinthemanufacturingorminingsectors?
Ofcourse,someofthequestionseconomicresearchasksmaybesimilartothosemarketresearchasks.
Scientificresearchmayinvolveawholerangeofsophisticatedandspecialistresearchinstruments,suchasmathematicalorchemicalformulasandveryspecializedmethodologies.
Mediaresearchwillinvolvelookingatissuessuchasmediacontentandaudience.Itsownkindofspecificinstruments–suchaswaysofmeasuringaudiencepreferencesanditsspendingpower–havebeendevelopedforthis.
Socialresearchisquiteabroadtermandmayinvolvedifferentkindsofresearch:
fromgatheringinformationonthepopulation(demographics)totheattitudesandbehavioursofpeopleinacommunityorcountry.
Althoughmanyofthesedifferentkindsofresearchhavedevelopedmethodologiesthatarespecifictotheirparticulardiscipline,therearebasicresearchmethodsthatarecommontomost.ThisMMTKunitoutlinessomeofthesebasicmethodologiesandoffersastep-by-stepguidetoplanningyourresearch.
Basicresearchmethods
Thetypesofbasicresearchmethodologiesthisunitwillintroduceyoutoare:
-Quantitativeresearch
-Qualitativeresearch
-Participatoryresearch
Withinthiscontext,thisunitalsolooksat:
-Conductingsurveys
-Conductinginterviews
-Conductingfocusgroups
-Developingcasestudies
Eachofthesemethodologieshelpsyoufindoutdifferentthingsindifferentways.Theycanbeusedontheirown,orinavarietyofcombinations.Youmayevenwanttouseelementsofeachtomakeupyourownwayofgoingaboutresearch.Butfirstitisimportanttotrytounderstandwhateachmethodologyentails.
Quantitativeresearch
Overview
Quantitativeresearch(theword‘quantitative’comesfromtheword‘quantity’)involvesinformationordataintheformofnumbers.Thisallowsustomeasureortoquantifyawholerangeofthings.Forexample:
thenumberofpeoplewholivebelowthepovertyline;thenumberofchildrenbetweenspecificageswhoattendschool;theaveragespendingpowerinacommunity;orthenumberofadultswhohaveaccesstocomputersinavillageortown.
Acommonwayofconductingquantitativeresearchisusingasurvey.Surveysusuallyinvolvefillinginaquestionnaire.Theusefulnessofasurveyisthattheinformationyougetisstandardizedbecauseeachrespondent–thepersonwhofillsoutthequestionnaire–isansweringtheexactsamequestions.Onceyouhaveenoughresponsestoyourquestionnaire,youcanthenputthedatatogetherandanalyseitinawaythatanswersyourresearchquestion–orwhatitisyouwanttoknow.
Itisimportanttorealizethatquantitativeresearchdoesnotnecessarilymeanthatrespondentswillgivenumbersfortheiranswerstoyourquestions.Sometimestheymayanswera‘yes’or‘no’question,asin:
’Doyouhaveacomputer?
’Sometimestheymightwritedownananswer,aword,asentence,oraparagraphtodescribesomething,asinanswersto:
’Whatisthebrandormakeofyourcomputer?
’and’Pleasedescribeindetailwhatyouuseyourcomputerfor.’Otheranswersmayinvolvenumbers,asin:
’Howmanycomputersdoyouhaveinyourbusinessororganization?
’
Howthesevariedresponsesbecomenumbersisinthewaytheyareanalysed.Fromtheexamplequestionsabove,onemightbeabletosay:
20outofthe30(66%)respondentsuseaparticularbrandofcomputer,while5(16%)useanother.Theremainingfiverespondentsalluseddifferentbrandsofcomputerswhichyouwouldlist.Youmightthenwanttoprovidesomeexamplesofhowthecomputersareused.
Thereare,ofcourse,manydifferentkindsofquantitativeresearchbesidesthesurvey.Observationalresearchinvolveswatchingorobservingvariousbehavioursandpatterns.Perhapsyouwanttofindouthowmanycarsofaparticularmakeuseaspecificintersection.Todothisyoumightstandattheintersectionataparticulartimeofday,andrecordthemakesofcars.Perhapsyouwanttomonitorthenumberofpeopleenteringaparticularshopatspecifictimesoftheday,recordingtheirbehaviours,andwhetherornottheybuyanythingorarejustbrowsing.
Morecomplicatedformsofquantitativeresearchareexperimentalresearchormathematicalmodellingresearch.(Seetheglossaryfortheirdefinitions.)
Mediaresearchmayuseaformofquantitativeresearchtounderstandthenumberofarticlespublishedinarangeofnewspapersonaparticulartopic.Thesearticlesarethenanalysedaccordingtovariousmonitoringcriteria,suchasthespecificfocusofthearticle,theauthor,thedateofpublication,pagenumber,thecolumnlengthandeventheheadline.Fromthis,youcanmakeanalysessuchas:
’OfallthecommercialnewspapersinNigeria,25%ofthemcarriedstoriesonHIV/AIDSduringJanuaryandFebruary2004.’Youmaywanttoaddthatmostofthesewerewrittenbyfivejournalists,orthatnoneofthemappearedonthefrontpageofthenewspaperduringthisperiod.
Withallkindsofresearch,itisimportanttobeasspecificaspossible,andtoexplainyourassumptions.Remember,yourresearchresultsmightnottellyoueverythingbuttheywillbevaluableforwhattheydoreveal.Intheexampleofthemediaresearch,wemightbeabletoconcludethatHIV/AIDSdidn’tfeatureprominentlyinthecommercialmediaduringthemonitoredperiod.Wemightwanttofindoutthereasonsforthisanddecidetointerviewthenewspapereditors.Bydoingthis,wewouldbedoingsomequalitativeresearch.
Researchtip:
Surveys
Surveyscanbeconductedinanumberofways.Themostimportantthingistothinkclearlythroughthekindofquestionsyouwanttoask,andtomakesurethattheresponseswillansweryourresearchquestion.Whenyougetyourresponses,youneedtobesureofexactlywhattheyare(andaren’t)tellingyou.
Here’sarealexampleofhowtheanswerstosurveysneedtobetreatedcarefully:
RecentresearchbytheHumanSciencesResearchCouncilinSouthAfricahasshownthatmorethanthree-quartersofSouthAfricansareopposedtosame-sexmarriagesandabortion,andthatasimilarnumbersupportthedeathpenalty.
Inresponsetothequestion‘Doyouthinkitiswrongornotwrongfortwoadultsofthesamesextohavesexualrelations?
’theresearchfoundthat78%ofrespondentssaiditisalwayswrongfortwoadultsofthesamesextohavesexualrelations.However,astheresearcherspointedout,theansweronlyreflectsanattitude,butdoesnotnecessarilymeanthattherespondentswillactontheirattitudes.
Besidesbeingverycarefulaboutthekindsofquestionsweask,andwhattheanswers
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