Understanding Data and Ways to Systematically Collect Data

CONTENT STANDARD

The learner demonstrates understanding of:

1. qualitative research designs

2. the description of sample

3. data collection and analysis procedures such as survey, interview, and observation

4. the application of creative design principles for execution

PERFORMANCE STANDARD

The learner is able to describe qualitative research designs, sample, and data collection and analysis procedures, and apply imaginatively art/design principles to create artwork

LEARNING COMPETENCIES

The learner:

1. chooses appropriate qualitative research design (CS_RS11-IVa-c-1)

2. describes sampling procedure and sample (CS_RS11-IVa-c-2)

3. plans data collection and analysis procedures (CS_RS11-IVa-c-3)

4. presents written research methodology (CS_RS11-IVa-c-4)

5. utilizes materials and techniques to produce creative work (CS_RS11-IVa-c-5)

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN

NARRATIVE RESEARCH

Focus or Objective: Explores a topic that has not been studied

Problem Type: Need to discover and investigate

Focus of Analysis: Studying manifestation of topic being studied

Data Collection: Multiple sources: interview, observations, documents, audio-visual materials

Data Analysis: Analyze data through coding to establish new information

PHENOMENOLOGY

Focus or Objective: Understand essence of the experience

Problem Type: Need to describe essence of a lived phenomenon

Focus of Analysis: Studying several individuals that have shared experience

Data Collection: Interview but also documents and observations

Data Analysis: Analyze data for statements and meaning to describe the essence

GROUNDED THEORY

Focus or Objective: Develop a theory grounded in data

Problem Type: Need to ground a theory from people’s view

Focus of Analysis: Studying a process or interaction among many individuals

Data Collection: Mainly interviews

Data Analysis: Analyze data through open coding, axial coding, and selective coding

ETHNOGRAPHY

Focus or Objective: Describe and interpret a culture-sharing group

Problem Type: Need to describe and interpret shared patters of culture within a group.

Focus of Analysis: Studying a group that shares the same culture

Data Collection: Mainly interviews and observations and other forms collected in the field.

Data Analysis: Analyze data through description of culture-sharing group

CASE / MULTIPLE CASE STUDY

Focus or Objective: Explain and describe a case or multiple case

Problem Type: Need to give deep understanding of a case or cases.

Focus of Analysis: Studying an activity, event, or program with more than one individual.

Data Collection: Multiple sources: interview, observations, documents, audio-visual materials

Data Analysis: Analyze data through description of the case/s and themes

Template:

RESEARCH DESIGN

The study focused on the _________. Given the qualitative nature of this study, this will be approached with _____________. The researchers identified this to be appropriate on the objectives of the study since it attempts to ________________. Include citations that would support the appropriateness of the approach in the study.

SAMPLING IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Population - Complete group of persons, animals, or objects that possess the same characteristics that are of the researcher’s interest.

· Target Population - made up of all research elements that the researcher would want his/her findings to be generalized to.

· Accessible Population - group of research elements within which the research respondents will be taken from.

Example: The study requires the participation of SHS students.

SHS students in the ENTIRE Philippines (target)

SHS students enrolled in BTIHS (accessible)

Sample Size - Method of selecting respondents or people to participate in the research study

Note: Most of the qualitative research do not require sample size as it usually requires the achievement of the saturation point.

Sample: Group of individuals that represents the characteristics of a population.

- Participants – term that covers individuals who join the interview, FGD meeting, or observation in general.

- Subjects – term used to call individuals being observed (observation)

- Key Informants – are experts. Researchers only use key informant interviews when they can secure a participant with unique knowledge or expertise of a topic (professionals like lawyers, doctors, engineers or cancer patient survivors, rape victims, former drug users)

Sampling - process of obtaining the participants of a study from a larger pool of potential participants (population)

The logic applied to research sampling is analogous to food tasting. A spoon of the sauce represents the taste of the entire recipe, in this case, the sample represents the preference of the population.

Advantages of Sampling

• It saves time, effort, and resources. Dealing with a smaller number of participants is easier than taking the whole population.

• It minimizes casualties. In some studies, the respondents are needed to be examined thoroughly, thus, resulting to withdrawal of some participants. Withdrawal is crucial especially if only few of them are selected. Therefore, sampling of the correct number of respondents needed prevent undesirable casualties.

• It paves the way for thorough investigation. Since the research respondents are only small in number, the researcher could focus on each respondent and do a thorough examination on them. More time of observation could be spent if there is a manageable number of respondent.

• It allows easy data handling, collection, and analysis. A small number of research respondents allows the researcher to manage his/her data collection and analysis procedures rather than doing it with a large number.

Probabilistic / Scientific Sampling

• Each member of the population has a chance of being selected as a participant

• Common for QUANTITATIVE

• Scientific Sampling

Non-probabilistic / Non-scientific Sampling

• Involves choosing participants according to their availability or purpose of the study.

• Usually used in QUALITATIVE

• Non-scientific sampling

Keep in mind…

Data obtained using probabilistic sampling can be applied to the entire population, meanwhile, results through a non-probabilistic sampling cannot be generalized.

Types of Non-ProbabilistIc Sampling

Snowball Sampling

Also known as chain sampling.
Participants identify other potential participants to be included as samples based on referral.
Happens on critical or sensitive topics where participants are difficult to find (drug users, rape victims, etc.)

Convenience Sampling

Also known as accidental sampling.
Participants are sampled according to what is conveniently available.

Purposive Sampling

Also known as judgmental, selective or subjective sampling.
Participants are selected based on pre-determined criteria.
Used in situations where researcher believes some respondents may be more knowledgeable than others (ex: experts, professionals)

DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES

QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION

It is gathering non-numerical information, such as words, images, and observations, to understand individuals’ attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, and motivations in a specific context. It is an approach used in qualitative research. It seeks to understand social phenomena through in-depth exploration and analysis of people’s perspectives, experiences, and narratives.

The data collected through qualitative methods are often subjective, open-ended, and unstructured and can provide a rich and nuanced understanding of complex social phenomena. Several methods are used to collect qualitative data, including interviews, surveys, focus groups, and observations. Understanding the various methods used for gathering qualitative data is essential for successful qualitative research.

The collected research data is used to examine:

Knowledge around a specific issue or a program, experience of people.
Meaning and relationships.
Social norms and contextual or cultural practices demean people or impact a cause.

The qualitative data is textual or non-numerical. It covers mostly the images, videos, texts, and written or spoken words by the people.

Data Collection Procedures

Define your research objectives
Determine the appropriate collection method for your research question.
Develop research instrument
Validate research instrument
Conduct data gathering
Transcribe and record data
Perform member-check meeting (for interview)
Triangulate data (data analysis)

INTERVIEW GUIDE

• Interviews are designed to collect a richer source of information from a small number of people about their attributes, behavior, preferences, feelings, attitudes, opinions, and knowledge.

• Interview questions are usually open-ended questions so that in-depth information will be collected.

Interview Guide - A document that enables the researchers to structure and organize their questions prior to the conduct of interview with the participants.

Interview Protocol

Inform the participant (secure written or verbal confirmation of the interview including the time and venue set by the participant)
Introduction and Briefing – introduce your self (specially if you are not known to the participant), inform him of the following:

• Objectives and purpose of the study

• Reasons why he qualifies to join the interview

• Rights and responsibilities

• Terms and conditions

• Interviewee may exercise his rights like:

• Refraining to answer a question that he realized to be sensitive, incriminating, revealing, or discriminating.

• Voluntary participation – he may decline at any point of the interview.

• Change terms and condition (has decided not to record the interview)

• His responsibilities include:

• Listening well.

• Answering questions clearly, honestly, and adequately.

• Informing the researcher of his reservations.

• Terms and Conditions

• Explanation of his rights and responsibilities

• Duration of the interview.

• Ask if he will create his own alias/pseudonym for the interview or you will be the one to assign for him.

• Permission to audio and/or video record

• How data will be handled and who are the persons who will be accessing the data.

• Format and structure of the interview.

3. Collection of Consent – signing of agreement to participate, consent form, and/or parent’s consent (for minors)

4. Interview Proper – observe ethics during the interview, jot down notes.

5. De-briefing – highlight key points, obtain participant’s feedback and ask him if he has a question.

Guidelines for Interview

• Be punctual during the interview.

• Be in an venue/environment that is free of distractions.

• Ask permission to record.

• Inform him of his rights.

• Refrain from committing physical, and emotional harm

• Respect the anonymity and do not coerce the participant to joining.

• Address terms of confidentiality.

• Explain the purpose of the interview.

• Explain the interview format / structure.

• Indicate interview duration

• Explain how to get in touch.

• Ask if they have questions.

6. Transcription – prepare the transcript of the interview.

7. Member-check meeting – allow the participant to check the transcript for accuracy especially if it has been translated. Have each page of the transcript signed.

Interview Questions:

• Softball (ice breakers) – start by building a rapport with the respondent.

Example: How are you today? Tell me about yourself. What were

you doing before coming here?

• General/Main Questions – questions that could directly the research objective / SOP

Example: What are the challenges that you encountered in online learning?

• Open-ended – questions that requires more than one or one-word response.

Example: What are the advantages of online learning?

• Closed-ended – questions with one specific answer or is answerable by yes or no.

Example: Do you think online learning modality is better than face-to-face?

FOCUSED GROUP DISCUSSION

Gather people from similar backgrounds or experiences together to discuss a specific topic of interest, usually 8 to 10 people.
They are guided by a moderator (group facilitator) who introduces the topics for discussion and motivates the group to participate actively.
The strengths of FGD relies on allowing the participants to agree or disagree with each other. It provides an insight of how the group thinks about issues, inconsistencies, and variations that exist in their community.
FGD can be used to explore the meanings of survey findings that cannot be explained statistically, determine a range of opinions and views about a topic of interest, and collect a wide variety of local terms

FGD Protocol

Step 1 – Select the team to facilitate the discussion

Step 2 – Identify the groups and participants that will take part.

Step 3 – Decided on the timing and location of the meetings

Step 4 – Develop Set of Questions or a Discussion guide

Step 5 – Prepare for FGD Meeting

1. Confirmation of Attendance and distribution of FGD Agenda.

• FGD Agenda is a document which includes ground rules and topics that are expected to be discussed during the meeting. UNLIKE interviews where questions are informed in advanced, FGD participants won’t have a chance to see the questions. Moderator should be good enough to construct questions that:

• Is short and to the point

• Unambiguously worded

• Should be open-ended or sentence completion types.

• Non-threatening, discriminating or embarrassing

• Focused on one dimensions each

2. Beginning

• welcome,

• overview of the topic,

• ground rules,

• first question of agenda.

Skills needed for a moderator:

• Setting of venue, equipment, and refreshment

• Take notes throughout discussion.

• Do not participate in the discussion.

• Acknowledge participants who would like to share/talk.

• Encourage questions and answers.

• Clarify concerns.

FGD Documentation

• Invitation (letter)

• FGD Agenda

• Attendance Sheet

• Background Information Sheet of Participants

• FGD Report

• Narrative and Documentation

• Member-check

OBSERVATIONS

• Research tracks the subjects’ behavioral change over a specific period of time. Observations may happen in the following manner.

• A way to gather data by watching people, events, or noting physical characteristics in their natural setting. Observations can be overt (subjects know they are being observed) or covert (do not know they are being watched).

Types of Observations

• Naturalistic observation. Researcher observes the subjects in the natural setting or in their actual environment. The observation is done from outside the environment.

• Participative observation. The observe in this type of observation requires the researcher to be involved in the usual activities of the subjects. This gives the researcher direct and first-hand experience of what the respondents are experiencing.

• Non-naturalistic observation. This is also called the “ideal-situation” observation where subjects are taken away from their actual environment and are subjected to ideal conditions determined by the researcher.

Guidelines for Observations

• Decide your role-What type of observer are you

• Determine what you are observing. The observation must support what you are trying to learn about the central phenomenon.

• Observe the subject multiple times. This provides a deeper understanding of the subjects

• Take notes. An observer should of some way of taking notes. These notes are called fieldnotes and provide a summary of what was seen during the observation.

• Observer effect, observer bias, and observer expectations are common.

• The observer effect is how the people being observed change their behavior because of the presence of an outsider. For example, it is common for students to behave differently when the principal comes to observe the teacher. They modify their behavior because of the presence of the principal. In addition, if the students are aware of the principal’s purpose, they may act extra obedient for the sake of their teacher.

• Observer bias is the potential that a researchers viewpoint may influence what they see. For example, if a principal is authoritarian he may view a democratic classroom with a laid back teacher as chaotic when the students may actually be learning a great deal.

• Observer expectation is the observer assuming beforehand what they are going to see. For example, if a researcher is going to observe students in a lower income school, he will expect to see low performing unruly students. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as the researcher sees what they expected to see.

Steps in Doing Observation

• Select the Research Site

• Develop the observational protocol

• Focus the observation

• Determine your role

• Record field notes

• Slowly withdraw

Sample Observation Protocol Sheet

DOCUMENT ANALYSIS

Document analysis is a form of qualitative research in which documents are interpreted by the researcher/assessor to give voice and meaning around an assessment topic. Analyzing documents includes coding content into themes, similar to how focus group or interview transcripts are analyzed. Rubrics can also be used to evaluate documents (Bowen, 2009).

Document Analysis is used:

· As a form of qualitative research on its own

· To provide background information or context

· As a way to add to a topic or study

· To reflect trends over time.

· As a way to triangulate other types of qualitative and quantitative data

· When interviews did not produce adequate or needed information.

There are three primary types of documents:

· Public or Official Records: The official, ongoing records of an organization’s activities. Examples include student transcripts, mission statements, annual reports, policy manuals, student handbooks, strategic plans, and syllabi.

· Personal Documents: First-person accounts of an individual’s actions, experiences, and beliefs. Examples include calendars, e-mails, scrapbooks, diaries, blogs, Facebook posts, duty logs, incident reports, reflections/journals, and newspapers.

· Physical Evidence: Physical objects found within the study setting (often called artifacts). Examples include flyers, posters, agendas, handbooks, and training material.

Document Analysis Process

1. Reviewing the research objectives.

2. Identifying document types and sources.

3. Collecting and tracking documents.

4. Evaluating documents.

5. Analyzing documents

6. Coding and Theme Generation

VALIDATION OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

Qualitative research instruments like the interview guide, FGD Agenda, and observation/immersion protocol sheet, document/audio-visual material analysis collation and evaluation rubrics are subjected to construct, content, and language validation. Contrarily, some undergo predictive, concurrent, and statistical validation but these are commonly applied to quantitative research types.

References:

Amorado, R.V., and Talili, I.N. (2017). Qualitative research a practical approach. Malabon City: Mutya Publishing House.

Henson, R.M., and Soriano, R.F. (2016). Practical research 1 qualitative research world of reality dissections. Malabon City: Mutya Publishing House.

Clemente, R.F., Julaton, AB. E., Orleans, A.V. (2016). Science in today’s world for senior high school research in daily life 1. Quezon City: Sibs Publishing House, Inc

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