Collecting Data

Dr Areefa Albahri

a device that used by the a researcher to collect data (questionnaires, tests, observation etc.). Instrument will be effective if it is related to the topic under investigation

Self-report is the most widely used data

collection

method by both qualitative and quantitative

nurse researchers. Self-report data can be

gathered either orally in an interview, or in a

written questionnaire. Interviews (and, to a

lesser extent, questionnaires) vary in their

degree of structure, their length and

complexity, and their administration. We begin

by reviewing various options and procedures

for collecting qualitative self-report data.

Methods of data collection Self reports

It is a method used to collect data by asking peopledirectly about their thinking, feeling, and believing.

Types of self repots

a. Structured self- reports instrument b. Unstructured self- reports instrument

Structured self- reports instruments It is a formal and written instrument. It could be a

structure interview or a structured self- administered questionnaire.

*. Structured Interview: the questions are asked orally in either a face- to face or telephone format.

*. Structured self- administered questionnaire: The respondents or subjects complete the instrument themselves, usually using a paper and pencil format. Time should be offered to the

subjects to answer their questions.

Types of Qualitative Self-ReportsUnstructured Interviews

Unstructured interviews are the mode of choice when

researchers do not have a clear idea of what it is they do not

know. Researchers using unstructured interviews do not begin

with a series of prepared questions because they do not yet

know what to ask or even where to begin. In conducting

unstructured interviews, it is critical to let participants tell their

stories, with little interruption. Phenomenological, grounded

theory, and ethnographic studies usually rely heavily on

unstructured interviews.

Semi-structured Interviews

Researchers sometimes want to be sure that a specific set of topics

is covered in their qualitative interviews.

They know what they want to ask, but cannot predict what the

answers will be. Their role in the process is somewhat structured,

whereas the

participants’ is not. In such focused or semi-structured interviews,

researchers prepare in advance a list of a specific question with

some direction during obtaining the data.

Example of a semistructured interview:

Studied of women’s experiences of stigma in relation to chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. Their topic guide for semi-structured interviews with 25 women included questions about such issues as the women’sviews of the illness, encounters with health careproviders, and the consequences for daily life of encounters with health care providers.

Focus Group Interviews

Focus group interviews are becoming increasingly popular in the

study of health problems. In a focus group interview, a group of four

or more people is assembled for a discussion. Focus group sessions

are carefully planned discussions that take advantage of group

dynamics for accessing rich information in an efficient manner.

Typically, the people selected for a group (usually through purposive

or snowball sampling) are a fairly homogeneous group, to promote a

comfortable group dynamic. People usually feel more at ease

expressing their views when they share a similar background with

other group members. Thus, it is usually best to have people with

similar characteristics, in terms of race/ethnicity, age, gender, or

experience, participating in separate focus groups.

Several writers have suggested that the optimalgroup size for focus groups is 6 to 12 people. smaller groups of about 5 participants when the topic is emotionally charged or sensitive. Groups of four or fewer may not generate sufficient interaction, however, particularly because not everyone is equally comfortable in expressing their views.

In recruiting group members, it is• usually wise to recruit one or two more people• than is considered optimal, because of the risk• of no-shows. Monetary incentives can help

reduce this risk. It is also important to call the recruits the night before the group session to remind them of the appointment and confirm attendance.

TIP:

Example of focus group interviews:

Freeman, O’Dell, and Meola (2000) studied the needs of families of children with brain tumors during six stages of the illness. Data were collected in 11 focus group sessions with 4 homogeneous groups: parents and guardians, siblings, affected children younger than 10 years, and affected children age 10 years and older. The moderator asked questions from a topic guide while an assistant moderator took detailed notes. All group meetings were audiotaped and transcribed.

Quantitative self-report instruments

study almost always uses a formal, written instrument. The instrument is an interview schedule when the questions are asked orally in either face-to-face or telephone interviews. It is called a questionnaire or an SAQ (self-administered questionnaire) when respondents complete the instrument themselves. Some studies embed an SAQ into an interview schedule, with interviewers askingsome questions orally but respondents answering others in writing.

Open and Closed Questions

Open-ended questions allow respondents to respond in their own words, in narrative fashion. The question, “What was the biggest problem you faced after your surgery?” is an example of an open-ended question (such as would be used in qualitative studies). In questionnaires, respondents are asked to give a written reply to open-ended items and, therefore, adequate space must be provided to permit a full response. Interviewers are expected to quote responses verbatim or as closely as possible, as would be the case in qualitative interviews that are not tape recorded.

Closed-ended (or fixed-alternative) questions

offer respondents alternative replies, from which subjects must choose the one that most closely matches the appropriate answer. The alternatives may range from the simple “yes” or “no”variety (“Have you smoked a cigarette within thepast 24 hours?”) to complex expressions of opinionor behavior.Both open- and closed-ended questions havecertain strengths and weaknesses. Good closed endeditems are often difficult to construct but easyto administer and, especially, to analyze.

Types of closed-ended questions• dichotomous questions, which require a choice between two

options (e.g., yes/no); • multiple-choice questions, which offer a range of alternatives• cafeteria questions, in which respondents are asked to select

a statement best representing their view• rank order questions, in which respondents are• asked to rank a list of alternatives along a continuum;• forced-choice questions, which require respondents to

choose between two competing positions• rating questions which ask respondents to make judgments• along an ordered, bipolar dimension• checklists or matrix questions in which several questions• requiring the same response format are

Furthermore, some questionsare less objectionable in closed form than in openform. Take the following example:1. What was your family’s total annual incomelast year?2. In what range was your family’s total annualincome last year:( ) Under $25,000,( ) $25,000 to $49,999,( ) $50,000 to $74,999,( ) $75,000 to $99,999,( ) or $100,000 or more?

• Questionnaires Versus Interviews

• Before developing questions, researchers

need to decide whether to collect data

through interviews or questionnaires. Each

method has advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of Questionnaires

• Self-administered questionnaires, which can be• distributed in person, by mail, or over the Internet,• offer some advantages. The strengths of questionnaires• include the following:• Cost. Questionnaires, relative to interviews, are in general

much less costly and require less time and energy to administer. Distributing questionnaires to groups (e.g., to students in a classroom) is clearly an inexpensive and expedient approach. And, with a fixed amount of funds or time,

• Anonymity (privacy). Unlike interviews, questionnaires• offer the possibility of complete anonymity.

• Interviewer bias. The absence of an interviewerensures that there will be no interviewer bias.Interviewers ideally are neutral agents throughwhom questions and answers are passed. Studies have shown, however, that this ideal is difficult to achieve. Respondents and interviewers interact as humans, and this interaction can affect responses

Advantages of Interviews

• The strengths of interviews far outweigh those of• questionnaires. It is true that interviews are costly,• Response rates. Response rates tend to be high in

face-to-face interviews. A well-designed and• properly conducted interview study normally• achieves response rates in the vicinity of 80% to• 90%, whereas mailed and web-based questionnaires

• Clarity. Interviews offer some protection• against ambiguous or confusing questions.• • Depth of questioning. The information obtained• from questionnaires tends to be more superficial• than interview data, largely because questionnaires• typically contain mostly closed-ended• items. • • Missing information. Respondents are less likely• to give “don’t know” responses or to leave a• question unanswered in an interview than on• questionnaires.• • Order of questions. In an interview, researchers• have control over question ordering.

Validity of the instrument

Definition of validity: validity refers to the degree to which an instrument measures what it is suppose to be measured.

Example When a researcher develops an instrument to measure

hopelessness among depressed patients, how

Can its developer really know that the resulting scores

validity reflect this construct and not something else such

as Schizophrenia.

Basic types of validity1. Face and content validity: The degree to which

the items in an instrument adequately represent the

universe of content. If we added a choice of "Football practice", we may find that football practice is someone's favorite "activity" at school, but it is not relevant to this particular question which asks "Which subject do you enjoy the most at school?"

Which subject do you enjoy the most at school?( ) Math( ) Science( ) English( ) Foreign Language( ) History( ) Government( ) Art / Music( ) Football Practice( ) Other

2. Construct validity: The degree to which an instrument

measures the topic or construct under investigation. Example: (Anxiety, and stress), (hopelessness, and depression), and etc...

The researcher should ask this question

a. Is the topic or concept under investigation being adequately measured with this instrument.

Internal validity Definition of internal validity: The degree to which it

can be inferred that the independent variable or treatment rather than uncontrolled extraneous factors is responsible for observed effects.

External validity

The degree to which the results of a study can begeneralized to settings

Reliability of instrument

The degree of consistency of an instrument during measuring the attribute.

Example: if a scale gave a reading of 120 pounds for a person’s

weight on minute, and a reading of 150 pounds in the next minute. We would be worry of using that scale because the information would be unreliable.

Consistency

• Consistency is very important in writing the list of responses. All of the responses should be similar so that no single response stands out to the individual except the answer that is true for them.

• Consistency simply helps to ensure that you are not leading respondents to a particular answer by making that answer different from the others. It also makes it much easier for respondents to find the answer that is relevant to them.

Here's an example using the homework question you have already seen :

How many hours a day do you spend doing homework?( ) 0 to 1 hour( ) 120 to 180 minutes( ) 4 to 5 hours( ) more than 5 hours

Example of a Bad Question with Inconsistent Answer Choices

**In this example, the second choice is exactly the same as what we had before, but it is listed in minutes rather than hours making it inconsistent with the other answer choices. Listing answer choices in this way is very confusing for the respondent and makes it more likely that they will provide you with incorrect information.**

What is a survey questionnaire?

• Survey questionnaires present a set of questions to a subject who with his/her responses will provide data to a researcher.

• On the surface, it seems a fairly simple task to write up a set of

questions to collect information, but there are many pitfalls that should be avoided to develop a good survey questionnaire.

• We will focus here on describing some of the key elements in designing a survey questionnaire, and then highlighting some tips and tricks to for creating a good survey questionnaire.

Objectives• The key to developing a good survey questionnaire is to keep it

short while ensuring that you capture all of the information that you need.

• Before survey questionnaire, you should develop a set of objectives for your research and list out the information that you are trying to capture.

• Now that you know what you are looking for, you can begin to structure the questions that will help you capture the information. Once you have developed your survey questionnaire, you can use your objectives to go back through the questions and determine if each of the questions is providing you with information that you need. Any question that is not providing necessary information should be removed.

Types of Questions:

• There are two different types of questions that can be used to collect information.

• The first is called a structured or fixed response question and the second is called non-structured or open question.

• It is important to understand when and how to use these questions when designing your survey.

Structured-fixed response

Do you have a driver's license?( ) Yes( ) No

Which subject do you enjoy the most at school?( ) Math( ) Science( ) English( ) Foreign Language( ) History( ) Government( ) Art / Music( ) Other

How many hours a day do you spend doing homework?( ) 0 to 1 hour( ) 2 to 3 hours( ) 4 to 5 hours( ) more than 5 hours

Examples of Structured Questions

Consistency

How many hours a day do you spend doing homework?( ) 0 to 1 hour( ) 120 to 180 minutes( ) 4 to 5 hours( ) more than 5 hours

Example of a Bad Question with Inconsistent Answer Choices

Ranking Questions• Sometimes you will be interested in obtaining a person's opinion on a topic,

subject, product, event, etc.... To capture varying degrees of emotion about a subject, it is best to use either a rating or a ranking question. A rating question asks respondents to explain the degree with which they feel about a certain topic, subject, event, etc... For example:

Please describe how you felt about the quality of the product.

Unsatisfied Somewhat Satisfied

Satisfied Very Satisfied Extremely Satisfied

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

Example of a Rating Question

Please rank the following qualities of the product in order of preference (starting with 1 for your favorite quality).

___cost___design___function___durability

Example of a Ranking Question

**In general, if you are trying to get a respondent's opinion about something, it is best to have them do a rating rather than a ranking. A ranking asks respondents to list their responses in order of preference. This type of question leads you to an answer where the respondent is comparing one thing to another rather than giving you their feeling about each individual item. **

Non-structured (open-ended)Non-structured questions, or open-ended questions, are questions where there is no list of answer choices from

which to choose. Respondents are simply asked to write their response to a question.

What do you like best about the xyz service program?______________________________________________________________________

It is best to use non-structured questions when you are exploring new ideas and you don't really know what to expect from the respondents.

Example of a Non-structured Question

Here are some tips and tricks to help you ensure you are developing a good survey questionnaire:

• Clearly state your intentions with the research.Many people are hesitant to answer questions about themselves and their opinions. If you are developing your survey for a science fair project, people will probably be more willing to help if you clearly state your intentions. At the top of your survey, write a brief statement explaining why you are collecting the information and reassure each respondent that the information is entirely anonymous.

• Include instructions with your survey questionnaireTo ensure that you collect valid survey results, make sure you include instructions on how to answer the survey questionnaire. There should probably be a short introductory set of instructions at the top of the survey questionnaire, and additional instructions for specific questions as needed.

Please mark the appropriate box next to your answer choice with an "x" ( X ). Please answer all of the questions to the best of your ability.

• Don't ask for personal information unless you need it.Asking individuals to provide you with personal or demographic information (age, race, income level, etc...) may irritate some respondents and prevent them from completing your survey questionnaire.

• Keep the questions short and conciseThe wording for survey questions should be short and concise. Each question should be clearly stated so that there is no misunderstanding about what is being asked. The best way to ensure your questions are well worded is to test them by having other people review and test your survey before you distribute it to the full sample.

thanks