Qualitative Research (Data Collection) Lecture Slides PDF

# Qualitative Research (Data Collection) ## Lecture Slide 2 By Dr Md Tamhid Ul Islam (MTDI) Assistant Professor Department of Marketing & INB North South University ## Qualitative Research - Qualitative research is a method of research that produces **descriptive (non-numerical) data**, su...

# Qualitative Research (Data Collection) ## Lecture Slide 2 By Dr Md Tamhid Ul Islam (MTDI) Assistant Professor Department of Marketing & INB North South University ## Qualitative Research - Qualitative research is a method of research that produces **descriptive (non-numerical) data**, such as observations of behavior or personal accounts of experiences. - The goal of gathering qualitative data (non-numerical data) is to examine how individuals can perceive the world from **different vantage points**. - Qualitative research helps to understand **complex phenomena**. By using methods like interviews, observations, and content analysis, researchers can explore underlying motivations, feelings, and perceptions that might not be captured by **numerical data**. - Qualitative research is often used in the early stages of study when there may be **little existing knowledge** about the topic. ## Qualitative Research For now, we will discuss two qualitative research methods: - **Focus Groups** - **Individual (depth) interviews** ## Focus Group - A group of 8 to 12 participants who are led by a moderator in an in-depth discussion on one particular topic or concept. - **Reasons:** - For universal / shared opinions and attitudes - Development and discussion - opening out an idea (e.g., new product ideas) - Generating hypotheses - Identifying / pretesting questionnaire items, developing questionnaires ## Focus Group: Room Layout | | | | ------------- | --------------------------------- | | **Camera** | One-way mirror | | **Flipchart** | Moderator | | **Discussion Room** | [Circle with 8 circles inside it, representing people, and one yellow circle in the middle representing a moderator] | | **Observation Room** | [Circle with 4 circles inside it, representing people] | - **Focus Group Guide:** - Welcome session (Introduction, Housekeeping, Ethics,...) - Warm-up session (Presentation of Participants...) - Discussion of Questions and De-Briefing - Duration: typically, 1.5 - 2 hours - Videotaping useful ## Focus Group: Advantages and Disadvantages | Advantages | Disadvantages | | ---------------- | ---------------------------------- | | Group effect | Challenging to organize | | Less time-consuming than interviews | Hard to recruit minority groups, industry experts, or social extremes (e.g., business people) | | Interaction offers insights into the extent of the participant's agreement and disagreement | Hard to focus on individual respondents (loss of detail) | | Greater emotional involvement | Need for knowledgeable and experienced participants and moderators to produce meaningful ideas and reactions | | Can be more creative | Need tight control – dominant and recessive respondents | | Can use a greater variety of stimuli | | | Good picture of common issues and concerns | | ## Focus Group: Participants Selection - **Selection process:** - Potential opinion leaders are best - Participants must be screened for relevance to the topic - **Main reasons people get involved:** - money - interesting topic - convenient time - focus groups are fun - respondent knew a lot about product - curiosity - opportunity to express opinions ## Conducting a Focus Group - **The Moderator:** - A person hired by the client to lead the focus group - This person should have a background in psychology or sociology or, at least, marketing. - **Create moderator's guide:** - Timetable for each topic, clear goals / questions to be answered - Strategy for keeping group on task / focused - Managing the group dynamics is critical ## A Good Moderator: - Shows respect for respondents - Clear demonstration of "invisible" leadership - Speaks clearly and loudly - Sets expectations and gives all industry disclosures - Asks short questions and actively listens - Moves things along without rushing; curtails tangents - Avoids "serial interviewing" - Shows creativity and adaptability in the moment - Changes activities about every 20 minutes - Moves around; not glued to a chair - Moves from general to specific questions within a topic - Creates a safe opportunity for diverse opinions - Works along a logical path showing planning of questions - Handles both thought leaders and shy respondents with ease - Misses no opportunity to probe for additional information ## Qualitative Research For now, we will discuss two qualitative research methods: - **Focus Groups** - **Individual (depth) interviews** ## In-depth / Depth Interview - One-on-one interviews that probe and elicit (draw out, extract) detailed answers to questions, often using non-directive techniques to uncover hidden motivations - **Reasons:** - Greater depth of insights than focus groups - Individual behavior (buying behavior, website research, complicated behavior) - Subject is personal, sensitive, confidential, embarrassing, competitive Identifying / pretesting questionnaire items, developing questionnaires ## In-depth Interviews: Advantages and Disadvantages | Advantages | Disadvantages | | ---------------- | ---------------------------------- | | No group pressure, allowing for a singular viewpoint | Costs in terms of time and money | | Respondent feels valued and wanted | Less client involvement | | In-depth questioning reveals feelings and motivations | Do not cover much material in one day | | Greater flexibility | Do not allow for a group discussion and resolution | | The interviewer can be highly aware of and sensitive to nonverbal cues | Some respondent reactions cannot be generated from a one-on-one session | | Interviews can be held anywhere | Requires skilled interviewer | ## In-depth / Depth Interview - Interviews can take place face-to-face, via telephone, via video conference platforms etc. - **Three Main Interview Approaches:** - **Structured Interview:** A set of predetermined questions asked in the same order to all candidates. Responses are often scored, allowing for objective comparison. - **Unstructured Interview:** A conversational approach where questions can change based on the flow of the conversation, allowing for a more relaxed and open exploration of topics. - **Semi-Structured Interview:** A combination of the two; some questions are predetermined and consistent, while the interviewer has the flexibility to explore other areas as the conversation progresses. ## Sampling for In-depth Interviews - **Judgement Sampling:** In judgement sampling, researcher selects a sample based on their own knowledge, experience, or intuition. - **Purposive sampling:** A sampling method that focuses on very specific characteristics of the units or individuals chosen. Specific participants are chosen intentionally because they can provide unique insights into the research topic. - **Snowball sampling:** A technique to identify and recruit candidates for a study in which existing participants recommend additional potential participants, who themselves are observed and asked to nominate others, and so on until enough participants are obtained. ## Practicalities of In-depth Interview - Interview duration: usually 30 minutes to one hour or more - Anonymity of the interviewee is important in the case of sensitive topics. However, anonymity is not necessary in expert interviews or when consent is given - Recording or note-taking: Always try to record, but sometimes respondents don't like it. If not, you must take notes. - **Recording tips:** - Check and double check your equipment - Then check it before you start the interview - Use a separate mic - Check batteries, and carry spares - Even with electronic equipment, carry some pen and paper just in case - Get there early and relax, don't panic - Interviewer might have a **cover letter**, a **participant information sheet**, a **consent form**, and an **interview guide**. ## A Cover Letter Explain things quickly and in simple words. This was given to interviewees before they were interviewed. Dear Staff Member, Recently your manager may have contacted you regarding your participating in a study conducted by Aston University. This study contributes towards the requirements for my PhD thesis in Marketing and investigates the effects of service leadership upon employees and overall firm performance (for further details on the study, please refer to the enclosed Information Sheet). As part of the research, I will be conducting interviews with managers and employees. The interviews will take approximately 30 minutes and will focus on managers' behaviours and the positive or negative effect that they have upon service performance. I would like the opportunity to interview you about the effect that your manager's behaviours have upon your service performance. I am well aware that your participation in this research would place a strain upon your busy schedule and would like to reiterate my thanks and remind you of the importance that your contribution would make to the study. Information collected will be treated with the strictest confidence. Interview tapes and transcriptions will not bear the name of the interviewees, ensuring anonymity. The interview transcripts will only be made available to my two supervisors and myself. If a quotation is taken from an interview transcript and used in the final report, the identity of the interviewee will in no way be compromised. A quotation would be attributed as follows: "quotation" (Employee 1). The names of the participating organisations will not be published at any stage during the research. At most industry type and broad location (e.g., Hotel, Birmingham) will be used to identify organisations. The information collected will be anonymous; it cannot be attributed to individual people. I thank you once more for your time and for the valuable contribution that your participation makes to this study. I will be in touch with you soon to discuss your participation in the study and possible times for interviews. In the meantime, could you please take a moment to complete the attached Background Information Sheet and Consent Form. If you have any questions regarding the interviews of the research itself, please do not hesitate to contact my local supervisor, Dr Anne Souchon, or myself. Yours sincerely, Dr Md Tamhid Ul Islam ## A Consent Form It's good to get a consent form signed to show that people were happy to be interviewed. Also shows you actually did the interview! **Personal Interview PARTICIPATING PARTIES CONSENT FORM** **On behalf of the interviewed party:** I agree to be interviewed by David J. Carrington for the purposes of academic research and consent to the collection and use of my beliefs, opinions and information. I am also aware that the findings derived from this study will be published. I have been informed of the purposes of the research and the confidentiality conditions. I understand that none of the opinions or statements that I make during the interview will be attributed to me personally, and that I may withdraw from the research at any stage. Name: Signed: Date: _**YES, I would like a copy of the final research paper sent to me (please tick)**_ **On behalf of the interviewer:** I agree that the information collected during the interview will only be available to the researcher, David J. Carrington. At the conclusion of the research project the interview tapes and transcriptions will be destroyed. Name: _David J. Carrington_ Signed: Date: ## A Participant Information Sheet Also, try to get summary information on your respondents. This can be presented when you write up your research and shows useful information. **Personal Background Information Sheet:** These will later be used to provide general background information on participating respondents 1. Please tick: - Male - Female 2. How old are you? 3. What is the highest level of education that you have? - None - GCSE (O levels) - 6th Form (A levels) - Tertiary Degree/Diploma - Post-Graduate Degree - Other Qualification (please specify): 4. How long have you worked in the hotel industry? 5. How long have you worked at this particular hotel? 6. How long have you worked in your current position? 7. What is the job title of your current position? (e.g., Marketing Manager) ## An Interview Guide Note. This is a simple interview guide, but interview guides can be more complex. | | | | ---------------- | ---------------------------------------- | | **Broad, easy to answer question** | Can you describe a regular day's work to me please? | | **More personal, still general** | What defines good quality service to customers, do you think? | | **More personal, more specific** | How would you describe your relationship with your manager? | | **Asking about others, more specific and difficult questions** | Does your manager involve his/herself in your daily routines? How exactly do they do this (or not)? Examples ... To what extent do you think they do so? Does your manager try and increase your work performance? How? How successful are they? Do they do it on an individual or group level? Would you say that your manager is caring about employees of the hotel? In what particular ways? Examples... Would you say employees of this hotel are motivated to work? Why do you think you are motivated? Personal? Managerial? Do you enjoy your work? Are you happy in your role as a customer-contact employee? Why? Why not? | | **Very personal questions, trust gained** | | ## Interview Guides Interview guides should be designed to **help the interviewer** with regard to: - ... focusing on topics that are important to explore, - ... maintaining consistency across interviews with different respondents, and - ... staying on track during the interview process. ## Thinking about questions - Write an interview guide! - Start by thinking about your objectives - What questions or techniques will best uncover the information you need? - Start with general points, then move to more specific and detailed ones - The discussion may be free-flowing – have a checklist of 'must-haves' to make sure you discuss them - You need to put the respondent at ease! - As nervous as you are conducting research, your participants are probably just as nervous! ## Good questions (some criteria): - **Open-ended unbiased questions:** Invite respondents to share their thoughts and feelings without guiding them to a particular answer. - **Relevant:** Questions need to be related to your research topic. - **Use probing:** Encourage the respondent to go deeper and provide details. - **Use specific questions when needed:** Questions need to be specific enough to get to the heart of the topic, but not so specific that they can be answered with a simple yes or no. ## Bad questions (some criteria): - **Leading questions:** - What emotional problems have you had since your manager sacked you? - Don't you think environmentally sustainable products are better than traditional products? - **Yes or No Questions:** - Do you like your manager? - **Confusing questions and double-barreled questions:** - How satisfied are you with the price and quality of environmentally sustainable products? - **Overly technical or complex questions:** - Asking a normal customer about "what do you think of the marketing mix and the value proposition of the company?" ## Thanks