Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Developing Questions
Write a list of questions you would like your interview,
observation, or survey to answer: What are you looking to
find?
Questions should relate directly to your thesis: How will this
help you to prove your thesis?
Make sure your questions are focused:
Not focused: What do college students think of fast food?
Focused: What food choices do college students at EMU make on a
weekly basis?
Observations
Participant Observations
The researcher may interact with participants and become part of
their community (160)
Unobtrusive Observations
Do not interact, simply record behavior (160)
Observations cont.
Note-Taking
Observations- record exactly what you see (161)
He walks over to the weight rack and begins his exercise.
Why an Interview?
Unlike observations, it is an explicit way to get information
from a member of a community.
Can gather information about peoples beliefs or behaviors.
Can gather information that is not readily available.
DETAILS!
Interviews can gain details from a single or few people (try
to limit it to 1-3 interviews and 1-3 interviewees)
Interview Basics
Face-to-Face vs Virtual
Face-to-Face allows you to read their body language and may be more
comfortable
Virtual can be anything from Skype to e-mail and instant message
Location
Should you find a place they are comfortable with? Your comfort?
Quiet? Public?
Surveys
Same general concepts of interview question creation/sampling but
Survey Creation
Should be short and focused (no more than 5-10 minutes to complete)
Y or N, scale from 1-5, or do you want to include Neutral/N/a or Other?
Maybe one or two open-ended questions to get fuller responses.
Survey Testing
Good to pilot with yourself and friends
Survey Sampling
Who should you survey? Who would make up the best sampling? Whole dorm?
Classes?
How to distribute
Paper, online, both?
https://www.surveymonkey.com/
Research Timelines
You are to create
your own timeline
for this unit. It can
be as detailed as the
top figure, or as
simple as the bottom
one. I have the rest
of the unit scheduled
out on the
homework page.
Deadlines
If you are conducting your research on campus, make sure
you do it before you leave for break (by Feb. 19 at the
latest)
Over break, analyze your findings and write up your
methods and results.
One two full pages, typed on your research is due on Tues,
March 3 (the first class after break).
This page will be included in your research paper.