Applied Research Skills

Introduction

The online practices of research have become so popular in recent days that the online surveying and automated data collection has turned a revolutionary change in different fields of studies. The new age online data collection has lots of advantages and was proved beneficial in departments of data collection, larger samples, more representatives of data all has become easy, accurate and prompt. Though there are still many people who are skeptical with the usability and practical value of online data collection. In this assignment there is a detailed discussion about the qualitative tools of research in collecting primary data and its advantages and disadvantages, the four dimensions of observational approach, evaluation of concealed observational research method, in the second part the advancement of online questionnaire surveys have been discussed, their mechanism along with advantage and disadvantage, principals of wording in questionnaires and finally ended with a appropriate conclusion to the discussion.

Task 1

Q1.

Qualitative research tools are used for collecting relevant information in the research by analyzing secondary data from various types of sources. Observational methods are regarded as one of the productive processes for managing secondary data from respondents in the research process. The process of observation helps in providing various secondary data from multiple respondents by analyzing overall behavior in systematical process. Observational method is a suitable qualitative tool developed by the researcher for conducting entire research in a systematical operation (Plowright, 2016). In case of conducting research, observation procedure is divided into two segments which help in systematically doing the study. In the participant observation technique, secondary data is collected by the researcher by evaluating behaviors of the respondents from long term distance.

On the other hand, in case of non- participant observation there is in-adequate interaction among the observer and participant during conduction of the research. It is one of the useful qualitative tools developed for conducting entire study in a systematical process. [Refer to Appendix 1]

An observational technique adapted by the researcher is useful in gathering thorough review from the respondents by analyzing behavior of the people. It helps in providing suitable analysis of various actions of the respondents and conducts the entire research in a systematical process. Observation method is a useful tool developed by the researcher for depicting through knowledge of the views depicted by the respondents in the environment (Molina-Azorin, 2016). The development of observation technique ensures researcher for conducting suitable analysis of the research in a systematic process.

In the observational technique, researchers are able to analyze variation in the settings and systematically conduct research process. Moreover, implementation of the observational technique is a suitable qualitative tool that helps to provide a suitable interpretation of the behaviors among the respondents (Mohajan, 2018). On the other hand, adequate development of the observation techniques hampers research process and delays entire procedure.

Most of the observational methods conducted by the researcher for completing research process are often misleading and develop a direct effect on the entire procedure. Most of the researchers find it difficult for doing research process as a whole in a systematic process that hampers entire process and misleads researchers. The implementation of observation process requires lot of time for the researcher to conduct entire process suitably. It hampers long –term effect on the collection of appropriate collection of secondary data by the researcher on time. Observational methods focus on interpreting various behaviors of the respondents in the research process that reduces reliability and validity of the entire process (Hopia et al., 2016). The implementation of this method provides contrary outset to the researcher for completing research process as a whole on time. Most of the researcher depends on developing appropriate records in the documents during the observational technique for implementing a proper research procedure. There is a direct impact on the overall viability of the research procedure and hampers mindset of the researcher. An observational technique is regarded as an effective tool that provides contribution as well as delays entire research process for the researcher.

Q2.

Four types of observation research

Observation is considered as a unique feature in the process of data collection. These research phenomena typically happen in the workers place, in a natural environment, or a lab or specific controlled setting. Thus with this research prospect, it can be understood how people can interact with its products or services as well as with the people who throw them challenges in this context. Thus it can merely provide primary inspirations and ideas for the opportunity and try to implement the same in the context of future. Therefore in research, there are mainly four types of research ideas (Shi et al., 2019). These are as follows-

Participant observer

Here the researcher is known and recognized as participants, and in many other cases, these participants know the goals as an observer. However, there is some point of interaction with these participants but the communication is limited. Hence here the researcher tries o play a crucial role in understanding the original contexts. This approach is appreciated if the use a proper process in understanding the concept of customer’s home and try to use specific basic knowledge to accomplish all the goals and objectives.

Complete participant

Here the researcher has utilized a fully embedded technology and effectively has engaged with the customers in understanding their requirements and needs based on the approach. Here the research is conducted based on the factors of participation and interconnection is done with researchers. Hence the main idea generated in this way is tom understand the significant needs and requirements to understand the overall roles and responsibilities based on the cultures to its global experiences as well as meeting the global expertise in demand (Quinlan et al.,2019).

Complete observer

This is a detached observer where the researcher is neither seen nor noticed by the participants. Moreover, the researcher is neither notified by the participants. Thus the minimum way of understanding the overall process is Hawthorne effect to participate more likely to act natural when they do not know how being observed. Thus it helps understand the primary ethical process in implementing the ideas as a whole (Weintraub et al., 2019).

Thus it can be said that observation ethics is under both sides of the spectrum or in a fully engaged observation process. Hence if any person faces certain aspects of ethical considerations, thus for that reason, it can be said that these research avenues will be useful in fulfilling the needs that can fall between somehow (Tanioka et al., 2020).

Q3.

Concealed research has always been in the eyes of debate concerning ethical issues. Ethical guidelines sometimes can act as a strict means to any kind of fieldwork. Though there should be certain specific limits to the freedoms of research thus set such as physical violence or other law-breaking offenses.  Ethical guidelines can also lead to deceptions, abuse of the power of researcher or violating any kind of privacy. These considerations are to be made in dealing with any type of social research. Still, the application of ethical work can be unpractical when it comes to applying the guidelines to the fieldwork of concealed study. Any type of research that has been considered as concealed should be considered on a case basis to assure that every step is conducted correctly. Concealed research has its benefits but also comes with problems of deception, privacy violation, and the ethical guidelines are tried to be utilized.

The problems related to covert research observation is not that simple, mainly when it is applied to fieldwork. In this type of concealed research, the participants or the respondents are not aware of the study at all. Or else it may turn out as a case of deception or unethical. The primary concern of such researches is the illegitimate condemnation rights of the research subjects, but it can sometimes be over-generalization. Research subjects also have rights, but they should not be considered as the sole person with rights. They may sometimes have information but all the information is not always under their control. They should maintain privacy, but certain things are not private.

It is a challenging job to assume a covert research observation role. Observational concealed research studies have been viewed to have minimum risk to participate, as it has fewer legal obligations for the investors in general for research study purposes. Similarly, observational research conceals work was done on the people of Tanzanian residents to observe the sexual behavior and prevalence of HIV. The analysis here uses the ethical approaches to consider the results of the research observation and explore whether it has any influence on the respondents or their community.  The observational concealed research team was observed to have confidential and rigorous participation. Thus in this result, receiving the data outcome of the HIV test outcomes, which is significant to know the participants regarding the issue and therefore, the research contributed to changing norm of the community on HIV. From the concealed observational ethical research, it can be argued that the intervention studies and incur obligations are similar to that of intervention studies.

Task 2

Q1.

The advancement in technologies has helped in gathering data through online platforms. The researchers have been finding out new methods of data collection and analysis in recent times, where techniques have been working as a significant advantage.  Researchers have been using the internet for primary data collection, where they are required to know the functions of HTML or need other experts to create those new programs. From the last couple of months, different solutions so primary data collection was made possible because of the advancement in technologies. Services emerged because of the progress of technologies, which enabled the researchers to develop surveys or experiments for their studies. Just like benefits of the advancement of technologies in survey questionnaires for primary data collection, that have been reported cases where individuals have face difficulty in collecting data.

This has led to significant increase in the number of studies and experiments using the help of online survey questionnaires to collect primary data. Moreover, by all means, internet and technologies have proved to be helpful for the researchers in conducting a survey and then for the analysis of the results. Advancement of new technologies has helped in increasing the number of sample sizes, more diversity in samples, more comfortable convenience, minimum cost, and less time to be invested in recent technologically diverse surveys in comparison to older days. Advancement of technologies has brought a lot of features to light, which has made the process of investigation easier and sorted not only for the people who are conducting the research but also for the people participating in it. Technological advancement has also helped in pilot testing messages and campaign advertisements. Although it has made the survey more comfortable and accurate for the researchers and respondents like in every other type of work, if proper attention is not given, then the research and the research would end up in difficult situation.

The mechanism that is used in administrating online questionnaires varies from research to research, but the main structure remains the same. Online surveys have helped in establishing the ideal environment for the respondent to think about the service or product or any other topic of study. An online review can reveal the genuine opinion of the respondent, helping him/her in sharing their ideas in a safe and secure environment. The mode of mechanism in channelizing an online survey is as follows-

To decide the research goals- before any research is conducted, the main aim of the study and the outcomes that can be expected from the survey should be evident in the minds of the conductors. Why the individual or individuals conducting the result, is it for knowing the feedback about some newly launched product or service, is the information they are looking for should be generic or specific, are there any particular group of respondents or the survey should go online to all the generic publics, all these essential questions should be evident in the mind of the researcher.

Create a list of questions-There can be various questions that can be asked in a survey, some examples of different categories of items are open questions, closed questions, single questions or multi-dimensional questions and so on. It is seen the respondents participating in the survey usually prefer questions that are shot and have multiple choice of options in answers. The language of the items should be kept simple for everyone to understand and there should be avoidance of any double negatives. A benefit of online survey is that if a participant does not feel like answer a question that does not seem relevant to them they can avoid answering that.

Invite the respondents- There are many ways by which participants can be invited to surveys. Who wants to participate in the study is best decided by the contact method. A email can be sent to the people who have been following and see the one who is interested would come forward in social networking sites such as Facebook, SMS can also be sent to make people aware of the survey or by displaying banners or by creating website and so on. If the research needs any specific category of participants, then responses can be bought from consumer panels (Zhou and Fishbach, 2016) .

Gather the responses- It is essential that after the survey, the response rate is monitored, the final size of the sample depends on how many have participated in the study. Sometimes the participant rates are increased by providing certain amount of incentives. The incentives are not required to be only cash other forms of incentives that can be given are gifts, chances of winning a lottery, donation for charity or accumulation of points to achieve some tips. These are very effective methods to attract more participants for the survey (Badre, 2020).

Analysis of the result- First is the requirement to see the data on any charts or graphs, then gives a quick reference to the result obtained. Text analysis can be used to find out the standard chosen options of the participants. Printing the data outcomes in form of spreadsheet is requiring as it helps in exploring the data even further. Online has its advantage of restoring the gathered data automatically, where analysis can be done straight away (Guo, et al.,  2017).

Write a report- the final step of administrating an online survey is to write a report where proper explanation of the survey result is done along with the outcomes to satisfy the research goals. A survey which is successful would answer the questions that the researcher has been looking for about business, products service or anything (Summers, 2019).

The advantages and disadvantages of mechanism of online survey methods are as follows-

Advantages

Increase in the participation rate- As online surveys are low in cost and conveyance not only to the researcher but also to the respondent as a result the participation rate is high. Respondents also have the benefit of answering the question according to their schedule and with their pace of time (Yin, et al., 2016).

Low Cost- Collecting data is not that expensive any more like that of the traditional days, now online methods have not only made it super easy to conduct but also extremely affordable. There are numerous sites online who does the job of creating the survey quickly involving less amount of money (Kees, et al., 2017).

Convenience- As mentioned respondents have the advantage of answer the questionnaire according to their schedule and also have no time within which they are bound to complete the survey. Rapid development has made it possible to management time on their own pace, which was not possible during the traditional methods (Rahman, 2017).

Flexibility of the design- surveys can still be conducted even if they are way complicated. Intricate patters and logics can be used seamlessly. The creation of layout, questions or even the choice of answers can be done with no hassle (Taichman, et al., 2016).

No interviewer- As there is no interviewerpresent except the respondent himself as a result he is not required to open up about his answer in front of anyone. Thus it makes easier for them to be comfortable and honest about their answers as it is sometimes seen the respondents gets influenced by the presence of the interviewer(Vallejos, et al.,  2019).

Disadvantage

Online Fraud- this is the biggest concern of a online survey. Even when the questionnaire is long and confusing many times fake answers are received. Moreover as there is no vigilance to keep a watch, so there are high chances that sometimes respondents just hit the buttons to complete the work as fast they can. Also it is seen people they up surveys as they would be paid cash or some reward in return as a result these respondents give fake responses without taking it seriously (Silverman, 2016).

Limited samples and respondents-there are still people in the remote areas of the world where there is no internet connection even at this age consequently these people are not able to response through online means(Marwick, 2017).

Corporation problems- sometimes online surveys can be ignored or simply deleted. If people does not like any question or a question that seems to upset, poke or annoy them, then it is most likely they would delete the same (Conway, 2017).

No interviewer- this can serve as a negative point as well. As there is no presence of trained interviewer, there can be less clarity among the respondents and they might just end up submitting data which is less reliable (Corti, et al., 2019).

Q2.

Principles of wording are very important while designing an online questionnaire survey. In different questionnaire samples there are seen different common mistakes in design, the following are the five basic principles that can be followed by a researcher at the time of setting a questionnaire (Burgess et al., 2017).

Be comprehensive

The language that is being used in the questionnaire should be comprehensive to ease the burden of cognitive from the respondents. Or else each and every question can make the respondent lose their capability of concentration. So for keeping their concentration the researcher should make the questions of the survey as comprehensive as possible. It is a must if the survey is to be conducted on less educated people (Levitt et al., 2018).

Be clear

The questions should be clear and unambiguous, usage of vague words should be avoided, the terms which are not familiar to the respondents should not be used whereas using everyday language can also blur the result. In spite the question that is asked in the survey the respondents would be having their way of understanding the questions which is most likely to be different for each respondent case while answering (Sinnenberg, et al.,  2017).

But one thing must be kept in mind clearly does not mean to be extremely comprehensive or precise, being clear also does not mean explanatory long awkward questions that nobody feels like reading when their main focus is to compete the survey quickly (Rivera, et al., 2017).

Be neutral

There should not be any suggestive type of questions or unbalanced answers options. The respondent may not realize the biasness but the data that would be collected is not relevant and there be no pint in conducting such kinds of surveys. In such cases objective facts are not measured rather asking for approval from the respondent standpoint is implicit ((Davies and Francis, 2018). Hence a neutral standpoint should always be maintained in making a questionnaire survey. The questions of the survey are expected to keep as objective and brief as possible [Refer to Appendix 2].

Operationalized

To avoid questions where attitude and behavior cannot be estimated directly hence operationalized term can be put forward. Here operationalize of the concepts are done in translating them into tangible indicators. Without asking questions about whether a person is self-oriented questions should be asked about activities and products. Not only it would make it easier for the respondent to find a proper answer according to him but also would help in finding the accurate data for the survey (Miller, et al., 2017).

The order

If clues are provided at the beginning then that may disturb the sequence of the answer for the questions that follows. Or the first question that is presented to participant may affect the answer that follows. In psychological opinion this phenomenon is termed as priming which is the short time memory that effects our decision. So it is also important to have a organized state of questions to get a optimized and neutral feedback (Litman, et al.,  2017).

Q3.

Today at recent times most of the businesses of any organization is connected to their client’s employees, vendors and even competitors. Data collection thus can tell a story of the primary relationship of all the above from the outcomes from the analysis of data, thus taking these information a organization can improve in their respective areas of operations. Primary data can be immensely valuable but too much of data is needless and wrong data is useless. The right collection of data implies difference between the useful insights and misdirection’s that leads to time wastage (Saunders, et al., 2018).  The statement here implies that the data collection methods of any sort has a bit of biasness to it, based on this objectives it can be decided which means of data collection is mostly suitable for specific researches and what would be the source of it. There is no need to mention that every method of data collection would have some limitations, drawbacks, expectation and benefits to it no matter whether it is a multi-methods or primary method. Though at recent times multi methods have find their vast utility as researchers want to have more than one analysis and evaluation factor when they are conducting a research (Cowie, et al., 2017).

As the multi methods of primary data collection is a adaptation where so it can be expected that there base would be compound but in broader term multi methods of data collection has served in providing more precise result from the data analysis. But for the case of primary data collection, it has advantage of its own as this single method keeps the data more organized and data can be retrieved by easy means in comparison to multi methods. Organizations have various tools by which the data collection methods are possible in such cases (Moser and Korstjens,2018). These data collection methods can be as traditional and simple as face to face methods of interviews or as sophisticated as online questionnaire survey methods to collect and analyze data. Common methods of data collection in wider range may be the quantitative and qualitative means of data collection where quantitative methods deal with numbers that are counted whereas in case of qualitative it is the factors that influence and not the numbers. Combining multi methods have seen to provide with more precise and prominent results, broader and wider approach to questionnaires and a more relevant and broader understanding of different topics. Lastly multiple method of data analysis provides a base which is more robust in comparison to primary data (Gray, 2019).

Conclusion

The process of conducting survey by online means is relatively easier and cheaper in comparison to traditional methods of data collection. Most of the businesses needs can be fulfilled by conducting a simple and short online survey where the desired answers about the customers can be found out from the customers themselves. The data thus collected is extremely significant as it helps to fulfill the motto of the researcher in achieving his study goals. The assignment has highlighted both the positive and negative aspects of online research methods and mistakes along with several mistakes and difficulties that come along the research activities of online collection of primary data. The assignment also has focused on the ethical issues of researches like concealed observation research and other issues

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Observational Technique in Research

(Source: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmeasuringu.com%2Fobservation-role%2F&psig=AOvVaw21JEFCoAe-uQ8tHDeFuCvA&ust=1585309287473000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCKj_-euNuOgCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD)

Appendix 2: Principles of wording

(Source: Self-Created)