Surveys (printouts)

For surveys we have chosen the most traditional method – Face to Face reaching. Reasons are obvious – it is easy to reach target group at university, we can explain anything that respondents do not understand. There is one issue that should be taken into consideration: people are not so eager to waste their time for filling out the questionnaire forms or answers can be not reliable. In order to reduce this risk we need to find the way how to motivate them. One of the solutions is to promote the meaning and value of offered research. (Experiment-resources 2009.)

Web-based surveys

Online surveys are very useful tool for getting information from respondents who are difficult to reach. The information can be easily interpreted and analyzed. It is reasonable to have a short cover note explaining what the purpose of the research, what will happen with the results and etc. and follow up email. (Experiment-resources 2009.)

Individual interview

Individual interviews will provide with more in-depth information. For interviews we are going to choose people with different title in the projects (e.g. teacher - supervisor, leader of the project and etc.) it is essential to develop good strategy for interview process in order to get better - interviewers should be carefully trained, time should be suitable. (Experiment-resources 2009.)

Pilot study

There is one more step before starting data collection – Pilot study – a small scale research that will be done on trial basis to determine study feasibility in order to predict challenges and improve the study design of a full-scale research project. (Gilbert 2001.)

There are several reasons why conducting pilot study is important. From one hand it allows developing and testing adequacy of research instruments, assessing the feasibility of a full-scale study, assessing whether the research is realistic and workable, establishing whether the sampling frame and technique are effective, and identifying logistical problems which might occur using proposed methods. From another, pilot study may identify potential practical problems e.g. questions misunderstandings – in this case wording and the order of the questions, quantity of multiple-choice questions might be developed and changed in early stage, or provide with important information about timing. In general pilot study will help to reduce our risks of the research project.

In order to implement pilot study we need to collect data in exactly the same way as it will be collected, ask the feedback to identify ambiguities and difficult questions, record the time taken to complete the questionnaire or interview, assess the result and finally make changes if it is needed. (Gilbert 2001.)

There is one more question that should be considered - should we include data form participants of pilot study in the main result or not? Our idea is to include results in case if pilot study will be successful and if there will not be a need of great changes in research design. Our suggestion is to do pilot study on ten volunteers.

In order to improve response rate we are going to use following tips:

§ Show value of the research

§ Make respondents feel important

§ Provide confidentiality

§ Be polite

§ Tangible rewards

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16