Several of my students have used, or are planning to use, focus groups in their research projects. I’ve seen this method of data collection used in rigorous research settings as well as looser market or customer research settings and have been pondering on the pros and cons presented. ‘A focus group saves so much time …
Author: alisonlawson68
Academic, researcher, Doctor Who fan
Musings on sampling
A couple of things happened recently that set me thinking about sampling. The first was a brilliant webinar hosted by the British Academy of Management (BAM). The speaker was a quantitative researcher and was giving tips on how to present quantitative data analysis successfully. I lean naturally toward qualitative work so I attended the webinar …
Musings on rating scales
It’s the Christmas break, I’ve stopped work and I’m officially on holiday. I’m relaxing and enjoying myself and definitely not thinking about research issues. Except… yesterday while we were having our lunch my children mentioned that they had filled in a survey at school before they broke up for the holidays. Naturally, my ears pricked …
Musings on why I am a researcher
The other day I watched a film called Frequencies with my husband and daughter. It was all about a world in which people emitted some sort of frequency – high, low or in between. It wasn’t entirely clear whether these were sound frequencies, light frequencies or some other kind of frequency, but go with it …
Musings on appreciative inquiry
When I was doing research for my MBA back in the late 1990s (yes, I’m ancient) I came across a peculiar effect that my presence as an interviewer had on participants. With the exception of the Dissertation, none of my MBA assignments required me to do any primary research. But of course I did some. …
Musings on the research onion
Many of you will recognise the term ‘research onion’. Disappointingly, this is not a sentient onion that has mastered the skills of research, but is a shorthand reference to a well-known and well-used model showing the various methodological decisions one must make when designing a research project, devised and published by Mark Saunders, Adrian Thornhill …
Musings on the viva experience
The word ‘viva’, short for ‘viva voce’ meaning oral examination (not the type you have at the dentist) can strike fear into research students. The viva at the end of PhD study is the final reckoning. The research and the thesis have got you to this point. It is here in this exam, in probably …
Musings on finding time to do research
Research isn’t something you can fit in around other things. You can’t do 10 minutes on it right now in between those two meetings. You can’t squeeze in half an hour while you’re having lunch. You can’t do it while you’re trying to help the children with their homework. You can’t do 20 minutes every …
Musings on question design for surveys
My husband says I ask too many questions and sometimes asks me, ‘Why do you even need to know that?’ My children say I ‘interrogate’ them. I think this is a bit harsh. I’m only trying to find out what they did at school that day. Any parent will tell you that you have to …
Musings on research supervision
I have supervised many dissertations at undergraduate and postgraduate levels as well as supervising PhDs. Some are a breeze, some are a struggle and 90% are in the middle somewhere. The first stumbling block for me is the student’s choice of topic. Sometimes the proposed title is surprising, intriguing, exciting or off the wall. But …
Musings on methodology 