Something happened at my children’s school the other day that prompted me to muse again about interpretivism. It doesn’t matter what exactly the incident was, but let’s say that it was something as simple as a teacher asking some pupils to keep the noise down during a group task. How many different ways are there …
Category: research methods
Musings on focus groups
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 …
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 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 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 statistical analysis – simple isn’t always right
Those who know me well (and, actually, those who don’t even know me all that well), will know that I am a life-long fan of the UK science fiction TV series Doctor Who. My first memory is of Doctor Who, I ran a Doctor Who library at primary school and a Doctor Who club at …
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Musings on visual methods
I was very lucky to attend a training session on the use of visual methods in research in January 2020. I say ‘lucky’ because I always feel that attending training or a research seminar or a conference is such an amazing privilege. I love learning and I love teaching and, as a teacher, I do …
Musings on randomised controlled trials
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, well it was about 12 years ago in London, I was at a Christmas party. I was working at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) at the time, a not-for-profit contract research organisation, and the party was for all our clients and contacts, ranging …
Musings on methodology 