In qualitative research the researcher directly interacts with
participants in a group setting in order to get a deeper insight into the
phenomena he/she is studying. Among the main methods for collecting qualitative
data for there are individual/ focus group interviews, observations and written
materials. Depending on the nature of the study being conducted, the most
suitable data collection methods of any research varies from one study to another.
While the ‘Unstructured interviews’ allows for an 'in depth'
investigation of a topic, yet the lack of structure, as the interviewer may
frame the interview questions based on the interviewee and his/her previous
response, would be less planned and therefore could create a difficulty in the
analysis and interpretation of the data being collected, therefore it could be
better to use ‘Semi structured’ interviews in a certain research because
of the fact that the researcher can plan the series of open ended questions to
be based on and related to the topic areas he/she is interested to cover during
the research project.
The open ended questions can help the researcher to define the
topic under investigation and also can provide more opportunities for ‘in
details’ discussion with the interviewees in order to cover different aspects
of the topic and gain more solid interpretation for the data being collected.
The focus group method for data collection would allow to further investigate
the phenomena being studied by having a collective discussion with a group of
participants to be able to understand the circumstances and opinions that can
help researchers develop further insight.
As mentioned in my previous blog post, I have selected the
Design-based research as an approach for my thesis in order to design a
learning environment while empirically explore its effectiveness across various
levels.
As a researcher I am interested in conducting a research in technology-enhanced
learning within the area of learning languages in order to understand how,
when, and why a technological innovation works in a pedagogically effective way.
To develop a further insight into the topic of my research I would
like to mix semi structured interviews together with observations in a natural teaching/learning
settings while taking lengthy and descriptive notes of what is happening. I am
considering ‘observation’ after or before the interviews with the groups to be
able to collect more authentic and reliable data for my research.
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