1 Component – I
Role Name Affiliation
Principal Investigator Dr. S. Kowsalya Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore
Co-Principal Investigators
Dr. Sheela Ramachandran Dr.M.Sylvia Subapriya Dr.G. Bagyalakshmi Mrs.E.Indira
Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore
Paper Coordinator Dr.C.A. Kalpana Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore
Content Writer Dr. Jemima Beryl Mohankumar Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, PSG College of Arts and Science, Cbe - 641 014
Content Reviewer Dr. Prema Ramachandran Director,
Nutrition Foundation of India, C-13, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi – 110016
Language Editor Dr. Jemima Beryl Mohankumar Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, PSG College of Arts and Science, Cbe - 641 014
Component-I (B) Description of Module
Items Description of Module
Subject Name Food and Nutrition
Paper Name Research Methods in Nutrition Module Name Observation, home visit, interview
Module ID F15RM16
Pre-requisites The students should:-
1. Be familiar with types of questions.
2. Know the characteristics of qualitative research.
Objectives · The student will be able to know the techniques involved in using observations and interviews as a method of data collection in research.
· The student as the research will understand to what extent he/she has to relate to the study participant in the process of data collection.
· The student is introduced to the ethical issues pertaining to these methods.
Keywords Observations, interview, field notes, narrative interviews
2 Quadrant - I
Objectives
· The student will be able to know the techniques involved in using observations and interviews as a method of data collection in research.
· The student as the research will understand to what extent he/she has to relate to the study participant in the process of data collection.
· The student is introduced to the ethical issues pertaining to these methods.
Outline
1. Definitions
2. Observation technique 3. Recording observational data 4. Ethics
5. Role of the observer
1. Definitions
Marshall and Rossman (1989) define observation as "the systematic description of events, behaviors, and artifacts in the social setting chosen for study" (p.79). Observations enable the researcher to describe existing situations using the five senses, providing a "written photograph" of the situation under study (Erlandson, Harris, Skipper, & Allen, 1993).
Participant observation is the process enabling researchers to learn about the activities of the people under study in the natural setting through observing and participating in those activities.
Schensul, Schensul, and LeCompte (1999) define participant observation as "the process of learning through exposure to or involvement in the day-to-day or routine activities of participants in the researcher setting" (p.91). [2]
Observation is particularly useful in those cases where information collected using survey methods is not sufficient or falls short of reflecting the full nature of a given trend. A researcher (observer) uses a standardised list of relevant information (behaviour), which should be described and explained by means of observation.
2. Observation Technique
The observation technique is used mostly in qualitative research. It involves overt or covert observation of individual or group behaviour in a specific situation.
3 Observational techniques are methods by which an individual or individuals gather firsthand data on programs, processes, or behaviors being studied.
When designing a research study and determining whether to use observation as a data collection method, one must consider the types of questions guiding the study, the site under study, what opportunities are available at the site for observation, the representativeness of the participants of the population at that site, and the strategies to be used to record and analyze the data (DeWalt&DeWalt, 2002).
Advantages and disadvantages of observations Advantages
· Provide direct information about behavior of individuals and groups.
· Permit evaluator to enter into and understand situation/context.
· Provide good opportunities for identifying unanticipated outcomes.
· Exist in natural, unstructured, and flexible setting.
Disadvantages
· Expensive and time consuming.
· Need well-qualified, highly trained observers; may need to be content experts.
· May affect behavior of participants.
· Selective perception of observer may distort data.
· Investigator has little control over situation.
· Behavior or set of behaviors observed may be atypical.
Survey techniques can address these same questions and do so in a less costly fashion. Critics of surveys find that reliance on self-report, may not provide an accurate picture of what is happening because of the tendency, intentional or not, to try to give the "right answer." Surveys also cannot tap into the contextual element. Proponents of surveys counter that properly constructed surveys with built in checks and balances can overcome these problems and provide highly credible data.
This frequently debated issue is best decided on a case-by-case basis.
3. Recording Observational Data
Observations are carried out using a carefully developed set of steps and instruments. The observer is more than just an onlooker, but rather comes to the scene with a set of target concepts, definitions, and criteria for describing events. While in some studies observers may simply record
4 and describe, in the majority of evaluations, their descriptions are, or eventually will be, judged against a continuum of expectations.
Observations usually are guided by a structured protocol. The protocol can take a variety of forms, ranging from the request for a narrative describing events seen to a checklist or a rating scale of specific behaviors/activities that address the evaluation question of interest. The use of a protocol helps assure that all observers are gathering the pertinent information and, with appropriate training, applying the same criteria in the evaluation. For example, if, an observational approach is selected to gather data on the faculty training sessions, the instrument developed would explicitly guide the observer to examine the kinds of activities in which participants were interacting, the role(s) of the trainers and the participants, the types of materials provided and used, the opportunity for hands-on interaction, etc.
Types of information for which observations are a good source
· The setting - The physical environment within which the project takes place.
· The human, social environment - The ways in which all participants interact and behave toward each other.
· Activities pertaining to the field of research- What do various participants actually do?
How are resources allocated?
· The native language of the research: -Different organizations and agencies have their own language or jargon to describe the problems they deal with in their work; capturing the precise language of all participants is an important way to record how participants understand their experiences.
· Nonverbal communication - Nonverbal cues about what is happening in the field: on the way all participants dress, express opinions, physically space themselves during discussions, and arrange themselves in their physical setting.
· Notable non-occurrences - Determining what is not occurring although the expectation is that it should be occurring as planned by the research team, or noting the absence of some particular activity/factor that is noteworthy and would serve as added information
The protocol goes beyond a recording of events, i.e., use of identified materials, and provides an overall context for the data. The protocol should prompt the observer to:-
· Describe the setting of program delivery, i.e., where the observation took place and what the physical setting was like;
· Identify the people who participated in those activities, i.e., characteristics of those who were present;
5
· Describe the content of the intervention, i.e., actual activities and messages that were delivered;
· Document the interactions between implementation staff and project participants;
· Describe and assess the quality of the delivery of the intervention; and
· Be alert to unanticipated events that might require refocusing one or more evaluation questions.
Field notes are frequently used to provide more in-depth background or to help the observer remember salient events if a form is not completed at the time of observation. Field notes contain the description of what has been observed. The descriptions must be factual, accurate, and thorough without being judgmental and cluttered by trivia. The date and time of the observation should be recorded, and everything that the observer believes to be worth noting should be included. No information should be trusted to future recall.
The use of technological tools, such as battery-operated tape recorder or Dictaphone, laptop computer, camera, and video camera, can make the collection of field notes more efficient and the notes themselves more comprehensive. Informed consent must be obtained from participants before any observational data are gathered.
4. Ethics
A primary consideration in any research study is to conduct the research in an ethical manner, letting the community know that one's purpose for observing is to document their activities. While there may be instances where covert observation methods might be appropriate, these situations are few and are suspect. DeWalt, DeWalt, and Wayland (1998) advise the researcher to take some of the field notes publicly to reinforce that what the researcher is doing is collecting data for research purposes. When the researcher meets community members for the first time, he/she should be sure to inform them of the purpose for being there, sharing sufficient information with them about the research topic that their questions about the research and the researcher's presence there are put to rest. This means that one is constantly introducing oneself as a researcher.
Another ethical responsibility is to preserve the anonymity of the participants in the final write-up and in field notes to prevent their identification, should the field notes be subpoenaed for inspection. Individual identities must be described in ways that community members will not be able to identify the participants
5. The Role of the Observer
There are various methods for gathering observational data, depending on the nature of a given project. The most fundamental distinction between various observational strategies concerns the
6 extent to which the observer will be a participant in the setting being studied. The extent of participation is a continuum that varies from complete involvement in the setting as a full participant to complete separation from the setting as an outside observer or spectator.
In some cases it may be beneficial to have two people observing at the same time. This can increase the quality of the data by providing a larger volume of data and by decreasing the influence of observer bias. However, in addition to the added cost, the presence of two observers may create an environment threatening to those being observed and cause them to change their behavior.
Studies using observation typically employ intensive training experiences to make sure that the observer or observers know what to look for and can, to the extent possible, operate in an unbiased manner. In long or complicated studies, it is useful to check on an observer’s performance periodically to make sure that accuracy is being maintained. The issue of training is a critical one and may make the difference between a defensible study and what can be challenged as "one person’s perspective."
A special issue with regard to observations relates to the amount of observation needed. While in participant observation this may be a moot point (except with regard to data recording), when an outside observer is used, the question of "how much" becomes very important. While most people agree that one observation (a single hour of a training session or one class period of instruction) is not enough, there is no hard and fast rule regarding how many samples need to be drawn. General tips to consider are to avoid atypical situations, carry out observations more than one time, and (where possible and relevant) spread the observations out over time.
II – Interviews Outline
1. Introduction
2. Structured interview 3. Semi-structured interview 4. Narrative interview
5. The process of interviewing 6. Recording interview data 7. Training the Interviewers
1. Introduction
7 Interviews provide very different data from observations: they allow the research team to capture the perspectives of project participant. The use of interviews as a data collection method begins with the assumption that the participants’ perspectives are meaningful, knowable, and able to be made explicit, and that their perspectives affect the success of the project. An interview, rather than a paper and pencil survey, is selected when interpersonal contact is important and when opportunities for follow-up of interesting comments are desired. For a study on the community regarding, for example the cooking practices.
Interview styles range widely, but share a defining characteristic of using questions to understand the thoughts, feelings, beliefs and behavior of people. Primarily, there are three types of interviews commonly in use: (1) Structured; (2) semi-structured; and (3) narrative interview. The primary difference between them is the amount of control the interviewer has over the encounter and the aim of the interview. It is generally, best to tape-record interviews and later transcribe these tapes for analysis. While it is possible to take notes during the session (and encouraged), it is difficult to capture direct quotes from the participants while still engaging in the conversation.
Because it is more important to maintain focus on the participant to build rapport and dialog rather than on the notes, the recorder will assist in capturing the data.
2. Structured Interview
The questions asked during a structured interview control, the data elicited by the researcher quite tightly. The interview is structured because the researcher follows a specific set of questions in a predetermined order with a limited number of response categories. This would be appropriate to use when interviews require that the participant give a response to each ordered question, which are often shorter in nature. The questions in a structured interview are like those in a job interview, where the employer asks the same set of questions for consistency. It is also like a theatrical script to be followed in a standardized and straightforward manner. Because the questions are routinely asked, a larger number of participants typically are in these studies. The interviewer records the responses according to a coding scheme that has been established according to the research question.
According to Denzin and Lincoln (p. 124), there are five guidelines to keep in mind:
1. Stay consistent with the study introduction, sequence of questions and question wording.
2. Do not let another person answer for the participant or offer his/her opinion about the question.
3. Do not suggest an answer or agree or disagree with an answer. You do not want to give the respondent any idea of your personal views on the topic.
8 4. Do not interpret the meaning of a question. If the participant does not understand the question, you should just repeat the question and ask him/her to give the best response or choose to skip the question.
5. Do not improvise, such as adding answer categories or making word changes.
Telephone interviews, interviews in malls or public places and interviews generally associated with survey research are most likely to be included in the structured interview category. The other two types of interviews are more common in health research and are described below.
3. Semi-structured Interviews
In a semi-structured interview, the researcher sets the outline for the topics covered, but the interviewee's responses determine the way, in which the interview is directed. This is the most commonly used type of interview used in qualitative research and many studies illustrate its use.
Semi-structured interviews are often preceded by observation, informal and unstructured interviewing in order to allow researchers to develop a keen understanding of the topic of interest necessary for developing relevant and meaningful semi-structured questions. The inclusion of open-ended questions and training of interviewers to follow relevant topics that may stray from the interview guide does; however, still provide the opportunity for identifying new ways of seeing and understanding the topic at hand.
In general, the interviewer has a paper-based interview guide to follow, which is based on the research question. It is called semi-structured because discussions may diverge from the interview guide, which can be more interesting than the initial question that is asked. The participant does not need to answer the questions in order. Semi-structured interviews allow questions to be prepared ahead of time, which allows the interviewer to be prepared, yet gives the participant freedom to express views with his/her own words.
4. Narrative Interviews
Narratives are stories that are based on the unfolding of events or actions from the perspective of a participant's life experience. Narration is not new; in fact, it is one of the oldest human activities.
For example in diabetes, patients tell their stories of illness and how they live with illness over time. The story of the individual patient (the case) is still, despite the reliance of medicine on scientific theory and generalizable results, an important mechanism for understanding how general scientific knowledge is applied. In recent years, more formal study of narratives in social health has become a method to represent and interpret an individual's lived experience.
9 Certain questions or concerns, for example, in diabetes social health research lend themselves to a narrative interview approach. It is an approach to use when little is known about the research topic, for instance how religious beliefs might affect diabetes self-management. The researcher could begin the narrative interview with a wide net, such as "what are your religious beliefs?" with one follow-up question of "how do you these beliefs impact your diabetes management?"
Researchers who conduct narrative research assume that a narrative of chronic illness, such as diabetes, is not simply the story of an illness, but the story of a life that is altered by illness.
The benefit of narrative interviews is that the participant guides the interview and may tell you information that could not have been predicted. The downside of these types of interviews is that they are often lengthy, lasting often 1 h. They are also more difficult to analysis than other types of interviews because it is an unstructured approach to interviewing that yields wide and deep themes.
Specific circumstances for which in-depth interviews are particularly appropriate include
· Complex subject matter;
· Detailed information sought;
· Busy, high-status respondents; and
· Highly sensitive subject matter.
5. The Process of Interviewing
The dynamics of interviewing are similar to a guided conversation. The interviewer becomes an attentive listener who shapes the process into a familiar and comfortable form of social engagement - a conversation - and the quality of the information obtained is largely dependent on the interviewer’s skills and personality (Patton, 1990). In contrast to a good conversation, however, an in-depth interview is not intended to be a two-way form of communication and sharing.
The key to being a good interviewer is being a good listener and questioner. Tempting as it may be, it is not the role of the interviewer to put forth his or her opinions, perceptions, or feelings.
Interviewers should be trained individuals who are sensitive, empathetic, and able to establish a nonthreatening environment in which participants feel comfortable. They should be selected during a process that weighs personal characteristics that will make them acceptable to the individuals being interviewed; clearly, age, sex, profession, race/ethnicity, and appearance may be key characteristics.
10 Thorough training, including familiarization with the research project and its goals, is important.
Poor interviewing skills, poor phrasing of questions, or inadequate knowledge of the subject’s culture or frame of reference may result in a collection that obtains little useful data.
6. Recording interview data.
Interview data can be recorded on tape (with the permission of the participants) and/or summarized in notes. As with observations, detailed recording is a necessary component of interviews since it forms the basis for analyzing the data. All methods, but especially the second and third, require carefully crafted interview guides with ample space available for recording the interviewee’s responses. Three procedures for recording the data are presented below.
In the first approach, the interviewer (or in some cases the transcriber) listens to the tapes and writes a verbatim account of everything that was said. Transcription of the raw data includes word- for-word quotations of the participant’s responses as well as the interviewer’s descriptions of participant’s characteristics, enthusiasm, body language, and overall mood during the interview.
Notes from the interview can be used to identify speakers or to recall comments that are garbled or unclear on the tape.
This approach is recommended when the necessary financial and human resources are available, when the transcriptions can be produced in a reasonable amount of time, when the focus of the interview is to make detailed comparisons, or when respondents’ own words and phrasing are needed. The major advantages of this transcription method are its completeness and the opportunity it affords for the interviewer to remain attentive and focused during the interview. The major disadvantages are the amount of time and resources needed to produce complete transcriptions and the inhibitory impact tape recording has on some respondents. If this technique is selected, it is essential that the participants have been informed that their answers are being recorded, that they are assured confidentiality, and that their permission has been obtained.
A second possible procedure for recording interviews draws less on the word-by-word record and more on the notes taken by the interviewer or assigned note-taker. This method is called "note expansion." As soon as possible after the interview, the interviewer listens to the tape to clarify certain issues and to confirm that all the main points have been included in the notes. This approach is recommended when resources are scarce, when the results must be produced in a short period of time, and when the purpose of the interview is to get rapid feedback from members of the target population. The note expansion approach saves time and retains all the essential points of the discussion. In addition to the drawbacks pointed out above, a disadvantage is that the interviewer may be more selective or biased in what he or she writes.
11 In the third approach, the interviewer uses no tape recording, but instead takes detailed notes during the interview and draws on memory to expand and clarify the notes immediately after the interview. This approach is useful if time is short, the results are needed quickly, and the evaluation questions are simple. Where more complex questions are involved, effective note- taking can be achieved, but only after much practice. Further, the interviewer must frequently talk and write at the same time, a skill that is hard for some to achieve.
7. Training the Interviewers
One of the most important aspects of any interview study is the training of the interviewers themselves. In many ways the interviewers are your measures, and the quality of the results is totally in their hands. Even in small studies involving only a single researcher-interviewer, it is important to organize in detail and rehearse the interviewing process before beginning the formal study.
Here are some of the major topics that should be included in interviewer training:
i. Describe the entire study
Interviewers need to know more than simply how to conduct the interview itself. They should learn about the background for the study, previous work that has been done, and why the study is important.
ii. State who is sponsor of research
Interviewers need to know who they are working for. They -- and their respondents -- have a right to know not just what agency or company is conducting the research, but also, who is paying for the research.
iii. Teach enough about survey research
While you seldom have the time to teach a full course on survey research methods, the interviewers need to know enough that they respect the survey method and are motivated.
Sometimes it may not be apparent why a question or set of questions was asked in a particular way. The interviewers will need to understand the rationale for how the instrument was constructed.
iv. Explain the sampling logic and process
Naive interviewers may not understand why sampling is so important. They may wonder why you go through all the difficulties of selecting the sample so carefully. You will have to explain that sampling is the basis for the conclusions that will be reached and for the degree to which your study will be useful.
12 v. Explain interviewer bias
Interviewers need to know the many ways that they can inadvertently bias the results. And, they need to understand why it is important that they not bias the study. This is especially a problem when you are investigating political or moral issues on which people have strongly held convictions. While the interviewer may think they are doing good for society by slanting results in favor of what they believe, they need to recognize that doing so could jeopardize the entire study in the eyes of others.
vi. "Walk through" the interview
When you first introduce the interview, it's a good idea to walk through the entire protocol so the interviewers can get an idea of the various parts or phases and how they interrelate.
vii. Explain respondent selection procedures, including reading maps
It's astonishing how many adults don't know how to follow directions on a map. In personal interviews, the interviewer may need to locate respondents who are spread over a wide geographic area. And, they often have to navigate by night (respondents tend to be most available in evening hours) in neighborhoods they're not familiar with. Teaching basic map reading skills and confirming that the interviewers can follow maps is essential.
viii. Identifying households
In many studies it is impossible in advance to say whether every sample household meets the sampling requirements for the study. In your study, you may want to interview only people who live in single family homes. It may be impossible to distinguish townhouses and apartment buildings in your sampling frame. The interviewer must know how to identify the appropriate target household.
ix. Identify respondents
Just as with households, many studies require respondents who meet specific criteria. For instance, your study may require that you speak with a male head-of-household between the ages of 30 and 40 who has children under 18 living in the same household. It may be impossible to obtain statistics in advance to target such respondents. The interviewer may have to ask a series of filtering questions before determining whether the respondent meets the sampling needs.
x. Rehearse interview
You should probably have several rehearsal sessions with the interviewer team. You might even videotape rehearsal interviews to discuss how the trainees responded in difficult situations. The interviewers should be very familiar with the entire interview before ever facing a respondent.
13 xi. Explain supervision
In most interview studies, the interviewers will work under the direction of a supervisor. In some contexts, the supervisor may be a faculty advisor; in others, they may be the "boss." In order to assure the quality of the responses, the supervisor may have to observe a subsample of interviews, listen in on phone interviews, or conduct follow-up assessments of interviews with the respondents. This can be very threatening to the interviewers. You need to develop an atmosphere where everyone on the research team -- interviewers and supervisors -- feel like they're working together towards a common end.
xii. Explain scheduling
The interviewers have to understand the demands being made on their schedules and why these are important to the study. In some studies it will be imperative to conduct the entire set of interviews within a certain time period. In most studies, it's important to have the interviewers available when it's convenient for the respondents, not necessarily the interviewer.
