Types of Primary Research
Self-completion questionnaires | A series of questions that the respondent answers on their own. Self-completion questionnaires are good for collecting data on relatively simple topics, and for gaining a general overview of an issue. Questionnaires need to have clear questions, an easy to follow design, and not be too long. |
| Structured interviews | Similar to a self-completion questionnaire, except that the questions that are asked by an interviewer to the interviewee. The same questions are read out in the same way to all respondents. There will typically be a fixed choice of answers for the respondents. |
| Structured observation | Watching people and recording systematically their behaviour. Prior to the observation, an observation schedule will be produced which details what exactly the researcher should look for and how those observations should be recorded. |
In-depth interviews | A way of asking questions which allows the interviewee to have more control of the interview. The interview could be semi-structured, which uses an interview schedule to keep some control of the interview, but also allows for some flexibility in terms of the interviewee’s responses. The interview could be unstructured, here the aim is to explore the interviewee’s feelings about the issue being explored and the style of questioning is very informal. Or the interview could be a life history where the interviewer tries to find out about the whole life, or a portion of the person’s life. |
| Focus groups | A form of interviewing where there are several participants; there is an emphasis in the questioning on a tightly defined topic; the accent is on interaction within the group and the joint construction of meaning. The moderator tries to provide a relatively free rein to the discussion. |
| Participant observation | This involves studying people in naturally occurring settings. The researcher participates directly in the setting and collects data in a systematic manner. The researcher will observe behaviour, listen to conversations, and ask questions. |
(Source: http://www.socscidiss.bham.ac.uk/methodologies.html)
Possible primary research methods to use in our project:
- Self-completion questionnaires (Online surveys) to get quantitative data.
- In-depth interviews to get qualitative data. This can be done with participant observation so as to collect more data from the general public and widens the target audience.
