Professional Documents
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Data Collection Strategy 1
Data Collection Strategy 1
Collection Techniques
Training Course in Sexual and
Reproductive Health Research
Geneva 2012
2. Observation
3. Interview (face-to-face)
• Concealed
– (e.g., ‘mystery clients’ trying to obtain antibiotics
without medical prescription)
• Observations of objects
– For example, the presence or absence of a latrine and
its state of cleanliness
Type of Observation
1. General observation may be used as the starting
point in to be familiar with the setting and the new
context.
(Spradlet 1979)
Preparing for Observation
1. Determine the purpose of the observation activity as
related to the overall research objectives
• The investigator should have an additional list of topics ready when the
respondent falls silent
– e.g., when asked about abortion methods used
– who made the decision and who paid
High Degree of Flexibility
• The sequence of topics should be determined by
the flow of discussion.
Examples
• Does the child have fever? (Closed question)
– Probes How high is the fever?
– Since when has he had the fever?
• Provocative question:
– Some say that HIV is the punishment of God, what do you think about
that?
• Ideal question:
– Please describe to me what a good delivery would be like.
• Interpretative question:
– You said earlier that you go to healers for diarrhoea, how this related
ideas about hot-cold?
Type of Question
• Experience question:
– Could you tell me about your experience of caring for
patients with cancer?
• Feeling question:
– How did you feel when the first patient in your care
died?
• Knowledge question:
– What services are available for this group of patients?
Type of Question
• Grand-tour question:
– Can you describe a typical day in the community? (to
a community midwife)
• Mini-tour question:
– Can you describe what goes on when a women die
giving birth?
• Example question:
– Can you give me an example of a difficult delivery?
Type of Question
Type of Question Purpose
Opening questions To identify the characteristics that the participants have
in common. Participants should be given an opportunity
to introduce themselves.
Introductory questions To introduce the general topic of the discussion, and to
stimulate the conversation and improve interaction in the
group.
Transition questions To move the participants into the focus of the discussion.
example:
• A district health officer had noticed that there were an unusually
large number of cases of malnutrition of children under 5 reported
from one area in her district.
example:
• In planning a study of the incidence of childhood diarrhoea and
feeding practices, a FGD showed that in the community under
study, children below the age of 1 year were not perceived as
having ‘bouts of diarrhoea’ but merely ‘having loose stools’ that
were associated with milestones such as sitting up, crawling, and
teething.
example:
• In District X, the recent national (polio) immunisation days
(NID) showed widely different coverage’s per village (50-90%)
and in a number of villages a marked decrease in coverage
was observed compared to last year.
• In the villages with a low NID coverage there had been a high
incidence of malaria in children immediately after the previous NID
campaign and several children died. Mothers therefore believed
that the NID campaign was useless.
FGD Techniques Can be Used To
4- Develop appropriate messages for health education
programmes and later evaluate the messages for clarity.
example:
• A rural health clinic wanted to develop a health education
programme focused on weaning problems most often
encountered by mothers in the surrounding villages and what to
do about them.
example:
• Sexual behaviour is a controversial topic in the sense that males
and females judge sexual relations and sexuality often from
very different perspectives. Sexual education has to take this
difference into account.
• Through FGDs, first with females, then with males, and then
with a mixed group to confront both sexes with the different
outcomes of the separate discussions (listed on flip charts) it
becomes easier to bring these differences in the open.
Especially for teenagers, who may have many stereotypes
about the other sex or be reluctant to discuss the topic openly
(particularly girls), such a ‘multi-stage’ approach is useful.
Strengths and Limitations of FGD
• A well chosen group, in terms of composition and
number, FGDs can be a powerful research tool
which provides valuable spontaneous information
in a short period of time and at relatively low cost.