How to Prepare

a Research
Proposal
Research Proposal
This is a document which sets out your ideas
in an easily accessible way.
THE CONTENT OF A RESEARCH
PROPOSAL
Title
Background
Aims And Objectives
Methodology/Methods
Timetable
Budget and Resources
Dissemination
 How to
Conduct
Interviews
METHODS PF RECORDING
 Using a tape recorder
 Taking Notes

Develop an interview schedule, starting with general,

non-personal issues.
THE INTERVIEW SCHEDULE
 For a structured interview, you will need to construct a
list of questions

 For a semi-structured interviews, the schedule may be

in the form of a list of questions or a list of topics.
ESTABLISHING RAPPORT
 Treat interviews with respect
 Think about your appearance
 Think about body language
 Firm eye contact
 Don’t invade their eyes
 ASKING QUESTIONS AND
PROBING FOR INFORMATION
As the interview progresses:
Ask Questions, listen carefully to response and
probe for more information.
In probing, it needs to think about obtaining
clarification, explanation and understanding
Repeat last few words
Summarize what the interviewee said
How to conduct
Focus Groups
 FOCUS GROUPS
This is where a number of people are
asked to come together in order to
discuss a certain issue for the purpose of
research.
This is facilitated by a MODERATOR.
 THE MODERATOR’S
ROLE
Asking Questions
Seeking Responses
Finishing the Focus group
How to construct
Questionnaires
QUESTIONNAIRE
it is the most appropriate method for
research, a researcher needs to decide
whether he/she intends to construct a
close-ended, open-ended or combination
questionnaire.
WORDING AND STRUCTURE
OF QUESTIONS
 Questions should be kept short and simple
 Make sure that your questions don’t contain some
type or prestige bias.
 Some issues may b very sensitive and you might be
better asking an indirect questions rather than a
direct questions.
 USING CLOSED-ENDED
QUESTIONS
Make sure that all frequencies are covered.

AVOIDING LEADING
QUESTIONS
Don’t ask leading questions
LENGTH AND ORDERING
OF QUESTIONS
Keep it as short as possible
Be realistic
 start with easy questions (as with interviewing or focus
group)
Make it interesting as possible and easy to follow.
Group questions into specific topics
Layout and spacing are important
 PILOTING THE
QUESTIONNAIRE
A researcher must test it out to see if it is
obtaining the results you require.
POINTS TO CONSIDER IN MAKING A
QUESTIONNARE
Think about how you’re going to analyze
your survey prior to constructing a
questionnaire
Interest decision making
Decide whether a questionnaire is to be self-
administered or interviewer administered
POINTS TO CONSIDER IN MAKING A
QUESTIONNARE
How to distribute a questionnaire
Construct a questionnaire adhering
to the checklist produced
Include covering letter with
information
POINTS TO CONSIDER IN MAKING A
QUESTIONNARE
Include instruction on how to
complete the questionnaire
Include the date by which time you
would like the questionnaire returned
How to carry out
participant
observation
 Participants observation can be
viewed as a methodology, rather than a
method.
It is a procedure for generating
understanding about the way of life of
others.
 GAINING ACCESS
Friendship building
Building up the required level of trust
Approach the person or committee in
charge
Be persuasive
 COLLECTING AND
ANALYSING INFORMATION
 Start taking copious notes.
 Seek information by not asking questions

FIELD NOTES
 These are the main way of recording data.
 A practical details about events, times, dates, and places.
 May be a methodological notes concerning your role, your influences on the
encounter, your relationship with the informants, sampling procedures and so
on.
FIELD NOTES
Taking notes is very personal process
Most researchers keeping a day-to-day diary
Keeping all transcripts of interviews, photographs,
maps, tapes, video recordings, diagrams ad plans.
WITHDRAWAL FROM
THE FIELD
The community should be left on
good terms and any written reports
should be given back to the people for
their interest and personal comments.
 How to
Analyse Your
Data
 DECIDING WHICH APPROACH TO
Quantitative Data AnalysisUSE
 issues of validity and reliability are important
 researchers attempts to show that the methods chosen succeed in
measuring what they purport to measure.

Qualitative Data Analysis

 Might acknowledge that participants are influenced by taking part
in the research process.
 researchers bring their own preferences and experience to the
project.
 it is a very personal personal
 Analyzing Data
 For QUALITATIVE DATA,
The researcher might analyze as
the research progresses, continually
refining and reorganizing in light of the
emerging results.
 Analyzing Data
 For QUANTITATIVE DATA,
The analysis can be left until the
end of the data collection process, and if
it is large survey, statistical software is
the easiest and most efficient method to
use.
 QUALITATIVE DATA
ANALYSIS
 Producean interview summary form or a focus
group summary form or a focus.
 Thisincludes practical details about the time and
place, the participants, the duration of the interview
or focus group, and details about the content and
emerging themes.
 QUALITATIVE DATA
ANALYSIS
FORMAT ANALYSIS
A series of answers on an open-ended questionnaire, or field
notes or memos written by the researcher.
It is useful to write memos and notes as soon as you begin to
collect data as these help to focus your mind and alert you to
significant points which may be coming from he data.
 QUALITATIVE DATA
ANALYSIS
THEMATIC ANALYSIS
It is when data is analyzed by theme.
Highly inductive
Theme emerge from the data are not imposed upon it by the
researcher
The data collection and analysis take place simultaneously
 QUALITATIVE DATA
ANALYSIS
THEMATIC ANALYSIS
 this is closely connected to comparative analysis – data from
different people is compared and contrasted and the process
continues until the researcher is satisfied that no new issues are
arising.
 QUALITATIVE DATA
ANALYSIS
CONTENT ANALYSIS
 this is doing by code content
The researcher systematically works through works through
each transcript assigning codes, which may be numbers or
words, to specific characteristics within the text.
This can be used for open-ended questions which have been
added to questionnaire in large quantitative surveys.
 QUALITATIVE DATA
ANALYSIS
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
 this is a falling in the middle of the qualitative analysis
continuum.
Conversational analysis is the other name by some researcher
This looks a pattern of speech
It see speech as a performance
It performs an action rather than describes a specific state of
affairs or specific state of mind.
 In Processing Data you need to be:

 Think
Judge
 Interpret
 Mechanical
QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
 Make sure that questionnaire is properly constructed and
worded
 checked over and over again that there is no missing or
ambiguous information
 STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES
 if your goal is to describe what you have found, all you
need to do is to count your responses and reproduce them –
frequency count or unit analysis.
 If there are any missing answer, a separate “no answer”
category needs to be included in any frequency count table.
 FINDING A CONNECTION
 you need to do more than merely describe your findings.
You will need to find out if there is a connection between
one variable and a number of other variables (bivariate
analysis)
In multivariate analysis – the researcher is exploring the
connections among more than two variables.
 MEASURING DATA
NOMINAL SCALES
 the respondent answers a question in one particular way,
choosing from a number of mutually exclusive answers.

ORDINAL SCALES
 some questions offer a choice but from the categories given it is
obvious that the answers from the scale
Itis not possible to measure the difference between the specific
categories
 MEASURING DATA
INTERVAL SCALES
 It comes in the form of number with precisely defined intervals

ARITHMETIC MEAN
 it is finding simple average of the data, you would add up the
values and divide by the number of items.
Thisis a straightforward calculation used with interval scales
where specific figures can be added together and then divided.
 MEASURING DATA
The simple average is called an _______________.
the middle value of range is called ____________.
The most frequent is called __________________.
 How to
Report your
Findings
 REPORTING IN RESEARCH
Written Report FINDINGS
Remember the audience
Written Report
• Title Page Format • Findings/Analysis
• Content page • Conclusion
• List of Illustrations • Recommendations
• Acknowledge • Further Research
• Abstract / Summary • References
• Introduction • Bibliography
• Background • Appendices
• Methodology and Methods
How to be an
Ethical
Researcher
TreatingParticipants with respect
Overt and Covert Research
 Overt and Covert Research
Over research means that “it is open, out in the public
and that everyone knows who you are and who you are
and what you are doing.
Covert research means that you are doing in under
cover, that no one know you are a researcher or what you
are doing.
 CODE OF ETHICS
Anonymity
Confidentiality
Right to comment
The final report
Data protection