Research

In our last session, we started to look at types of research and how we might go about finding relevant sources of information for our projects. It is important to get the balance right and to be aware of your personal opinion to ensure that bias does not get in the way of making an objective judgement. Using a wide range of sources will give more depth to the project, adding more value to the final conclusion.

 

Potential sources of information included:

• Questionnaires
• Interviewing – person
• Interviewing – e-mail
• Ethnography
• Participant observation
• Insider research
• Non-participant observation
• Focus groups
• Content analysis
• Case studies
• Newspapers
• Websites
• Government reports
• Books
• Journal articles
• Media programmes
• Leading institutions e.g. WHO

Research can be primary, research you conduct yourself, or secondary, research carried out by someone else. It can also be qualitative research, which incorporates words, opinions and ideas as opposed to quantitative research, which incorporates amounts and numbers. Proving your research is finding evidence to say that something is true whereas to evaluate research is to look at its benefits and disadvantages.