Skills in diagnostic interviewing In my work as a Management Consultant, I’m often carrying out mini research projects. The balance of hard and soft data collection techniques varies in the generation of evidence to support conclusions of issue analysis; which often leads to a business case being developed for funding for the implementation of a …
What to include in your methodology chapter in your dissertation / thesis I’m busily working away on my methodology chapter for my PhD thesis and puzzling around how to structure the chapter and debating about what to include and what to exclude and what should be included elsewhere in the thesis. I’ve currently structured the …
I’ve been studying D845 Research methods dissertation in social sciences since the 1st May, now 11 weeks into the course and one of the big learning points for me has been on ethics. In my college days, I would have just rolled out a questionnaire, for example, and not given a single thought on the …
Questionnaire Design and Analysing Results Working through the questionnaire results today for my research dissertation for my MSc in research methods for educational technology with The Open University. I find the replies really interesting and some key themes beginning to emerge. The questionnaire was designed for the young people completing them with a fun and …
Ensuring your data is encrypted for research I’ve been chatting with a brilliant IT Consultant (please email me if you’d like the contact details) today who has been advising me on how I can ensure my data is secure during my research and to ensure confidentiality of personal data. The information gathered will be subject …
Grounded theory has been defined as ‘theory that was derived from data, systematically gathered and analyzed through the research process. In this method, data collection, analysis, and eventual theory stand in close relationship to one another’ (Strauss and Corbin, 1998, p.12). Two central strands of grounded theory are that it is concerned with the development …
Using computer-based text analysis to integrate qualitative and quantitative methods in research on collaborative learning I have been reading: Wegerif, R. and Mercer, N. (1997) ‘Using computer-based text analysis to integrate qualitative and quantitative methods in research on collaborative learning’, Language and Education, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 271–86. The main research question was to …
I’ve been doing some interesting reading on technology timelines today. It’s been interesting to read how future predictions have come true much faster than had originally been anticipated. Other have fallen by the wayside. What’s fascinating is to watch the move from desktop to mobile, and from disc drive to Cloud. The pace of change …
A structured questionnaire is a useful, cheap and quick method to administer across 36 schools and to 50 children. It is a convenient way to collate anonymous data from the sample children. The questionnaire contains a wide variety of question types. It is an appropriate method because systematic and comparable data are needed; which can …
Rebecca Ferguson is an Associate Lecturer in the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at The Open University and is my tutor on the D845 Research methods dissertation course. You can read more about Rebecca and her variety of research interests at https://r3beccaf.wordpress.com/