Qualitative or Quantitative Research Report

Research Design and Dissertation Assessment: Qualitative or Quantitative Research Report MODULE NAME: Research Design and Methods Word limit: 3,000 (excludin" rel="nofollow">ing words in" rel="nofollow">in appendix) Qualitative Research Report The first assignment is to produce a research report (max. 3000 words) based on an analysis of qualitative data you will each collect by undertakin" rel="nofollow">ing an in" rel="nofollow">interview. Your task is to conduct an in" rel="nofollow">interview, record it, transcribe a sample of your recordin" rel="nofollow">ings, undertake some in" rel="nofollow">initial analysis of the content of the conversation and reflect on the process of collectin" rel="nofollow">ing data this way. It is expected you will support this usin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">insights gain" rel="nofollow">ined by your wider readin" rel="nofollow">ing on the subject of qualitative in" rel="nofollow">interviewin" rel="nofollow">ing. The aims of the assignment are: • to familiarise yourself with the use of a qualitative method (in" rel="nofollow">in this case in" rel="nofollow">interviewin" rel="nofollow">ing) for both data production and data analysis • to develop your research in" rel="nofollow">interviewin" rel="nofollow">ing and transcription skills • to promote reflection on the process of doin" rel="nofollow">ing qualitative research. The assignment task is to use a semi-structuredor an unstructured in" rel="nofollow">interview process to discover your in" rel="nofollow">interviewee’s views and perspectives on the subject of their reflections on livin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in Lin" rel="nofollow">incoln as an in" rel="nofollow">international student. This will in" rel="nofollow">involve usin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">interview approaches to probe the subject and gather and analyse your in" rel="nofollow">interviewee’s own responses to this topic (in" rel="nofollow">in his or her own words). The expectation is that you will in" rel="nofollow">interview an in" rel="nofollow">international student, possibly someone from your own course. You will have to use your in" rel="nofollow">initiative to fin" rel="nofollow">ind a person who will be willin" rel="nofollow">ing to be in" rel="nofollow">interviewed. It is preferable to make contact with someone you don’t know very well; a useful approach to do this may be to seek someone who is a friend of a friend. Give yourself plenty of time to set up the in" rel="nofollow">interview. Havin" rel="nofollow">ing made contact, you will have to explain" rel="nofollow">in what the in" rel="nofollow">interview is about and arrange a time and date. The in" rel="nofollow">interview should take place at a location where the in" rel="nofollow">interviewee feels comfortable but also where you are both safe (for example, in" rel="nofollow">in a public space such as the university library or busin" rel="nofollow">iness school buildin" rel="nofollow">ing durin" rel="nofollow">ing normal office hours) . Set aside between 1 to 2 hours for the in" rel="nofollow">interviewin" rel="nofollow">ing; you may not need this long but don’t underestimate how long it may take to undertake a meanin" rel="nofollow">ingful in" rel="nofollow">interview.The in" rel="nofollow">intention is to allow the in" rel="nofollow">interviewee to talk freely. You decide if you want to use a unstructured or semi-structured in" rel="nofollow">interview approach. You must explain" rel="nofollow">in your choice in" rel="nofollow">in the method discussion section of your report. If you use a semi-structured approach prepare a schedule of in" rel="nofollow">interview topics you thin" rel="nofollow">ink it may be useful to discuss (please in" rel="nofollow">include these as an appendix to your report and comment on the practical and theoretical relevance of these in" rel="nofollow">in your analysis). If you use unstructured in" rel="nofollow">interviewin" rel="nofollow">ing approaches describe in" rel="nofollow">in your report how you started the discussion and used follow-up questions. You should lead your in" rel="nofollow">interviewee in" rel="nofollow">into the topic gently without puttin" rel="nofollow">ing words in" rel="nofollow">into his or her mouth; so you should not in" rel="nofollow">introduce too much rigid structure or artificiality in" rel="nofollow">into the conversation. The atmosphere should be relaxed allowin" rel="nofollow">ing your in" rel="nofollow">interviewee to talk in" rel="nofollow">in detail about events important to him or her. Your role is to keep the in" rel="nofollow">interview flowin" rel="nofollow">ing and on-course and respond to their conversation appropriately with follow-up questions and comments. Ideally you want to capture rich, descriptive details of their experiences and perspectives. There are three stages to this assignment, each section has specific marks allocated to it and must be in" rel="nofollow">in evidence in" rel="nofollow">in your fin" rel="nofollow">inal report: 1) Data production and Method (approx. 1000 words): • Each student is to conduct their own in" rel="nofollow">interview with a relevant participant and should consider (through appropriate readin" rel="nofollow">ing) how to conduct this successfully. • Your report should in" rel="nofollow">include an account of the methods used and your methodological approach. Academic references should be used to in" rel="nofollow">indicate how your approach was in" rel="nofollow">informed by background readin" rel="nofollow">ing on qualitative in" rel="nofollow">interviewin" rel="nofollow">ing. • You should also discuss how and why any themes were chosen to help structure the in" rel="nofollow">interview and how the resultin" rel="nofollow">ing data was analysed. • The report should discuss who you selected (a general description, without identifyin" rel="nofollow">ing the in" rel="nofollow">individual); why you selected them and how you set up the in" rel="nofollow">interview with them. • Ethical guidelin" rel="nofollow">ines are emphasised and you should ensure that you follow these (in" rel="nofollow">includin" rel="nofollow">ing for example considerin" rel="nofollow">ing issues of in" rel="nofollow">informed consent and confidentiality). • The in" rel="nofollow">interview must be recorded - this must be kept safe and made available to the tutor if requested. You should be able to use your phone, mp3 player, computer or a recorder to complete this task. (Loan audio/video equipment if required is under the supervision of Media Loans, Ground Floor, MHT buildin" rel="nofollow">ing; equipment is limited so book early!) 2) Transcription (approx. 500 words of actual conversation from the in" rel="nofollow">interview): • The assignment must in" rel="nofollow">include a transcript of part of the in" rel="nofollow">interview; which should demonstrate the use of transcription techniques. • Students need to familiarise themselves with the ‘script’ of the resultin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">interview. They should listen to the tape several times to work out which parts of the conversation are most relevant, in" rel="nofollow">interestin" rel="nofollow">ing and able to demonstrate your transcription skills. This extract from the in" rel="nofollow">interview should be around 500 words and must in" rel="nofollow">include (as a min" rel="nofollow">inimum) the exact words as spoken durin" rel="nofollow">ing part of the in" rel="nofollow">interview. • The in" rel="nofollow">interview should be conducted in" rel="nofollow">in English (even if the in" rel="nofollow">interview participants English is not perfect). Your transcript should be of the in" rel="nofollow">interview as spoken, and this may in" rel="nofollow">include mistakes and unusual sentences. You may however sometimes have to in" rel="nofollow">include some explanatory comments in" rel="nofollow">in order to make the sense clear to the reader. • In the extremely unlikely event you are unable to in" rel="nofollow">interview in" rel="nofollow">in English you would need to make a full transcription in" rel="nofollow">in the first language and then a full translation. Your reasons for doin" rel="nofollow">ing this must be justified and discussed in" rel="nofollow">in the method section and it should be noted that this is NOT RECOMMENDED – as it takes much longer to do and is much harder to capture the meanin" rel="nofollow">ing of the conversations. 3) Reflection on research fin" rel="nofollow">indin" rel="nofollow">ings and process (approx. 1000 words): • Students need to write a short reflection on the in" rel="nofollow">interview they conducted. • This should in" rel="nofollow">include a summary of the fin" rel="nofollow">indin" rel="nofollow">ings - in" rel="nofollow">includin" rel="nofollow">ing a summary of key themes emergin" rel="nofollow">ing from the in" rel="nofollow">interviews and the lessons learnt. • You might want to discuss the differences between your origin" rel="nofollow">inal expectations of themes for conversation and those discussed in" rel="nofollow">in the in" rel="nofollow">interview itself. • You should reflect on the success or otherwise of the in" rel="nofollow">interview in" rel="nofollow">in addressin" rel="nofollow">ing the overall origin" rel="nofollow">inal objective of the research. • You may want to relate this discussion to the known strengths and weaknesses of the technique you chose (givin" rel="nofollow">ing academic references). Remember this should always relate to a reflection on the process of your in" rel="nofollow">interview and its outcomes not a general discussion. The structure of the report should be as follows: • Method Description and Discussion (approx. 1000 words) - 40% of marks • Transcript. Presentation of an extract from the in" rel="nofollow">interview, a sample transcript with annotations (approx. 500 words) – 30% of marks • Reflection on the in" rel="nofollow">interview fin" rel="nofollow">indin" rel="nofollow">ings and approach(approx. 1000 words) - 20% of marks • References (usin" rel="nofollow">ing Harvard conventions) - demonstratin" rel="nofollow">ing appropriate wider readin" rel="nofollow">ing and skills in" rel="nofollow">in referencin" rel="nofollow">ing – 10% of marks The report should be submitted electronically (via Blackboard) as ONE document; so as to detect any attempted plagiarism. Please remember that academic honesty is required at all times and your work must be entirely your own. Views and quotes from other authors are encouraged where they add to your argument/discussion but the source of these should be clearly given (as a reference) and all quotations/website extracts must be clearly in" rel="nofollow">indicated by usin" rel="nofollow">ing quote-marks. Suggested Further Readin" rel="nofollow">ing Denzin" rel="nofollow">in N & Lin" rel="nofollow">incoln Y (2011) The SAGE handbook of Qualitative Research London: Sage Eriksson, P & Kovalain" rel="nofollow">inen, A (2015) Qualitative Methods in" rel="nofollow">in Busin" rel="nofollow">iness Research London, Sage Gummesson E (2000) Qualitative Methods in" rel="nofollow">in Management Research London: Sage. Marschan,-Piekarit, R & Welch, C, (2005) Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for International Busin" rel="nofollow">iness London: Edward Elgar. Mason, J. (2002) Qualitative Researchin" rel="nofollow">ing. London: Sage Saunders, M et al (2015) Research Methods for Busin" rel="nofollow">iness Students London: Fin" rel="nofollow">inancial Times/Prentice Hall Silverman, D. (2016) Interpretin" rel="nofollow">ing Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysin" rel="nofollow">ing talk, text and in" rel="nofollow">interaction. London: Sage Silverman, D (2013) Doin" rel="nofollow">ing Qualitative Research: A Practical Handbook London: Sage