RESEARCH TOOLS

A.M.Somoray

Data Gathering Instruments

Checklist – is an instrument that contains the items to be observed and a space provided for the entries which may quantities, qualities, checkmarks, cross-marks, or any codes of responses

Interview Guide

• This instrument contains the series of related questions that provide direction to the interview.

Letter

• An encoded matter used in seeking information specially printed materials or data files that may shed information to a study. The letter may be in a form of request for assistance or permit in the conduct of study. The cover letter introduces the researcher to the respondent.

Questionnaire

• This instrument contains the simplified questions addressed to the respondents.

• The questions here are broken statements from the Statement of the Problem

Two Types of Questions:

• Closed-end type - offers answer choices that shall just be chosen by the respondent by checking, underlining, encircling, shading or ticking the answers.

• Open-end type – it elicits a variety of possible answers which may or may not directly satisfy the information that the researcher wants to know.

Closed Format Questions

• Closed format questions are questions that include multiple choice answers.

• It can easily calculate statistical data and percentages. Preliminary analysis can also be performed with ease. Closed format questions can be asked to different groups at different intervals.

Types of closed-end Questions

1. Dichotomous : A question that offers two answer choices that are usually opposites or contrasting thoughts.

Ex. Yes or no

true or false

Trichotomous:

• A question that offers three logical answer choices.

Ex. _____ Small

_____ medium

_____ large

Multiple ResponseIt offers more than three choices and some or

even all of the choices may be chosen as answers.

Ex. Who financially supports your students n college?

_______ parents

_______ brothers or sisters

_______ aunts and uncles

_______ grandparents

Likert Scale:

- A statement with which a respondent shows the amount of agreement or disagreement.

____ strongly agree

____ Agree

____ Neither Agree or Disagree

____ Strongly disagree

Rating Scale

• the respondent is asked to rate a particular issue on a scale that ranges from poor to good. Rating scale questions usually have an even number of choices, so that respondents are not given the choice of an middle option

Rating Scale

• A scale that assess some attributes:

• Ex.

___ Excellent

___ Very good

___ Good

___ Fair

___ Poor

Semantic Differential

• A scale is inscribed between two bipolar words, and the respondent selects the point that represents the direction and intensity of his feelings.

5 4 3 2 1

Baby friendly Not baby friendly

Bi Polar Questions

• Bipolar questions are questions that have two extreme answers. The respondent is asked to mark his/her responses between the two opposite ends of the scale.

Intention Scale

• A scale that describes the respondent’s intention. This is usually used in business research.

______ definitely buy

______ probably not buy

______ not certain

______ probably not buy

______ definitely not buy

Two Types of Open-End Questions

1. Completely unstructured – a question that respondents can answer in an almost unlimited number of ways.

Example:

Why do you choose generic medicine?

Open Format Type of Question

• Open format questions are those questions that give your audience an opportunity to express their opinions.

2. Word Association:

• Words or even phrases are presented one at a time, then the respondent mentions the first word or phrase that comes to his mind.

• Ex. Food _________

TV program _______

President _________

Cloze Method• It requires the respondent to supply the

missing word through thinking thoroughly.

Ex . Today, I went to the ________ and bought some milk and eggs. I knew it was going to rain, but I forgot to take my ________, and ended up getting wet on the way ________.

Story Completion

• An incorporate story is presented, the respondent is requested to complete it.

• Ex. In June 2000, I was …

____________________________________________________________________

Categories of Research Questions

1. Descriptive – when a study is designed to describe what is going on or what exists.

Example: you want to know the percentage of graduating students from high school who intend to enroll in HRM.

Here you only want to describe something.

• 2. Relational – when a study is designed to know the relationship between 2 or more variables like gender and course preference.

Ex. Is there a relationship between age and intelligence level?

3. Causal – A question is causal when it is designed to determine whether variables cause or affect outcome variables.

Nature of Questionnaire

1. Devised Questionnaire –self made instrument that is constructed by the researcher based on the nature of the study. This questionnaire needs pre-administration and validation to ensure elicit measure what intends to measure.

2. Standardized Questionnaire – It is a professionally and scholarly constructed instrument and it may be applicable, usable and adoptable in various times and in various groups of respondents. It is generally accepted questionnaire for a specific purpose because it underwent series of validation