Youngwummin: Ethics and Data Collection Methods

Ethical considerations Ethics are something that you should think about at the very start Be honest Think about how your project might affect those taking part Get permission from your participants Respect others’ privacy Keep things confidential Know how to keep yourself and others safe Protect your data Feedback

What is a research question? Why develop a research question? A research question is the question you really want to find an answer to, on a topic that interests you. Your question should be clear and focused, if it’s too general it can be really difficult to answer. Why develop a research question? Narrow your focus Manage your time Keep motivated Find answers

Example Research Topic Impact of WW1 on women in my family Research Questions What role did the women in my family play in WW1? How did their involvement in WW1 effect them? What impact did their role have on the family? How did their role in WW1 impact on my generation? Research Methods Questionnaires, interviews, archive searches, family photographs and letters Population Family members, family friends, local community Sample Family members, National Records of Scotland, NLS, community members

Conduct your own research…. What method is most appropriate? What questions are you going to ask? Do you want to collect numbers and/or words?

Secondary Data Secondary research involves analysing existing data i.e. information that exists already, such as: Books Newspapers Photographs, letters… Information collected at the National Records Archive materials in the National Library ……

Primary Data Primary research involves collection of data that does not already exist. Data can be collected by: Questionnaires Interviews Focus Groups Observation

Demographic Information Collecting data which helps you to make comparisons, e.g. Age Gender Don’t ask for personal information unless it is necessary e.g. do you need to know someone’s name or address?

Questionnaires Advantages Can collect a large amount of data in a standardised format Provides anonymity Can gather information from those who would not feel comfortable and confident to take part in an interview/focus group Higher response than other methods Disadvantages May exclude those with low literacy Can be time-consuming Appropriate for this topic?

Top tips for questionnaires Keep them short Make sure the questions are clear Pilot your questions with friends and family Avoid leading questions Keep your questions relevant to your initial research question

Interviews: things to think about Decide whether you will do semi-structured or structured interviews What do you need to ask to get the information you want? Think about where and when to conduct the interviews How long do you want the interview to last? How are you going to record the data? E.g. notes, Dictaphone, video camera? Getting consent?

Focus groups: things to think about Focus group is a group of people interacting – how will you do this? How many will you have in your focus group? How many researchers? Will you use structured or semi- structured questions? How will you keep the group on topic? How will you record the data? Getting consent?

Guidelines for asking questions Do not begin with difficult/sensitive questions Keep questions simple and easy to understand Make sure you know different ways of asking a question Think about use of emotional/sensitive words Respondents may not have the answer Mikklesen (2005) Methods for Development Work and Research