1. Methods Choices Overall Approach/Design
Qualitative or Quantitative
Primary or secondary data
Survey, experiment, case study, etc.
Who to study - population, sample
individuals, market segments, populations
What to study - concepts, measures
behavior, knowledge, attitudes
Cost vs Benefit of Study

2. Quantitative Framework
Inquiry into a social or human problem based on
testing a theory,
composed of variables,
measured with numbers,
and analyzed with statistical procedures
to determine if predictive generalizations of the theory hold true

3. Qualitative Framework
An inquiry process of understanding a social or human problem, based on
building a complex, holistic picture,
formed with words,
reporting detailed views of informants
and conducted in a natural setting

4. Qualitative vs Quantitative Approaches
Focus Group
In-Depth Interview
Case Study
Participant observation
Secondary data analysis
Quantitative
Surveys
Experiments
Structured observation

5. Qualitative vs Quantitative
Gen’l Laws
Test Hypotheses
Predict behavior
Outsider-Objective
Structured
formal measures
probability samples
statistical analysis
Qualitative
Unique/Individual case
Understanding
Meanings/Intentions
Insider-Subjective
Unstructured
open ended measures
judgement samples
interpretation of data
Purpose
Perspective
Procedures

6. Primary or Secondary Data
Secondary data are data that were collected for some purpose other than your study, e.g. government records, internal documents, previous surveys
Choice between Primary /Secondary Data
Costs (time, money, personnel)
Relevance, accuracy, adequacy of data

7. Research Designs/Data Collection Approaches

8. (field and lab experiments)
Survey vs Experiment
Survey - measure things as they are, snapshot of population at one point in time, generally refers to questionnaires
(telephone, self-administered, personal interview)
Experiment - manipulate at least one variable (treatment) to evaluate response, to study cause-effect relationships
(field and lab experiments)

9. General Guidelines on when to use different approaches
1. Describing a population - surveys
2. Describing users/visitors - on-site survey
3. Describing non-users, potential users or general population - household survey
4. Describing observable characteristics of visitors - on-site observation
5. Measuring impacts, cause-effect relationships - experiments

10. Guidelines (cont)
6. Anytime suitable secondary data exists - secondary data
7. Short, simple household studies - phone
8. Captive audience or very interested population - self-administered survey
9. Testing new ideas - experimentation or focus groups
10. In-depth study - in-depth personal interviews, focus groups, case studies