EMREX
2015-04-13
ERASMUS +
EMREX initial qualitative study
Page 1 of 2
EMREX initial qualitative study
Guidelines for researchers
1. Introduction
The sociological evaluation of the EMREX field trial consists of the following types of research:
research based on administrative data, students’ opinion survey and a qualitative study among
universities’ administrative staff. The qualitative research has been split into two parts. First
there will be initial study before introduction of EMREX. The main aim of this study is to
investigate expectations and fears of potential future users. There will be 10-15 interviews
conducted by members of EMREX team. This document is an instruction for the researchers who
are going to conduct it. It consists of brief introduction to qualitative research, research
questions, interview guide and some technical information on reporting.
Researchers will deliver notes from the interviews with answers to research questions. There will
be a separate research report based on the data collected in the initial study. The findings will be
also included in the final evaluation report.
2. Brief introduction to qualitative research
Most people, when asked about social research, think of surveys, samples and statistical analysis
– so called quantitative research. But there is also another type of social research – qualitative
research. Qualitative research is different from quantitative research in a number of ways. In
quantitative research we try to quantify social phenomena. Researcher collects data from surveys
or from registers and applies statistical tools to get answers for the questions like: how many
people do something, how often people do something or how many people have a certain opinion.
In qualitative research numbers are less important. Qualitative research is more interpretive.
Researcher wants to get a better understanding of respondents by investigating their opinions,
motivations, interpretations, practices etc. The process of data collection is also different.
Ethnography, individual in-depth interviews, focus groups and participant observation are all
techniques typical for qualitative research. Interviews and focus groups are most common
(especially in market research studies). Most often none of statistical techniques are applied in
the process of analysis. Instead, the researcher studies how the interviewee makes sense of
certain phenomena, what are his or her daily routines e.g. at work with the aim to explore,
explain and/or interpret social conduct. Qualitative studies enable e.g. studying subjective
experience and individual agency in a broader institutional setting. Their advantage is immersion
in the natural language of the interviewees, who – unlike survey respondents – are able to narrate
their life and opinions in categories close to their experience and not pre-defined by the
researchers. Also, the researcher takes advantage from the flexibility of the structure of the
interview and can ask for details and clarification, which cannot be accomplished in a survey.
Qualitative and quantitative methods are often treated as complementary. Qualitative research
may precede quantitative research. In that case in the initial stage of the research project it serves
as an exploratory study. It sheds some light on the dimensions of the investigated phenomenon.
Qualitative research may also follow quantitative study. It that case its goal is to provide better
interpretation and understanding of the previous quantitative results, which inform us about the
EMREX
2015-04-13
ERASMUS +
EMREX initial qualitative study
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scale of a certain phenomenon, but do not provide insights in the meanings ascribed to these
processes by their participants or their practices.
3. EMREX initial qualitative study
3.1. Research questions:
This is initial stage of EMREX project and our research project so this is an exploratory study. At
this point respondents have not seen EMREX yet so the goal of the study is to gather information
about:
- The current processes related to the recognition of academic records and administrative
barriers to recognition.
- Administration’s expectations regarding EMREX:
o Does administration think EMREX could be useful?
o Is the administration willing to use EMREX when it is available? Under what
conditions would the administration be willing to use EMREX when it is available?
o What are the barriers to use EMREX?
o Does administration think EMREX could be useful for students?
o Does administration think EMREX could influence students’ mobility patterns? If
yes than how?
3.2. Sample:
Administration staff responsible for academic records recognition. These are potential EMREX
users and also great source of knowledge of the academic records recognition issues. 2-3
interviews per country (preferably from more than one HEI) should be enough at this stage (you
are welcome to conduct more interviews).
3.3. Research technique and outcomes:
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Interview (interview scenario/guide below)
Usually it is better to have an interview in private but this time there are no personal
questions so it is not necessary. It is important to conduct the interview in a quiet setting,
though. It ensures a good quality of the recording, but more importantly, it helps both the
interviewee and the interviewer focus only on the topic of the conversation.
It is acceptable to have the interview over skype or telephone as long as you and the
respondent feel comfortable.
The interview can be in any language.
It is best to record the interview (remember about asking for permission). Recordings can
be useful not only for reporting to UE but also for later analysis and preparing notes.
Transcriptions of recordings are not necessary. However keep the recordings.
Take notes during the interview and just after the interview. Use them to prepare final
note from the interview (in English). These do not need to be exact transcriptions of the
conversations but rather ready answers to the research questions. Template for final notes
is available on EMREX wiki (https://confluence.csc.fi/display/EMREX/Qualitative+study)
Send the notes to Tomasz Zając (zajact@is.uw.edu.pl).
After that fill the form in the table “Initial study - conducted interviews” on
https://confluence.csc.fi/display/EMREX/Qualitative+study.