Compare different data gathering
techniques
What information collection options are there?
2
Primary or secondary sources of information
2
Collection methods for information
5
Things to consider when determining what techniques to use
7
When to use quantitative or qualitative information
Quantitative information
8
Qualitative information
8
Quantitative research techniques
9
Qualitative research techniques
Costs and benefits of different sources of information
11
15
Costs
15
Benefits
15
How efficiently can the information be collected and stored?
16
How reliable is the information?
17
Trade-offs between the yield and cost of information
20
Summary
23
Additional resources
24
Web-based resources
24
Glossary
25
Feedback to activities and Check your progress exercises
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1
What information collection options
are there?
There are different types of research needed for different problems and for
different mediums, and different ways of collecting the relevant
information.
Primary or secondary sources of
information
There are two types of information sources: primary and secondary.
Figure 1: There are two types of information: primary and secondary
Choosing between the two sources of information usually involves
answering the following question: Do I need to collect the information or
can I rely on information that has already been collected?
For example, if you are doing a research project on whether your local
community wants a playground or school and there is no information about
their wants, you might need to go out and ask them. This would be primary
information.
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If there are surveys that the council has already conducted where they have
asked what the community wants then you might be able to base your
research project on this information. This would be secondary information.
Don’t forget that there is no reason why you cannot use both types of
information in your research project.
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Activity 1: Preliminary research
Tony has recently completed a research and media course through TAFE and found a parttime job as a research assistant. His job is to assist a writer who is to prepare a series of
papers and also a play about asylum seekers for the Migrant Resource Centre. Jill wants to
look at particular experiences asylum seekers from a detention centre have had. She has
asked Tony to conduct preliminary research on:

where the asylum seekers in the detention centre are from

how many asylum seekers there are in Australia.
1
What source of information, primary or secondary, would help Tony research these
issues?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Tony has been given a breakdown of the asylum seekers in the detention centre from
DIMIA. He learns from this information that approximately 40 per cent of them are from
the Middle East. Jill wants to write about the experiences of asylum seekers from the
Middle East.
2
How would Tony get information to help Jill start her writing?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3
Is this a secondary or a primary source of information?
_____________________________________________________________________
Refer to the end of the learning topic for feedback.
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Collection methods for information
There are a number of different methods for collecting information. They
are usually determined by whether you are trying to obtain information from
a primary or a secondary source.
Primary information
If you are collecting information from a primary source you could use the
following methods.
Interviews
Interviews are a predetermined series of questions that you ask a person and
to which you record their answer. They are useful if you want to get detailed
information from people about their experiences, thoughts, feelings or
opinions about a particular issue. They also allow you to ask open-ended
questions that gives the person the opportunity to say what they like on a
particular issue. For example: ‘Can you tell me how you feel about this
particular issue?’
Questionnaires or surveys
Questionnaires or surveys allow you to get information from a larger
number of people than in an interview. The person completes the form
themselves so you do not need to spend time with the person. This allows
you to get information from a much larger group of people. Imagine
interviewing 1000 people! This would take much longer than merely
sending out 1000 questionnaires and having the people complete it
themselves. This method is often used via mail where a large number of
people are given questionnaires and asked to complete and return them. One
of the drawbacks of this method is that often a large number of people do
not complete and return the questionnaire. Also, in an interview if a person
says something that could be particularly interesting you could pursue that
issue and perhaps get some great information. You can’t do this in a
questionnaire.
Observation sheet
Observation sheets are used to collect your observations of people or
situations. For example, if your research project was to see how people in
your local community used a park, you could note on it whether people
jogged, walked with dogs, walked or did another activity (eg roller-blading).
It is used when you do not need to interact with a person as you would in an
interview.
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Tally sheet
This is similar to an observation sheet, but instead of recording your
observations you record figures. For example, if your research project was
in relation to the usage of the park in your local community, using a tally
sheet you would record the number of people engaged in different activities.
Secondary information
Books, journals, the Internet
If you are collecting information from a secondary source you would
usually collect information through researching books, articles, journals or
other sources of information. You could do this yourself by going to your
local library, or go onto the Internet as another great source of secondary
information.
However, there are some organisations that provide information in a whole
range of areas from a number of different sources. These syndicated sources
are useful in your research.
Syndicated sources of information
Companies that collect and sell syndicated information have evolved to
serve the growing information needs of organisations. The most common
information sought is associated with performance-monitoring research.
This often means obtaining information about current market share, ratings,
sales, customer loyalty and so on.
Household surveys focus on the consumer. Institutional surveys focus on
areas of the distribution channel, including retailers and wholesalers. Market
research companies use various methods to collect the syndicated
information to sell to others, including surveys, electronic scanning and
diary panels for consumer research.
One very important and much-used example of syndicated sources is media
research such as TV ratings. These inform many companies about viewing
patterns and therefore the kind of advertising that is most appropriate and
the kind of programs that viewers prefer.
An example of an organisation that provides syndicated information is
AC Nielsen. For more organisations go to the Additional resources in this
learning topic.
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Things to consider when determining
what techniques to use
When deciding on which techniques or methods you are going to use in
your research project, you should always make sure that you get the
agreement of your team members if you work in a team. A research project
can require a lot of time and effort for the researchers. You need to make
sure that your fellow researchers contribute to the process. They need to feel
engaged in the project. The best way you can do this is to encourage them to
participate and get their agreement on the methods you are going to use.
They might suggest other methods of collecting the information that you
haven’t considered.
You also need to take into account two things:

time available

variety of sources.
Consider how much time you have for the project and choose the method or
methods that will allow you to complete your research project on time. It is
no use deciding to carry out a large number of interviews that will take two
weeks to conduct if you have to have your research project completed
within one week.
Consider collecting information from a wide variety of sources. This will
minimise your reliance on one source of information and reduce the chances
that your conclusions are incorrect. For example, if Sophie a TAFE student
conducting a research project, decides to research how newspapers reported
the Second World War, she should ensure that she does not rely solely on
her local area newspaper, the Northern Mirror. She should look at a large
number of newspapers to make sure that her conclusions were not based on
the opinions of the editorial staff of the local paper.
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When to use quantitative or
qualitative information
Once you have decided whether you will conduct either primary or
secondary research, you need to decide whether you will use quantitative or
qualitative information.
Quantitative information
This involves the collection of a large body of data, usually by survey, and
making a statistical analysis of it. Quantitative research is research that can
be expressed in numbers. These numbers can show results such as the
following:

47 per cent of 1200 people surveyed stated a preference for X over Y.

Trains arrive at the city terminal on average 10 minutes 30 seconds late.

Between 12 noon and 2 pm the queue of callers averages 3.2 people.
Qualitative information
This involves gathering, analysing and interpreting data by observing what
people say or do. This can be recorded through observation, interview or
field work. Qualitative research is based on open-ended interviews and
focus groups. It involves seeking opinions and feelings about situations.
Impressions are reported rather than numbers.
The essential difference between quantitative and qualitative research is that
the former emphasises numbers while the latter provides conclusions in
words.
Tip
Qualitative and quantitative research methods can be combined to
provide a higher quality result.
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When we start our research there are four things we need to think about
when selecting our research methods—whether we should collect
information from:

primary
or

secondary sources
and whether we should use:

qualitative
or

quantitative methods (or both).
Quantitative research techniques
Quantitative research is related to quantity. This is used if you need
information in relation to amounts. A survey and a tally sheet are examples
of quantitative research techniques.
Survey
Surveys use written questions to ask people for information. The people
who participate in a survey are called respondents. Surveys provide a quick
and efficient method of assessing information about a research problem.
They can be quite flexible and when properly conducted can be reliable and
valid sources of information.
There are a number of different survey techniques. Read the following
scenarios.
Scenario 1
Jack has just received a brief for a research project from a regional bus
company. They require the research to be conducted within one week. It
needs to be in relation to a clearly defined target group of 18- to 55-yearolds who live in the regional area but work outside this zone. The budget is
fairly limited and a structured questionnaire is recommended to reduce
interviewer bias. Data needs to be collected and ready for analysis very
quickly due to time restrictions.
Jack decides to use a telephone survey where he records the results directly
in a computer. It provides a fairly good means of sample control, a good
response rate and quick, inexpensive administration from collection of the
information to preparing it for analysis.
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Scenario 2
A museum wants Jill to conduct research into the satisfaction level of
customers in relation to its range of exhibits. The research has a time frame
of three months and budget is not an issue. Some of the information sought
is sensitive.
Jill could use a self-administered mail survey. It would give her a good
sample without interviewer bias and a high rate of anonymity for the
respondent. However, response rates are likely to be poor. Alternatively Jill
could conduct the survey in person. She would be talking to customers who
are actually in the museum so the response rate is likely to be high.
She decides to conduct the interviews herself as she will ensure a higher
response rate and she will be able to explore any responses from customers
in greater depth.
Tally sheet
We have all used tally sheets to record information. A tally sheet is really
just a record that you use to record numerical data. For example, a tally
sheet could look like this:
Tally sheet for local park project
Research project: Local park project
Date:
Person completing the sheet:
People jogging
People walking
|||| |||
|||| |||| ||
People walking with dog
Other
|||| |
||
Sampling
Sampling is used when you are collecting numerical information. A sample
is a subset of a larger population. From it, the research tries to extrapolate
information.
For example, say a park had approximately 1000 people using it every day.
If you use sampling, you would not need to record the use by all 1000 of the
people. You could use a tally sheet and record 100 people using the park
and what they did in it. From this information you could extrapolate from
your sample size (100 people) and conclude what the whole population of
park users did (1000 people). If for example you recorded 30 joggers, you
could say that 30% (30 out of 100) of park users were jogging in the park.
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Qualitative research techniques
Qualitative research is usually more personal and in-depth and includes
interviews, observation and focus groups. Its aim is to gain insight from
people about their feelings and motivations. Some qualitative research
techniques such as interviews can ask open-ended questions which allow the
respondent to answer more personally. Focus groups and interviews are
examples of qualitative research techniques.
Focus group
Case study
Atticus works for the local council as a researcher. He consults with his
supervisor, the Environmental Planner for the local council, and together
they come up with a research hypothesis that many residents are concerned
about plastic bags affecting the local waterways. This issue seems to
dominate the newspapers and was a strong element in a survey Atticus
conducted. After consulting with his employer, Atticus decides to hold a
focus group of residents to determine how to use the funding that the
council has set aside to address environmental issues, specifically the
concerns over non-renewable plastic bags. The focus group was picked
specifically to represent as broad a group of the population as possible.
Atticus has organised ten people to attend. He uses the focus group to ‘tease
out’ the issues that the community has in relation to plastic bags. From this
information he is able to develop some questions and create a survey.
The in-depth interview
The in-depth interview is regarded as a direct, qualitative research
technique. It is also referred to as a personal interview. This is where one
person interviews a respondent in detail.
In-depth interviews are similar to focus groups in that their purpose is to
understand the motivations and feelings behind people’s decisions, choices
and/or behaviour linked to a specific issue. Although a broad structure is
followed, the specific questions asked will depend on the respondent’s
earlier replies.
A key skill that the interviewer needs is the skill of probing. To probe is to
fully explore an issue raised by a respondent. An interviewer can do this by
asking questions such as ‘Why do you say that?’ and ‘Can you tell me
more?’
Like a focus group, an in-depth interview can be conducted via the Internet
or in person. The latter method is usually the most effective.
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There are various types of questions you can use in an interview, each with
positive and negative results.
Open-ended questions
The open-ended question is one that asks big questions that have no
particular response. For example, ‘Tell me about your life’ or ‘Tell me what
you like about being in the police force?’ are open-ended questions.
Advantages:

they are non-threatening

allow a respondent to do most of the talking

respondent may reveal unanticipated information (which is great for a
journalist).
Disadvantages:

the amount of information to record and analyse can overwhelm the
interviewer

respondent can have too much power in the interview (and
consequently direct the interview).
Closed questions
These are direct and often single-answer questions, such as ‘how many
people were injured in the airplane crash’ or ‘how many people were in the
protest’. These questions gather facts.
Advantages:

enables the interviewer to get specific information

discourage rambling by the respondent (and the interviewer).
Disadvantages:

they don’t build rapport between interviewer and respondent

they don’t allow for the complexities of an issue to be revealed.
Direct questions
Direct questions are frequently blunt and are usually controversial. For
example, a journalist might ask a town planner a direct question such as
‘Does the council admit it has made a mistake with its recycling policy?’
Advantages:

12
they can be effective for getting admissions.
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Disadvantages:

they can be intimidating and off-putting.
Asking the right questions
At this point we should reflect on the importance of asking the right
questions, that is, questions that get the information needed without
confusing the respondent. This means keeping the following in mind:

questions that a person may choose not to answer (about health,
personal habits and possibly even political views) should, if necessary
to the success of the survey, be carefully worded and left to the latter
part of the questionnaire, by which time the researcher should have built
up a rapport with the respondent

open-ended questions are valuable but more difficult to evaluate, for
example: ‘how do you believe the training we have given you can be
applied to the world of work?’

yes/no type questions are easy to evaluate but may not really reflect the
respondent’s feelings. The respondent, in reflecting on a question to be
answered with a tick in a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ block, may want to say ‘yes, if
…’ or ‘no, unless…’.

surveys should start with easy-to-answer questions of a factual nature
(eg ‘Do you have a mortgage?’) before moving onto questions
involving opinions and values

avoid wherever possible technical and difficult words and expressions
that most people do not use in everyday life (eg use ‘pay’ not
‘remuneration’)

ensure that the interviewer is given information about words that can be
interpreted in different ways so that this information can be passed on to
the respondent. For example, the word family can be interpreted in
many different ways, including nuclear family, extended family and
‘significant others’.

avoid using imprecise words such as ‘often’, ‘sometimes’ and
‘occasionally’

avoid using two questions in one, such as ‘Do you like the design and
power of this car?’

do not include questions where the respondent is unlikely to know the
answer, for example: ‘How many times have you travelled to work by
train in the past four weeks?’

avoid leading questions such as ‘why do you prefer Saabs over other
luxury cars?’
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Activity 2: Prepare interview questions
Oral history is a verbatim ‘life story’ told by an interviewee. Oral history projects are
conducted by most state libraries and are regarded as invaluable research information. Oral
histories also inform academic research.
You have been asked to conduct an oral history interview for a local council. The
interviewee is a well-known and highly respected former councillor who retired more than
twenty years ago. The aim of the interview, to be used in the council library’s oral history
collection and its internal newsletter, is to record the councillor’s story as it relates to
changes in the council region over time.
Using the information you have about open-ended and closed questions, design a set of
four questions to ask the interviewee. Indicate what types of question it is, ie open-ended or
closed.
Question 1
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Question 2
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Question 3
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Question 4
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Refer to the end of the learning topic for feedback.
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Costs and benefits of different
sources of information
So you have started your research project and are starting to collect
information. Is some information better than others? To answer this question
you need to know what the costs and benefits are of different sources of
information.
Costs
The cost of different sources of information may include:

the amount of time it would take to collect the information and put into
a useful form for your research project. This would have a cost to your
project in that you only have a limited time within which to conduct it.

the amount of money it would take to obtain that information and put it
into a useful form for your project. If for example you wanted to
conduct a large number of interviews, you might need to pay the
interviewees for their time.

the inaccuracy of the information. The greater the inaccuracy of your
information, the greater the cost to your project in terms of overall
accuracy and reliability of results.
Benefits
The benefits of different sources of information may include:

that it is simple, quick and efficient to collect, allowing you to obtain
information at little or no cost to your research project in terms of time
and or money

that it is reliable and accurate information, ensuring that the results of
your research project will in turn be reliable and useful in answering the
research hypothesis.
As you can see, the costs and benefits are closely related. They relate to how
efficiently the information can be collected and stored and how reliable the
information is. You need to be aware of both these issues when you estimate
the costs and benefits of different sources of information.
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15
How efficiently can the information be
collected and stored?
You need to be aware of how much information you need when determining
whether one information source is more efficient to collect than another.
Obviously the more information you are going to collect the greater the cost
to your project. Therefore you should always try to collect only the amount
of information you need to answer your research hypothesis. For example,
what is the point of surveying all 1000 people when you can survey a
sample of 100 people?
The more time you need to spend with people to collect the information will
also lead to a greater cost. While interviews are great sources of
information, they do take a lot more time than surveys. This is not to say
you should not use interviews, but you need to be aware that when you use
this technique it will have a cost to your research project.
Another aspect is the storage and retrieval of the information. If you think
about this from the beginning, you can reduce the cost both in terms of time
and money to your project.
Develop data storage and retrieval methods
Research usually involves the completion of questionnaires or other reports.
Questions can fall into the ‘check-the-box’ or ‘tell-us-a-story’ categories.
The former are easily coded and stored electronically. The latter needs
interpretation and so there will be an added step between completing
surveys and filing documents, as paper or electronic records. Some of these
surveys will have to be stored in paper form.
Pre-coding questions will speed up the storage process. So will the
designing of forms to allow data to be entered to computer databases via
scanning. Irrespective of the technology used, completed forms should be
checked. This can be a total check or a check through the use of a sampling
technique. Rules should be established on how to deal with incomplete
surveys. Assumptions can be made about missing answers based on
subsequent answers. In some cases it will be possible to complete the
questionnaire by contacting either the interviewer or respondent. In some
cases it may be found that the respondent was not eligible to be interviewed
and that the survey form should be discarded.
Qualitative research findings have to be checked and stored differently as
they consist of comments and in some cases audiotapes of discussions
together with the notes created by the facilitator.
Secondary research findings (using research done by others for various
purposes), such as Australian Bureau of Statistics data and the findings of
earlier surveys, need to be filed away until an analyst is able to use this
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material. In some cases secondary research is eventually linked to primary
research. Some of the secondary research may be discarded because it is
found to be too dated or irrelevant.
It is important to remember that some information may be of a confidential
nature and there is a need to ensure that the questionnaires and other
information that can be related back to a respondent is secure.
The end point in this process is when the data has been checked for accuracy
and stored in a format that researchers can use.
How reliable is the information?
Every person conducting a research project seeks reliable information. This
requires people to check sources to ensure that they are reliable ones. If
information is from a written source, questions can be asked such as:

Where was this information first published?

Is this publication one that checks the accuracy of the content of
articles?

Can we double-check the accuracy of the given information?
The contents of articles published in the Harvard Business Review or
Australian Financial Review are likely to be far more reliable than
information given in a suburban newspaper or newsletter mailed to clients
by a financial institution interested in promoting its own products. Knowing
the name and reputation of the author is useful. There are writers who have
a good reputation for reliable work and others who tend towards sensational
and attention seeking writing. Most libraries source books that have been
published by companies that have a reputation to maintain and which are
written by competent authors. Most book publishers do not accept
manuscripts from writers who have no expertise in the subject area being
written about or who have a reputation for putting forward ideas that most
sensible people would consider nonsensical.
This does not mean that the only information that we treat as reliable should
come from conventional thinkers. Some of the most innovative ideas in
fields such as theology, philosophy and science come from writers initially
thought to be foolish or speculative. When you are looking at reliability
there are three things you need to consider:

currency

validity

relevance.
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Activity 3: How reliable is the information?
You are required to research television habits among young people between the ages of 14
and 16. in Australia. You begin by sourcing secondary research information.
Look at the sources of secondary information below: do these correspond with the three
tests—relevance, currency and validity? Is the following information reliable? If not, why
not?
1
A sample survey of young adults between the ages of 14 and 16 and their television
preferences conducted by Channel Four, London
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2
A series of recorded interviews with young Australians about their television habits,
conducted by the Australian National University in 1983
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3
An academic paper commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Authority into the
television viewing habits of young people in Australia, 2002
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4
A report commissioned by a commercial television station into the television viewing
patterns of pre-teenagers.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Refer to the end of the learning topic for feedback.
Currency
We must always ask ourselves whether our sources are current. The use of
outdated sources of information can result in errors in research findings.
There is a need to find the latest information available. For example, many
business textbooks will discuss issues such as unemployment and the
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casualisation of the Australian workforce. These books may provide a
penetrating analysis of important trends. However, it could be misleading to
quote the actual figures given in these books when writing an assignment
paper on workplace change. Books are not the best source of information on
dynamic statistics. Instead, the researcher would be well advised to seek out
the latest figures available on the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ website.
Even fairly recently created sources of information can become dated
because of political, social or other events affecting business, the economy
or society. For example, a change of government will usually result in many
new policies being introduced. Material collected even recently on health or
welfare policies may be out of date because of the initiatives of an incoming
administration.
Validity
Validity refers to the accuracy or soundness of something, such as the
information collected for research purposes. Valid information is of value to
researchers when it adds to the sum total of useful material available to
them. Invalid information adds nothing to the sum total of knowledge or
distracts researchers in their work.
Relevance
Relevant information is made up of material that adds value to a research
undertaking. Sourcing relevant information happens when researchers know
the purpose of their work and have experience in undertaking research
activities including preparing surveys, conducting interviews and sorting
valid from invalid information. Relevant information can obviously come
from many sources. The use of only relevant information is essential for the
success of any research undertaking.
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Trade-offs between the yield and cost
of information
When we discuss the yield of information we are talking about how much
benefit to your research project this particular piece of information brings.
The cost of information can be in terms of money or time to your project
and the reliability of the information and hence your research results.
There is always a trade-off between the yield and cost of the information. If
for example your research project was to determine the usage patterns of
your local park, it would be of great benefit to your research project to
survey or even interview all 1000 users of the park. Your results would be a
true reflection of how they used the park. However, the cost to your research
project would be high. If, on the other hand, you only surveyed five people
in the park, the cost to your research project would not be high but the value
or benefit of that information (the survey results of only five people) would
not be great—the yield would be low.
You need to be aware of this trade-off when you are collecting information.
The more information you collect, the greater chance the yield of the
information will be high. However, the cost to you will be higher too.
Activity 4: The trade-off between information yield
and cost
In this scenario, decide what the trade-off is between yield and cost of information.
Scenario
A local council wants to find out if the closure of a local theatre (funded by state
government and local council, and hired out to a large number of community organisations
on a regular basis) will cause any community concern. The council researcher needs to find
out who uses the facility, frequency of use and what the community in general feels about
the facility being closed.
The researcher has a restricted budget and a short time frame. The researcher decides to
survey a limited group of people who rent the facility by choosing randomly a sample of
users from the theatre’s administrative program.
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What is the limitation to this research in terms of quality, accuracy and relevance of this
information? Can you think of other options the researcher could consider?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Refer to the end of the learning topic for feedback.
Check your progress
1
What is the difference between primary and secondary sources of information?
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2
What is the difference between quantitative and qualitative information?
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3
What are some quantitative information techniques?
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4
What are some qualitative information techniques?
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5
What are the costs and benefits of different sources of information?
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Refer to the end of the learning topic for feedback.
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8486AH: 2 Conduct Research
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Summary
Within this learning topic you have learnt about different information
sources and how to determine when to use them. You have learnt about
primary and secondary information as well as quantitative and qualitative
information. You are aware of the costs and benefits of information in your
research project and know about information yield and cost.
Make sure that you understand each of the following issues:

data collection options

when to use quantitative and qualitative information

how you can estimate the costs and benefits of different sources of
information

the trade-offs between information yield and costs.
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Additional resources
Web-based resources
Organisations that provide syndicated information
AC Nielsen http://www.acnielsen.com
AZTEC Information Systems http://www.aztec.com.au
Roy Morgan http://www.roymorgan.com
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Glossary
focus group
a group of people used for research purposes to obtain opinions
on discuss issues
primary sources
of information
primary sources come from information for a specific purpose
primary research
research that you undertake to get information not already
available
qualitative
research
research based on gathering, analysing and interpreting data by
observing what people say or do
quantitative
research
research that can be expressed in numbers
research
hypothesis
a statement that you can either prove or disprove
respondent
someone who responds to questions
search engine
an online tool that indexes web pages, allowing you to search the
web by typing a search term
secondary
information
source
based on other information; it is usually historical and has
already been compiled
secondary
research
drawing on information already available
subject gateways
special directories of related subjects created by subject matter
experts; also known as portals or webliographies
syndicated
information
information that is pooled together
8486AH: 2 Conduct Research
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Feedback to activities and Check your
progress exercises
Activity 1
1
It is likely there is already information about these issues. Tony could
rely on information already available. That is, he could use secondary
information sources. Tony could get this information from the detention
centre or the federal department that looks after asylum seekers: the
Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
http://www.immi.gov.au/
2
Tony could start interviewing some asylum seekers about their
experiences.
3
This is a primary source of information.
Activity 2
Remember to:

state who you are and why you are there

ask some general questions about the interviewee’s comfort and if they
are ready to begin.
Questions:
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
How long did you work for the council? (closed)

What was your role with the council? (closed)

Can you tell me about your time as a councillor for the council? (openended)

What are some of your memories of working for the council? (openended)

Who do you remember from that time? (open-ended)

Have you seen many changes in the area since you first started working
for the council? (closed).
8486AH: 2 Conduct Research
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Activity 3
1
A sample survey of young adults between the ages of 14 and 16 and
their television preferences conducted by Channel Four, London.
The survey was conducted in the United Kingdom so is not relevant.
2
A series of recorded interviews with young Australians about their
television habits, conducted by the Australian National University in
1983.
The interviews were conducted in 1983 and are not up-to-date.
3
An academic paper commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting
Authority into the television viewing habits of young people in
Australia, 2002.
This paper is up-to-date, is surveying a group of people consistent with
your research brief and is possibly accurate. You will have to look at
the information and ascertain the methods used. You may assume the
findings are relevant to your work because it has been commissioned by
a valid organisation.
4
A report commissioned by a commercial television station into the
television viewing patterns of pre-teenagers.
This report is not relevant. Although its findings are concerned with a
young group of people, they are younger than the people you are
concerned about.
Activity 4
Surveying a small group of users would give an idea of who is renting the
hall, for what purposes, and how they may feel about the closure but it
doesn’t give the researcher any idea of how the community ‘feels’ about the
facility. Nor does it give a full and complete picture of the current users.
There could be a lot of community value placed on this facility and the
sample may not adequately take into consideration the nature of the views.
However, it would be relatively cheap to run, and hence you are trading off
accuracy of results for saving money in the research project.
A better method would be for the researcher to survey all users of the
facility over a particular time frame—such as the weekend. He could also
observe the users and could interview those who use the facility regularly.
To canvass public opinion about the possible closure of the facility, the
researcher could place an ad in the local newspaper asking people to write
and express their concerns. The researcher could also contact key
community representatives from different community organisations and
interview or survey them. This might take more time and money than the
first option so there is a trade-off here between improving the results and
increasing costs.
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Check your progress
1
A primary source of information is information that has been collected
for a specific purpose; secondary information is based on other
information and is usually historical.
2
Quantitative information is information that can be expressed in
numbers. Qualitative information is information that cannot be
expressed in numbers; it is based on opinions and feelings.
3
These include surveys, tally sheets and sampling.
4
These include focus groups and in-depth interviews.
5
The costs of information include things such as the amount of time and
money it takes to collect the information. It also includes inaccuracy of
information in terms of costs to the accuracy of the results of your
project.
The benefits of information are that it might be quick and efficient to
collect. That is, it does not cost your project much in money and time to
collect it. Accuracy of information is also a benefit to your project.
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