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Chapter 7 -- Data Collection
Data collection offers one more instance for assessing research design within each tradition of inquiry. However, before exploring this point, I find it useful to visualize the phases of data collection common to all traditions in a CIRCLE of activities including locating a site or individual, gaining access and making rapport, sampling purposefully, collecting data, recording information, exploring field issues, and storing data.
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Data collection is a series of interrelated activities aimed at gathering good information to answer emerging research questions.
The researcher needs to determine the type of purposeful sampling from the array of possibilities and present a rationale for the selected approach. Once the investigator selects the sites or people, decisions need to be made about the most appropriate data collection approaches.
An investigator must decide how he will store data to find them easily and to protect them from damage or loss.
The Site or Individual
In a biographical study, one needs to find an individual to study who is accessible, willing to provide information, and distinctive for his accomplishments and ordinariness or who sheds light on a specific phenomenon or issue being explored.
In a phenomenological study the participants must be individuals who have experienced the phenomenon being explored and can articulate their conscious experiences.
Grounded theory study they need to be individuals who have taken an action of participated in a process that is central to the grounded theory study.
In an ethnographic study a single site is important where an intact culture-sharing group has developed shared values, beliefs, and assumptions.
For a case study, the site is important but it is much more circumscribed than an entire cultural system in an ethnography. These sites may be programs, events, processes, activities, or multiple individuals.
Access and Rapport
Gaining access to the site or individual also involves several steps. Permissions need to besought from a human subjects review board.
Consent form that participants complete in a study addresses the following:
 | Their right to voluntarily withdraw from the study at any time |
| The central purpose of the study and the procedures to be used in data collection |
| Comments about protecting the confidentiality of the respondents |
| A statement about known risks associated with participation in the study |
| The expected benefits to accrue to the participants in the study |
| A place for them to sign and date the form (a place for the researcher to sign and date also may be offered) |
For a biographical study inquirers gain information from individuals by obtaining their permission to participate in the study. Subjects should be appraised of the motivation of the researcher for their selection, granted anonymity, and told by the researcher about the purpose of the study.
In a phenomenological study, the access issue is limited to finding individuals who have experienced the phenomenon and gaining their written permission to be studied.
Grounded theory study -- Access through individual permission to be studied.
In an ethnography, assess typically begins with a gatekeeper (individual who is a member of or has insider status with a cultural group).
In a case study gaining access through the gatekeeper and establishing rapport with the case being studied are important.
For both ethnographies and case studies, gatekeepers require information about the studies that includes the following points:
| Why was the site chosen for study? |
| What will be done at the site during the research study? |
| Will the researcher's presence be disruptive? |
| How will the results be reported? |
| What will the gatekeeper gain from the study? |
Purposeful Sampling Strategy
Qualitative researchers should, regardless of tradition, examine the typology of 16 strategies for purposeful sampling advanced by Miles and Huberman on page 119.
Forms of Data
There are four basic types of information to collect:
| Observations |
| Interviews |
| Documents |
| Audio-visual materials |
Interviewing and observing are central to all traditions.
Interviewing
| Identify interviewees based on one of the purposeful sampling procedures |
| Determine what type of interview is practical and will net the most useful information to answer research questions. |
| Whether conduction one-on-one or focus group interviews, I recommend the use of adequate recording procedures, such as a lapel mike for both the interviewer and the interviewee or an adequate mike sensitive to the acoustics of the room. |
| Design the interview protocol, a form about four or five pages in length, with approximately five open-ended questions and ample space between the questions to write responses to the interviewee's comments. |
| Determine the place for conducting the interview. |
| After arriving at the interview site, obtain consent from the interviewee to participate in the study. |
| During the interview, stick to the questions, complete within the time specified, be respectful and courteous, and offer few questions and advice. |
Observing is a series of steps:
| Select a site to be observed. |
| At the site, identify who or what to observe, when and for how long. |
| Determine, initially, a role as an observer. |
| Design an observational protocol as a method for recording notes in the field. |
| Record aspects such as portraits of the informant, the physical setting, particular events and activities, and your own reactions. |
| During the observation, have someone introduce you if you are an outsider, be passive and friendly, and start with limited objectives in the first few sessions of observation. |
| After observing, slowly withdraw from the site, thanking the participants and informing them of the use of the data and their accessibility to the study. |
Recording Procedures
For both observing and interviewing, data collection forms used in all five traditions of inquiry, I mention the use of protocols, a predetermined sheet on which one logs information learned during the observation or interview.
| Use a header to record essential information about the project and as a reminder to go over the purpose of the study with interviewee. |
| Place space between the questions in the protocol form. |
| Memorize the questions and their order to minimize losing eye contact. |
| Write out the closing comments that thank the individual for the interview and request follow-up information, if needed, from them. |
During the observation, use an observational protocol to record information.
Whether the investigator is using an observation or interview protocol, the essential process is recording information. This process involves recording information through various forms such as observational field notes, interview write-ups, mapping, census taking, photographing, sound recording, and collecting and organizing documents.
Field Issues
Some common issues are the need to change or adjust the form of data collection once they enter the field. Issues of locating and obtaining permission to use materials present a challenge to biographical writers.
Storing Data
The approach to storage will reflect the type of information collected, which varies by tradition of inquiry.
Some principles about data storage and handling that are epically well suited for qualitative research include the following:
| Always develop backup copies of computer files. |
| Use high-quality tapes for audio-recording information during interviews. Also, make sure that the size of the tapes fits the transcriber's machine. |
| Develop a master list of types of information gathered. |
| Protect the anonymity of participants by masking their names in the data. |
| Convert word processing files over to ASCII files for easy entry into some qualitative computer programs. |
| Develop a data collection matrix as a visual means of locating and identifying information for a study. |
Five Traditions Compared
There are both differences and similarities among the activities of data collection for the five traditions of inquiry. Some mixing of forms occurs, but in general these patterns of collection by tradition hold true:
| The unit of data collection varies. Biographers, phenomenologists, and ground theorists study individuals; case study researchers examine groups of individuals participating in an event or activity or an organization; ethnographers study entire cultural systems or some subcultures of the systems. |
| The amount of discussion about field issues vary. |
| the traditions vary in their intrusiveness of data collection. |
There are overlap in several areas.
Qualitative studies conducted in public organizations need to be approved by a human subjects review board.
The use of interviews and observations is central to may of the traditions.
Recording devices such as observational and interview protocols can be similar regardless of tradition.
The issue of storage of information is closely related to the form of data collection, and the basic objective of researchers, regardless of tradition, is to develop some filing and storing system for organized retrieval of information.
Creswell, J. W. (1997). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among the Five Traditions. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.