Discussion 1: Data Collection Instrumentation

You have your research problem, your study’s purpose, and appropriate research questions. What kinds of quantitative and qualitative data do you need to address your questions? How will the data be generated, gathered, and recorded? What tools will you use with which participants, when, where, and how?

For example, how will the participants complete and return items, such as quantitative surveys or questionnaires? How will you collect observation data or qualitative interview data? Who will collect the data: You as the researcher or someone else (business personnel, health teams, school personnel)? Who owns the data? What permissions are needed to access different measures?

Are you hoping to use the Participant Pool? If so, what do you need to do to get access? Are you going to use online surveys, and if so, what platform? You face a number of design choices as you construct or revise your data collection tools.

To prepare:

• Review the Learning Resources for this module, including those in the Course Toolbox (especially the practice IRB pieces file and the Research Design Alignment file)
• Think about how you plan to collect data for your Final Project.

By Day 4 of Week 6

Post a 5- to 6-paragraph analysis of the instruments you plan to use to collect your data. What you develop and use will depend on the design of your mixed methods study; not all of the listed items will be included in every study. Describe the elements appropriate to your work, including:

• Interview protocol, if applicable, and how it was or will be developed, including what research question(s) it will address, and how you ensure reliability and validity.
• Observation protocol, if applicable, and how it was or will be developed, including what research question(s) it will address, and how you ensure reliability and validity.
• Potential survey or assessment instruments with appropriate citations giving credit to the originators. Describe any adaptations to the instrument you might need to develop.
  • Provide data that justify the reliability, and validity of the instrument (it is important to report actual coefficients and from multiple studies).
  • Identify the variables the instrument measures (operationalization).
  • Explain where the data will be obtained to assess each variable in the study.
  • Describe how scores are calculated, and what the scores mean.
• Additional sources of data, such as documents or public records.
• Plans for adapting, amending, or developing an instrument or protocol. If you plan to develop any data collection tool, indicate your plans for testing reliability and validity.
• Existing (archival) data if you plan to use it. Explain how you will obtain the data, how they were created or collected, and evidence of validity.

You are encouraged to post portions of your data collection tools, including the procedures describing how they will be used.