Module 10: Data Collection Methods

Advantages and Challenges of Surveys

• IPDET © 2009

Advantages	Best when you want to know what people think, believe, or perceive, only they can tell you that
Challenges	People may not accurately recall their behavior or may be reluctant to reveal their behavior if it is illegal or stigmatized. What people think they do or say they do is not always the same as what they actually do.

Interviews

• IPDET © 2009

• Often semi-structured
• Used to explore complex issues in depth
• Forgiving of mistakes: unclear questions can be clarified during the interview and changed for subsequent interviews
• Can provide evaluators with an intuitive sense of the situation

Challenges of Interviews

• IPDET © 2009

• Can be expensive, labor intensive, and time consuming
• Selective hearing on the part of the interviewer may miss information that does not conform to pre-existing beliefs
• Cultural sensitivity: e.g., gender issues

Tool 5: Focus Groups

• IPDET © 2009

• Type of qualitative research where small homogenous groups of people are brought together to informally discuss specific topics under the guidance of a moderator
• Purpose: to identify issues and themes, not just interesting information, and not “counts”

Focus Groups Are Inappropriate when:

• language barriers are insurmountable
• evaluator has little control over the situation
• trust cannot be established
• free expression cannot be ensured
• confidentiality cannot be assured

• IPDET © 2009