Research methodology used to collect data and converting the data into meaningful information - Essay Example

? Research Proposal Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Research Method 3 Transcription 4 Reflection 5 Reference 6 Appendices 7 Appendix Interview Transcript 7 Research Method In this section, the researcher will brief about the research methodology which will be used to collect data and converting the data into meaningful information. The researcher will take help of the following research onion diagram to conduct the research. In this paper the researcher will use naturalistic philosophy to understand the impact of variable in measurable manner. The researcher has selected a sporting centre and a respondent who regularly visit the sporting centre as sample population. The researcher will gather prior knowledge by observing the sporting habit of the respondents and the observation will help the researcher to create the research background. The researcher has selected the issue for discussion after reading the article in newspaper about the sporting habit of person in London. The researcher will use qualitative research methodology in order to gather personal insights of respondents regarding the research problem. Using qualitative methodology will help the researcher to get personal viewpoints of respondents which will help the researcher to address the research problem without using any categorical boundaries or subjective assumptions. Fife (2005) and Saunders et al (2009) have argued that, using secondary data sources such as books, printed peer reviewed journals; government data etc to collect data can also be classified as good way to conduct qualitative research. Following the argument of research scholars, the researcher will use secondary data sources as a neutral medium to construct the theoretical argument in the literature review and later on test the validity of the response of respondents. The researcher will use convenience sampling as part of non-probabilistic sampling method for selecting respondents for the interview. Using convenience sampling method will help the researcher to conduct the interview in timely and cost efficient manner. After observing the behaviour of players in sports centre the researcher will select one respondent who is ready to give interview for more than 1hour. Research scholars Punch (1998) and Patton (2002) have stated that using unstructured interview can is helpful in cases where researcher is planning to gather information from respondents without imposing any priori categorization. In this paper, the researcher will use unstructured interview to give chances to respondents to express their viewpoint on the research topic in unhindered manner. The researcher will use a casual approach to slowly drag the interviewee to the core research objectives and allow the interviewees to direct the further flow of interview. There might be cases, where the researcher will ask some contextual questions to interviewee in order to engage him/her with the interview process. Entire unstructured interview process will be tape recorded and later on these interview transcripts will be produced in the data analysis sections. The researcher will fix appointment with the interviewee prior to the unstructured interview and also take his/her permission before asking any sensitive questions. The researcher will examine preconceptions by checking the validity of responses by consulting books and academic journals written on the topic. As the research questions will be open ended hence no coding technique will be used to quantify the responses. The researcher will ensure the respondent that their responses will only be used for academic purposes and their identity will not be revealed for any commercial purposes. The researcher will also ensure that respondent is aware about the ethical norms prior conducting unstructured interview. Transcription The respondent is almost 39 years of age and he is not a sports person by profession. However, the person visits the sports centre thrice/week in order to play his favourite game lawn tennis. The respondent loves lawn tennis for the amount of physical activity is required to perform the sports. As the respondent explains, “I prefer lawn tennis because one has to use their physical stamina up to utmost level in order to cover all corners of lawn tennis courts and hit the ball. Obviously, playing lawn tennis is fun for me otherwise it would not be possible for me to continue the sports for long run. Playing lawn tennis helps you to run throughout the court while chasing the tennis ball and that makes you fit. Another thing is that I am a diabetic patient hence doctors have also advised me to do physical exercises. I do not like to go to gyms hence I have chosen lawn tennis as a viable option to do physical exercise” However, from a young age, the person had keen interest in swimming and there is no surprise when the respondent has stated that apart from playing tennis he also likes to swim in the sports centre. He believes that it is essential for young people to involving in sporting activities in order to lose calories which are caused due to sedentary lifestyle and wrong food habits. As the respondent explains, “I believe that involving in sporting activities helps you to move your body parts and burn-up excess calories. I was obese prior joining the sports centre but playing lawn tennis and swimming has helped me get rid of obesity and cut down 18 pounds of fat. No, I don’t think involvement in sporting activities is only for young people because people of different age and gender play tennis in my sports centre”. Reflection Well, the interview process was not a mere assignment for me but an invaluable pedagogical experience which will help me to grow both professionally and academically in coming future. I have used my major strength as communication skill to frame the questionnaire and drag respondents smoothly from demographic perspective of the study to core topic. I must admit that I am not an avid reader of academic literature which is a major weakness for me. However, during the course of interview, I was partially successful in overcoming the above mentioned weakness by reading lots of books and academic journals in order to frame the questionnaire. Major strength of the selected qualitative methodology backed by open ended questions is its ability to provide opportunity to interviewee to express their viewpoints while lack of measurability is the major weakness associated with the process. I am more or less satisfied with the interview outcome because the respondent in my study has given some personal insights on my research questions. However, I believe that I should chose a more layered topic in order to engage the respondents more with the research problem. In some cases, respondent has corrected the framing of the questions and helped me immensely in completing the questionnaire. Reference Fife, W., 2005. Doing Fieldwork: Ethnographic Methods for Research in Developing Countries and Beyond. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Patton, M. Q., 2002. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Punch, K. F., 1998. Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. And Thornhil, A., 2009. Research Methods for Business Students. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Appendices Appendix 1: Interview Transcript Name of Respondents: Gender: Age: Contact Details: Question 1: how many times per week you come to the sport centre? Ans. Question 2: What is your favourite sport? Ans. Question 3: Why do you love this sport? Ans. Question 4: Do you play the sports just for fun or there any other reasons behind it? Ans. Question 5: Do you perceive the sports as physical exercise? Ans: Question 6: Do you play any other sports in the sports centre? Ans: Question 7: Why do you think young people like you needs to involve in sporting activities in the sports centre? Ans: Question 8: What is your perception about obesity caused by lack of involvement in sporting activities? Ans: Question 9: Do you think involving in sporting activities in sports centre is the best way to burn up calories? Ans: Question 10: Do you think that your preferred sport is capable enough to burn calories? Ans: Question 11: If not, then what additional measures are needed to burn up calories? Ans: Question 12: What is perception about the idea that involvement in sporting activities is only for young people? Ans: Read More