Preparing to conduct business research - Essay Example

Preparing to conduct business research Module Develop or select the instruments that could be used to collect data and conduct interviews and the appropriate sampling or research methods for a quantitative design.‘Instruments’ is a raw term and may refer to any means that assist an individual in gathering research. In quantitative research, there are two types of instruments that can be used to collect data, conduct interviews and for sampling. 1. Researcher completed instruments:Observation formsRating scalesFlow chartsTally sheetsInterview schedulesGuidesTime check in/out logsPerformance checklists2.

Subject completed instruments:Self Check-listsQuestionnairesAptitude testsProjective devicesSociometric devices Personality inventoriesAttitude scales (Neuman, 1997).How will you have access to the population to be sampled or interviewed?In order to have access to the population that is being sampled or interviewed we first need to determine the method of research that we are going to avail. It so happens that sometimes the population to be interviewed is innumerous, which means that it might not be possible to talk to or conduct an interview from each individual in person.

When this problem arises, we have the option to either conduct as many interviews as possible and then tally, or we could use methods such as questionnaires or other subject completed instruments. Such instruments give us insight into the thoughts of those being sampled or interviewed and it is also less time consuming (Behling & Law, 2000)..What are the instruments you will use to collect data or qualitative information?For qualitative analysis the following instruments can be used:Audio and video tape interviewsDirect or non direct participation observationField notesJournalsLogsClustering and characterizing dataExamining concepts and themesDefining relationships among different conceptWhat is the appropriate sampling method?

There are a number of sampling methods each suitable for different instances such as:Quota methodsQuota Sampling: When we have access to a large populationProportionate Quota Sampling: When we know population distribution across the groupNon proportionate quota sampling: When there is a wide variety in the characteristicsSelective methodsDiversity sampling: When we are looking for differencesSnowball sampling: Seeking similar subjectsPurposive sampling: When we are studying a particular groupExpert sampling: When we want expert opinionReferencesBehling, O.

, & Law, K. (2000). Translating questionnaires and other research instruments (1st ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.Neuman, W. (1997). Social research methods (1st ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.