Importance of the Pilot Study - Thesis Example

Pilot Study Introduction While trying to implement some new initiatives or policies, big corporate houses and governments often try to assess the acceptability or suitability of the new initiatives in advance, before actually committing all resources for the purpose. Pilot study means implementing the new policy on a very small scale, amongst a selected population and within selected regions. After implementing the initiative, the responses of people are observed on the new initiative and accordingly further steps are taken in the direction. Pilot studies therefore help in taking adequate safeguards for the researcher and the organisation. Definition of Pilot Study Wiersma (1991) defined a pilot study as: A study conducted prior to the major research study that in some way is a small-scale model of the major study: conducted for the purpose of gaining additional information by which the major study can be improved -for example, an exploratory use of the measurement instrument with a small group for the purpose of refining the instrument. Pilot study is a small scale ‘preliminary-study’ of the fuller study being undertaken by the researcher. The small scale survey is undertaken in advance to a major investigation, to devise formal steps for the full scale project study. The scale of pilot study also varies depending upon the context and topic of the study. In some cases, some observation is carried out by the researcher at pre-designated locations, to study the behaviour of the people working at the location or passing through area. Accordingly the researcher devises the questionnaire. In some other cases the researcher devises the questionnaire beforehand and then conducts a pre-study to seek the responses of a small number of respondents. After correlating the responses, the researcher decides to administer the questionnaire to the entire sample size or make appropriate amendments to the questionnaire before finally administering it. In some cases, the researcher prepares a case study on the basis of initial observations, which subsequently forms the basis of further study. Importance of the Pilot Study Underlining the importance of pilot studies in a full scale study, Teijlingen and Hundley (2001) state that pilot study refers to the mini version of a full-scale study. It has also been emphasised that undertaking pilot studies doesn’t guarantee the success of the research, but it certainly increases the chances of success, as the research design happens to be much better with valuable inputs from the pre-study. The nuances of carrying out pilot study will depend upon the nature of the subject, the urgency levels and the place. Saudi Arabia for example, is a fast developing economy. There was a time when the country was the country’s economy was based on subsistence arid-zone agriculture and desert pastoralism, but after the discovery of oil resources in 1938, country’s economy started taking giant strides towards steeper growth (Assad, 2007). Therefore, the standard of living and the level of education too started became higher. Therefore, undertaking pre-studies in such an environment become much simple, as the people in general feel comfortable in responding to queries even from unknown persons. Administering questionnaire to collect data is one of the most reliable forms of taking inputs. But, when the nature of study happens to be strategic one and there are far reaching consequences based on the success or failure of gaining valuable data, then all efforts are made to make sure that the questionnaire is bug-free. In order to remove all bugs from the questionnaire, piloting the questionnaire is considered the safest method. To administer the pilot study, it is ensured that; Similar people are chosen for the pilot study as we require having in the final study Similar procedure is adopted in administering the questionnaire which is planned to be used for the final study Timely feedback is sought from the participants of pilot study If it is found that some questions are producing irrelevant responses, then such questions must be removed in the final study or the questions be appropriately modified If the participants feel that some questions are ambiguous or contain offensive questions/ sentences, then such questions must be removed or rewritten as well. Carrying out a research is considered an important milestone for an organisation, the researcher or a student as it helps in gaining new insights into the fields of study. Pilot study forms an important ally in carrying out the research, which in turn helps in finding an innovative solution for many issues. At the same time, the pilot study can also aim to try out a number of alternative measures to deal with the issue, and finally short listing the most convenient method depending upon the outcome of the pre-study1. Research as such is defined as a systematic process of gathering and analysing information about a subject or event which subsequently helps not only the researcher but the society in general in understanding the subject or phenomenon in a better way. The process of collecting data involves investigation into a chain of events, material and sources to arrive at some conclusions or to establish new facts. In order that truthful and reflective data is collected, pilot study forms an important part of the preliminary study. While carrying out a study concerning the ethical and legal aspects in Nursing profession, De Raeve (1996) stated that pilot study helps in ensuring that the study is properly resourced and the sample is representative of ‘at risk’ population. In addition it was emphasised that the data collection tools are well informed and structured to proper analysis using statistical analysis tools. If the research organisation or the individual is able to establish its credibility even the respective governments come out in support, providing the desired resources required to undertake similar studies. For example, the Ministry of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia has established a dedicated research centre with focus on researching higher education topics2. The CHERS has lent valuable input and support towards upgrading the levels of education in the country. Key advantages of undertaking a pilot study include: i. It acts a feasibility study for the service or product amongst the targeted segment. ii. It helps in preparing logistics for the final implementation of the program iii. The quality of final product or service can be further fine-tuned depending upon the feedback taken from the research participants iv. If any deficiencies are found in the product or service during the pilot study, it can accordingly be fine tuned during the actual launch of the product or service. The method of research is also influenced by the intensity and quality of response during the pilot study. For example, qualitative and quantitative are the two main approaches for undertaking a research study. While on the one hand the direct approach to qualitative research is a non-disguised method, the indirect approach happens to be somewhat disguised. Qualitative research has the potential to go into different aspects of the subject in detail. Meredith et al (1989) feels that often research of this kind lends itself to the semi-structured, open ended type of interview to enable interviewees to expand on what they consider to be important and to frame those issues in their terms. Generally, in direct qualitative research in-depth interview is the norm. But, if it is found during the pilot study that the research participants are taking too long to respond and somehow the individual interviews are not proving to be convenient, the researcher can decide in favour of alternative method like the focus group. The focus group approach requires that we prepare a focus group well in advance to carry out the research. The group is prepared with the help of a selected few research participants. This is more like a brain storming session. If the researcher wishes to widen the scope, he can make more than one focus group. The topic is discussed amongst the focus group/s with the help of a moderator from amongst the focus group participants. Subsequently, the group interviews are conducted and a final report is prepared by the researcher based on the outcomes of the discussion. Pilot Study in Educational Research United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Human Rights Covenants consider education as a fundamental right of every citizen in the world. Education is considered as the basic need for making the young ones better citizens of tomorrow. Therefore, respective governments around the world try to make education available to every citizen depending upon the availability of resources. In his famous taxonomy, Bloom (1964) identified the domains within which learning takes place. He labelled them as cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Traditionally, the concentration has been on the cognitive domain with comprehension, facts and figures acquiring the centre stage. But with technology making its impact, information society made it almost compulsory for the education providers to bring into effect, adequate amendments in their approach so that the learning process becomes far more interactive and effective. In this new approach role of student as well as the means of education became more important. In Saudi Arabia, the present dispensation headed by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz has been quite active and dedicated towards the development of educational projects in the country. The Public Education Development Project is one such program ‘aimed at dramatically changing the way the countrys nearly 5 million students are educated’ (McEvers, 2009). The project makes use of the term Tatweer, which implies ‘improving the quality of education’ for graduates in Saudi Arabia. The research centre carried out several pilot studies in the past for subjects like finding out the feasibility of community colleges, social impact of university education and its effectiveness, feasibility of distance education and e-learning etc. This way the centre is considered a think-tank of ideas and visionary policies for the ministry. Underlining the importance of education in social sector United Nations has set ‘primary school education for all children by 2015’ as one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This is bound to provide a big boost to the education sector in the African nations (UN, 2009). In general, the availability of trained teachers and financial resources prove to be of crucial importance for the education sector. Therefore, a number of research topics can be shortlisted for researches in educational sector. In the context of Saudi Arabia, some such topics could be; To assess the feasibility of finding out trained teachers from within the country or to seek foreign nationals’ help in this venture. What will be the impact of relying mostly on foreign nationals in imparting education in schools or technical institutions? How much should the government spend to make education available to every citizen? What is the kind of enthusiasm amongst the citizens towards the policies initiated by the government in the educational reform? Which are the traditional values or beliefs coming in the way of making education compulsory for all? This will be particularly relevant when we consider imparting education to the girl child Importance of giving more attention towards the education of the girl child Comparing the education system prevalent in other nationals, particularly the other GCC nations How to implement educational reforms in line with the prevailing international standards, so that the youth of the country do not find it difficult to take up assignments in other nations as well. This becomes all the more necessary in view of the globalisation policies in vogue around the world The well-off regimes in countries like Saudi Arabia in the Gulf Region are known to be modern in their approach and many western companies have made investments in projects in these countries. Therefore, it will prove very effective, if the respective governments in these countries could encourage their youth to take up jobs in these companies, so that the reliance on foreign nationals is minimised. It is worthwhile here to mention that as far as consumerism is concerned, there’s an increasing tendency amongst the people in the Gulf region to follow the styles followed in western nations. The proliferation of huge departmental stores, shopping malls, fast-food outlets, convenience stores etc. is a pointer towards the increasing emphasis on consumerism in Saudi Arabia (Assad, 2007). Traditionally, mosques have served as repositories of human knowledge and helped the society in the development of social, cultural and educational goals of the country (Siddiqui, 1995). But, as we enter into the 21st century, a modernistic approach is being adopted by the country. Now, it is being contended that the country should have modern libraries and electronic resources, so that the educational system of Saudi Arabia gets complementary strength. Beaver (1994) contended that forward looking quality practices like total quality management in educational sector also play an important role in reassuring the educationists about the robustness and effectiveness of the education system. Primary focus on educational reforms started in Saudi Arabia in early 1950s, with the establishment of the first university of Islamic studies in 1950. Subsequently a full-fledged ministry of education was established to take care of the educational goals of the country (Sohail and Shaikh, 2004). King Saud University (earlier known as the Riyadh University) is the first conventional university which came up in 1957 in the country. To encourage higher education in the country the government also provides attractive scholarships to meritorious Saudi students. Such students can pursue higher studies in any universities around the world with support from the government. The stated objective of the program is3 ‘to boost the professional level of development, set a high level of professionalism to the working environment, and promote the interchange of educational and cultural experiences all over the world’. King Abdullah is considered a reformer by the Gulf counterparts, but the western economies expect more. Education sector is the one which is being provided with impressive spending and it is considered as surest sign from the Gulf nations to take firm control over all their affairs, instead of relying on foreign expertise (The Economist, 2008). Availability of resources certainly impacts the shaping of the overall picture of educational system. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has undertaken the task of imparting education in a big way. With the establishment of the ministry of higher education in 1975 the task of supervision, planning and coordination became much simpler and systematic in the country4. Today, 21 high capacity universities in different parts of the country, help the youth of the day in realising their dreams and their becoming better citizens for the overall development of the nation. The gulf region as such has a wide diversity in terms of cultural and social aspects. Often, multinational companies face difficulties in gaining an insight into the marketing dynamics of the region, before launching their range of products or the marketing communication messages. This happens because such companies do not get full insight into the social and cultural diversity for want of detailed researches (Al-Khatib et al, 2005). In such cases, these companies have relied on pilot studies to launch their projects in the region. Benefits of Pilot Studies Myers & Hansen (1993) defined an experiment as the process taken up to find out something new or to predict the occurrence of certain events under specific conditions. Drawing an analogy to this definition, we can say that a Pilot study is also undertaken to explore the subject further and to come out with futuristic projections based on the outcomes of the pilot study. Pilot studies help in simulating the full experiment being planned by the researcher. While undertaking the ‘dry run’, every effort is made to make sure that all the proposed steps are taken to collect the data. Thus it helps in pre-testing of the hypotheses, simplification of the procedure and reduction of the chances of mistakes during the research process. Some of the major benefits of pilot study are; i. Such studies can save the researcher both time and money, which would have been otherwise required to expand the scope of research in case of discoveries of newer dimensions ii. The research process is made free of bugs or errors, to a great extent, as the researcher realises about such errors during the dry run or the pilot study. iii. The researcher gets valuable feedback from the concerned parties, which provide additional inputs to the researcher to improvise on the questionnaires and surveys iv. The design, format and analysis of the actual research process can be made more contemporary with the help of the feedback v. Researcher also gets ideas about the best suitable method to collect data from the sample research population. For example, if it is found during pilot studies that majority of the respondents are not coming out with detailed answers to the subjective questions, then based on the responses, the researcher can devise the questions in objective format. vi. In case the respondents seek further clarification on the subject or questions, the researcher can modify the question, incorporating the clarification as well. This will save lot of time and effort during the full-fledged research process. vii. The pilot study can take care of logistical issues like sets of instructions to the respondents and skill levels of the research associates viii. The reliability and validity of prospective results can also be tested using the pilot study ix. The pilot study helps in coming out with an outer limits in case of certain parameters x. The dry run can also help the researcher in finalising the quantity or the number of samples to be used for a comprehensive study xi. Adverse reactions can also be identified from the subjects, so that either the researcher can prepare appropriate responses to such reactions or can modify the questionnaire accordingly. xii. The pilot studies also help in forming opinion about the researcher amongst the influential segments of the society and if some corporate house or the local or federal government comes to know about the utility of the research, there’s a scope for further cooperation amongst the concerned parties. References: 1. Al-Khatib, Jamal A.; Angela D’Auria Stanton and Mohammed Y.A. Rawwas (2005). ‘Ethical segmentation of consumers in developing countries: a comparative analysis’. International Marketing Review. Vol. 22 No. 2, 2005. 2. Assad, Soraya W. (2007). ‘The rise of consumerism in Saudi Arabian society’. International Journal of Commerce and Management. Vol. 17 No. 1/2, 2007. pp. 73-104. 3. Beaver, W (1994). ‘Is TQM appropriate for the class room?’ College Teaching. Summer, Vol. 42, No-3. 4. Bloom, B. S. (1964). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Vol. 2, David McKay, New York, NY. As referred online at http://www.businessballs.com/bloomstaxonomyoflearningdomains.htm (Feb 5, 2010) 5. De Raeve, l. (1996). ‘Nursing research: an ethical and legal appraisal’. Bailliere Tindall: London. 6. McEvers, Kelly (2009). ‘Changing the Way Saudis Learn - Reforming Saudi Education’. Available online at http://www.slate.com/id/2226874/entry/2226875/ (Feb 3, 2010) 7. Meredith, J.R., Raturi, A., Amoako-Gympah, K. and Kaplan, B. (1989). ‘Alternative research paradigms in operation’. Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 8 No. 4. Quoted in Barnes, Davis (2001). Research methods for the empirical investigation of the process of formation of operations strategy. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 21 No. 8. 8. Ministry of Higher Education (2010). Higher Education in Saudi Arabia. Available online at http://www.mohe.gov.sa/EN/ABOUTUS/Pages/default.aspx (Feb 5, 2010) 9. Myers, A. & Hansen, C. (1993). Experimental Psychology. (3rd edition). Brooks/Cole Publishing: CA. 10. Siddiqui, Moid Ahmad (1995). ‘Management of libraries in Saudi Arabia: practices and constraints’. Library Management. Volume 16 · Number 36 · 1995. 11. Sohail, M. Sadiq and Shaikh, Nassar M. (2004). ‘Quest for Excellence in business education: a study of student impressions of service quality’. The International Journal of Educational Management. Volume 18, Number-1. 12. Teijlingen, Edwin R. van and Hundley, Vanora (2001). ‘The importance of pilot studies’. Social Research Update, Department of Sociology, University of Surrey. Available online at http://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU35.html (Feb 2, 2010) 13. The Economist (2008). ‘Gulf Economies – The Rise of the Gulf. The Economist, print edition, 24th April. 14. UIS (n.d.). ‘Advantages of a Pilot Study’. Available online at http://www.uis.edu/ctl/writing/documents/ctlths7.pdf (Feb 2, 2010) 15. UN (2009). ‘Millennium Development Goals’. Available online at http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ (Feb 4, 2009) 16. Wiersma, W. (1991). Research methods in education: An introduction (5th ed.). Sydney: AUyn and Bacon. Quoted in Forgasz and Kaur (1997). ‘The Role Of The Pilot Study In Mathematics Education Research’. The Mathematics Educator. Vol. 2, No. 2, 187-196. Available online at http://repository.nie.edu.sg/jspui/bitstream/10497/98/1/ME-2-2-187.pdf (Feb 4, 2010) Read More