Four Women in the Sex Industry - Essay Example

Research methods: Introduction: The aim of this paper is to discuss the methods that will be used in collection and analysis of the data that will be collected in a semi structured interview of four women in the sex industry. The themes of this research include Lesbianism and lesbian identity, Gender power relations, roles and patriarchy illegitimate work and Prostitution. The four participants in this research are people that I am acquainted with and therefore this will help reduce the any bias in the study because of the already established relationship. The paper discusses some of the problems that will be faced in the research and also advantages of using the semi structured interview other than other survey methods and why I choose to use the qualitative method in this type of survey. The paper also discusses the various themes and the data that will be collected in the interview. Research methods: There are two research methods namely quantitative research method and the qualitative research method, both qualitative and quantitive research methods have their strength and weakness. D according to Amaratunga (2002) Qualitative research method is concerned with the properties, the current state and the character, in this method data is collected through focus groups, questionnaires and interviews. Quantitative research on the other hand is defined as collection of numerical data, in this research method data can be sorted, categorised and measured, for this reason therefore statistical analysis of the data can be undertaken to obtain central measures such as the mean, median and standard deviation. Qualitative method: In this research I intend to use the qualitative method of research, qualitative methods collect greater information depth and details than in the quantitive method of research, therefore this method will aid in collection of more information in our case because some of the themes in our study are not easy to generalise. Our research topic is very sensitive and therefore the qualitative method being suitable for sensitive research we choose this method, this is because the research method does not involve the collection of data through set questions and therefore allow the interviewer to approach a sensitive subject in a sensitive manner, it also allows the respondent to tackle difficult subjects in a lesser difficult way. Qualitative method of research will create openness between the interviewer and the respondents whereby the participants can discuss subjects that are important to them rather than when the respondents are offered closed questions. The research coordinators can also correct and clarify ambiguities and confusion over concepts. Therefore Qualitative method in our research will help reduce biased responses in the answers given and any confusion corrected. Having discussed the advantages of qualitative method we can conclude that it is suitable to undertake our research method, it will help us collect more information and for this reason we will not require a large sample size, our results will also not be biased in that the research coordinator will clarify any misunderstanding of questions and also the ability to check the level of understanding by the respondents. It would be therefore to collect data using the qualitative research method. Semi structured interview: Biklen (1992) states that In structured method of surveys interviews have limited number of questions but in the semi structured interview there are set themes to be explored and therefore the interview is flexible and does not follow a limited number of set questions. In a semi structured interview the survey is like a conversation and respondents are more likely to open up and give more information. Face to face interviews have advantages over the other survey methods, according to Biklen (1992) some of these advantages include the opportunity to clarify any misunderstanding of questions by the respondent, and the research coordinator also has the opportunity to gain more information on the subject area. The research coordinator can also assess the understanding of questions by the respondent. More information can be collected in a face to face interview whereby the research coordinator can collect more information than in other methods of research. Face to face interviews method of collecting data is also a fast way of collecting data. Also important in the collection of sensitive and personal information this is because the respondent establishes trust with the interviewer in face to face interview. This is an important strategy to obtaining information whereby the respondents will be honest in answering questions and will not hesitate to answer sensitive questions. The semi structured questions are usually put in order but the researcher can ask for more information by asking the respondent to elaborate more on a subject area, this form of research has an added advantage in that the respondent has the chance to answer fully to questions and also more questions asked unlike in the closed question interview. ( Biklen (1992)) In this type of research there is a good response rate unlike in phone interviews and also that the interviewer can explain things and therefore reduce bias in the study. In this form of research also the respondent is put at ease and therefore more information is likely to be obtained, this is why the face to face unstructured interviewed and therefore sensitive information can be collected. The other advantage is that answers can be developed and explained more enabling the collection of more data and fully answered questions.( K. Biklen (1992)) Semi structured research method provides data that has great validity, this means that the data collected is more valid than any other method, this is because the interviewer reduced biasness in the answers given by the respondent and because the data collected is first hand data then there is high possibility that the data collected is valid. (McCullough (1997)) However there exist some disadvantages of this form of collecting data, one advantage is that the interviewer can be biased in that he or she may influence the type of response given and therefore provide biased information, for this reason therefore there is need to have qualified interviewers undertaking this form of research in order to avoid their influence on answers given. Data collected through this method is also very hard to code and at the same time quantify for the purpose of statistical analysis, it will also be difficult to compare results in the research. Another problem is that gender and ethnicity may affect the type of responses the respondents give and therefore there must be a careful evaluation of these effects that may produce biased responses. (McCullough (1997)) From the above discussion therefore it is clear that because we are intending to collect sensitive data from respondents it is advisable to use the semi structured face to face interview which will provide us with more data and also more valid results unlike other forms of research methods, this method will also allow the clarification of questions asked to the respondents who have the chance of answering fully to questions asked. Sampling: The research will require the selection of an appropriate sample of four. According to Cochran G. (1997) there are various methods of sampling including random samples, snow ball sampling, systematic sampling and category sampling. In our case we choose both the category sampling method and the snow ball sampling method. The category sampling will involve the selection of the desired type of group in the society which in our case is we pick the prostitute group, a snow ball sampling technique will then be used which will involve asking the first randomly selected individual to identify another individual in the group, this way we will not be biased in our sampling technique. After obtaining our sample we prepare the questions and the themes that will be discussed in the interview, every respondent however must be briefed on the importance of the study and also other ethical issues, due to time and loss of information the interviews may be tape recorded and this should be communicated to the respondents, information regarding the names should not b e collected and responses should remain anonymous in order to ensure privacy. Themes: The themes that will be analysed include Lesbianism and lesbian identity, Gender power relations, roles and patriarchy, illegitimate work and Prostitution. Under the Lesbianism and lesbian identity the respondents may asked whether they are Lesbian and their view regarding this form of relationships, the respondents may also b e required to give their view regarding Lesbianism and why they think this is a good or bad of life and whether they are neutral regarding this subject, they may also be required to estimate the cases of Lesbian relationships they have encountered. The other theme is concerned with Gender power relations, roles and patriarchy illegitimate work, some of the questioned that may be asked in this theme include whether they view men as superior to women and whether the roles of men are more important than the roles of women and why and how they support their views. There should also be an analysis whether the women are discriminated upon and whether there is gender equality in the society. Another question would be aimed at finding out whether the law supports gender equality in terms of the view that prostitution is illegal. Our final theme will be Prostitution, this will be an interesting theme since the respondents are sex workers and responses provided will be give their view regarding the subject matter, in this theme questions will aimed at finding out whether the respondents liked their job, whether the job was well paying, whether if given a chance they would quit their job and whether in their view viewed prostitution as bad. These questions should be open ended in order for the respondents to provide more information why they supported certain views. Other questions asked should include the average income, whether the respondents were married, single or single mothers, widowed or divorced, this questions should also be aimed at finding out what made them to join the industry and at what age. Having analysed our themes there is a need to make a list of open ended questions that will help in further understanding of the sex industry. These questions should be pre tested in order to check for any bias in the questions and whether they would be easily understood by the respondents, finally a date should be set and the respondents invited to undertake the interview, total time to be taken in the interview should also be estimated in order to give an estimate of how long the interview will take, respondents should be briefed on the importance of the study and also the ethical issues the study will observe, also it should be made clear to the respondents whether the research participant are to be compensated or this would be done on a voluntary basis. Data analysis: Chambers R. (2003) describes the proces of data analysis in both quanititive and qualititive research, after data is collected each response will be analysed and if possible quantified through the use of an appropriate scales, those questions that are aimed at recording quantity values such as the cost and price will be directly analysed to find such measures as the mean, mode, median, standard deviations and statistical test. A final report should be written as a way of communicating the major findings of the study. Conclusion: From the above discussion it is clear that to undertake a study on the sex industry we need to use the semi structured interviewing order to collect information, the various advantages of this form of research as also its appropriateness to be used in this particular study is clear due to the fact that we will be collecting sensitive data. Data collected through this means has an advantage in that there is a high possibility of validity of data collected and that interviewers are likelty to provide more information. References: Alan Stuart (1982) Basic Ideas of Scientific Sampling, Heffner Publishers, New York Brown K. and Worden P. (1999) Research Methods in Human Development, McGraw Hill publishers, New York Chambers R and Skinner J (2003) Analysis of Survey Data, Wiley publishers, New York Cochran G. (1997) Sampling Techniques, Wiley publishers, New York D Amaratunga and et al (2002) Quantitative and qualitative research, McGraw Hill publishers, New York D. McCullough (1997) Quantitative and Qualitative Research, retrieved on 21st April, available at www.macroinc.com/articles/ J. Kruger (2003) Integrating quantitative and qualitative methods in Research' The Community Psychologist Journal, 36 page18 to19 R. Bogdan and K. Biklen (1992) Qualitative Research: Introduction to Theory and Methods, MIT press, London Read More