INSTRUMENT RESEARCH AND TECHNIQUES COLLECTING DATA

CHAPTER II

INSTRUMENT RESEARCH AND TECHNIQUES COLLECTING DATA

A.    INSTRUMENT RESEARCH

·         A measure in research

·         The instrument used to measure observed the natural phenomena (variables) and social.

Steps to taken the instrument research :

1. Determining the research variables
2. preparation of grains questions/questions per indicator

Example :

VARIBLE	INDICATOR	QUESTIONS
WEALTH	House	1.  The number of homes owned
		2.  The placed of home
		3.  What is the area of each house
		4.  The quality of building etc.
	Transportation Tool
	Shoping Place
	Educational Child
	Kinds of sport
	Kind of food that is often eaten

Ò  The results of the study valid : if there is a similarity between the data collected with the actual data

Ò  The results are reliable : if there is a similarity of data at different time

Ò  Valid instrument if the instrument measure what will be measured ( example, mistar for length)

Ò  Reliable instrument when the instrument is used to measure the number of times the same objects will generate the same data

Choise The Instrument

VARIABLE	INSTRUMENT/METHODE OF COLLECTING DATA
GOAL	Observation	Documentation	Interview	Questionaire
Exploration	v	v	v
Analysis	v			v
Variable Scale
Nominal & ordinal	v	v	v
Interval & ratio	v			v
Sample
Large				V
Small	v	v	v	V
Place
Wide				V
Limited	v	v	v	V
Cost
Expensive	v	v	v	V
Limited				V
Time
Enough	v	v	v	V
Limited				V
Practice
Most	v	v	v	V
Limited				v

B.    Techniques Collecting Data

We’ve seen our data for this lab, all nice and collated in a database – from:

a.       Insurance companies (claims, medications, procedures, diagnoses, etc.)

b.      Firms (demographic data, productivity data, etc.)

c.       Take a step back – if we’re starting from scratch, how do we collect / find data?

·         Secondary data

·         Primary data

1.       Three Major Techniques for Collecting Data:

a.       Questionnaires

b.      Interviews

c.       Observation

2.       Using these data gathering methods

a.       Each method has advantages and problems.  No single method can fully measure the variable important to OD

b.      Examples:

q  Questionnaires and surveys are open to self-report biases, such as respondents’ tendency to give socially desirable answers rather than honest opinions.

q  Observations are susceptible to observer biases, such as seeing what one wants to see rather than what is actually there.

3.       Demographics

a.       Information about the people you are gathering data from is important.

b.      Collect the specific demographics necessary. Some examples

q Age

q Gender

q Income level

q Ethnic background

q Status (student, teacher, visitor)

c.       Be careful not to collect demographics that are not specific to your data collection purpose.

4.       Questionnaires:

a.       Questionnaires are one of the most efficient ways to collect data.

b.      They contain fixed-response questions about various features of an organization.

c.       These on-line or paper-and pencil measures can be administered to large numbers of people simultaneously.

d.      They can be analyzed quickly.

e.      They can be easily be fed back to employees.

f.        Questionnaires can be standard based on common research or they can be customized to meet the specific data gathering need.

5.       Questionnaires; there are drawbacks;

a.       Responses are limited to the questions asked in the instrument.

b.      They provide little opportunity to probe for additional data or ask for points of clarification.

c.       They tend to be impersonal.

d.      Often elicit response biases – tend to answer in a socially acceptable manner.

6.       Interviews

a.       Interviews are probably the most widely used technique for collecting data in OD.

b.      They permit the interviewer to ask the respondent direct questions.

c.       Further probing and clarification is possible as the interview proceeds.

d.      This flexibility is invaluable for gaining private views and feelings about the organization and exploring new issues that emerge during the interview.

e.      Interviews may be highly structured, resembling questionnaires, or highly unstructured, starting with general questions that allow the respondent to lead the way.

f.        Interviews are usually conducted one-to-one but can be carried out in a group.

g.       Group interviews save time and allow people to build on other’s responses.

h.      Group interviews may, however, inhibit respondent’s answers if trust is an issue.

7.       Interviews /  Focus Groups

a.       Another unstructured group meeting conducted by a manager or a consultant.

b.      A small group of 10-15 people is selected representing a larger group of people

c.       Group discussion is started by asking general questions and group members are encouraged to discuss their answers in some depth.

d.      The richness and validity of this information will depend on the extent that trust exists.

8.       Sample Interview Questions

a.       How do management and non-management employees interact in the office?

b.      How do you know when you have done an excellent job?

c.       How do non-management employees learn about organizational change?

d.      If you could change one or two things about the way management and non-management personnel interact, what would you change?

9.       Observations    

Definition of observation according to experts  “Besides the competencies of speaking and listening which are used in interviews, observing is another everyday skill which is methodologically systematized and applied in qualitative research. Not only visual perceptions but also those based on hearing, feeling and smelling are integrated (Adler and Adler : 1998)”

“Observation is an essential method of data collection in this research, especially the research with a qualitative approach. In order to provide accurate and useful data, observation as a scientific method must be performed by a researcher who has passed the appropriate exercises, and has conducted a thorough and complete preparation (Patton : 1990)”

a.       Observing organizational behaviors in their functional settings is one of the most direct ways to collect data.

b.      Observation can range from complete participant observation, where the OD practitioner becomes a member of the group under study to a more detached observation using a casually observing and noting occurrences of specific kinds of behaviors.

Advantages to Observation:

Ø  They are free of the biases inherent in the self-report data.

Ø  They put the practitioner directly in touch with the behaviors in question.

Ø  They involved real-time data, describing behavior occurring in the present rather than the past.

Ø  They are adapting in that they can be modified depending on what is being observed.

Problems with Observation

Ø  Difficulties interpreting the meaning underlying the observations.

Ø  Observers must decide which people to observe; choose time periods, territory and events

Ø  Failure to attend to these sampling issues can result in a biased sample of data.