Deck 11: Using Interviews and Focus Groups

Question 1

Closed questions are questions that provide respondents with a restricted set of possible responses.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Bias can be introduced into a research project at any stage, as the design stage, during sampling, data gathering, data analysis, or at the stage of detailing findings and coming to conclusions about research.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

A focus group is the same as a group interview.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Focus groups and interviews are often used in research undertaken within a social constructionist or interpretive philosophical framework.

Question 5

Interviews are conducted differently in quantitative and qualitative research.

Question 6

Quantitative data can be generated by focus groups and interviews using highly structured data gathering schedules, and/or through carrying out a large number of focus groups or interviews.

Question 7

Bias can refer to a particular perspective that the research takes which highlights some aspects or findings of the research while ignoring or even hiding others.

Question 8

Focus groups and interviews are most frequently used to generated qualitative research, or qualitative data in research.

Question 9

Quantitative research is said to be objective and situated within a framework of positivism.

Question 10

Qualitative research is said to be subjective and situated within a framework of constructivism and/or interpretivism.

Question 11

Examples of the types of systematic error that can be introduced into the research project include sampling bias and respondent bias.

Question 12

In quantitative research, the researcher decides what needs to be known, and designs a very precise data gathering instrument to gather data in order to create knowledge.

Question 13

Open questions tend to generate long or relatively long answers.

Question 14

Bias in research is anything that contaminates or compromises the research. Researchers have to be vigilant in their attempts to avoid bias in their research.

Question 15

In quantitative research, interviews are conducted in a structured, systematic manner. The researcher designs a structured interview schedule, which is like a questionnaire, and follows it rigidly, asking each interviewee the same questions in the same order.

Question 16

Interviews and focus groups are research methodologies.

Question 17

Bias can also refer to some systematic error that has somehow been introduced to the research.

Question 18

The ontological perspectives with constructivist and interpretivist philosophical frameworks hold reality to be multiple, individually interpreted, or socially constructed.

Question 19

In qualitative research, the researcher loosely designs the research instrument, in order to allow the research participants to control and shape the data that is gathered, and consequently the knowledge generated by the research project.

Question 20

Interviews and focus groups are data gathering methods.

Question 21

Online focus groups (OFG) can be synchronous, in real time, or asynchronous, out of real time.

Question 22

Interview schedules and focus group schedules can be:

A)Short, medium or long.
B)Narrow, broad, or very broad.
C)Unstructured, semi-structured, or structured.
D)Under-designed, semi-designed, or designed.

Question 23

In a photo elicitation interview the researcher conducts the interview:

A)Over the telephone.
B)With one interviewee.
C)Using a photo-elicitation approach.
D)With a group of interviewees.

Question 24

In a group interview the researcher conducts the interview:

A)Over the telephone.
B)With one interviewee.
C)Using a photo elicitation approach.
D)With a group of interviewees.

Question 25

Copies of the data collection method(s) used in the research project should appear in the appendices of the research project. This provides for a more complete communication of the research project and it allows for a fuller critique of the research project.

Question 26

In synchronous online focus groups the focus group happens in real time using chat rooms or focus group software. Using conferencing software the participants in the focus groups can all see each other; using other software the typed contributions of participants are visible to all participants.

Question 27

Interview and/or focus group schedules are designed to:

A)Provide the necessary data for the research project.
B)Introduce the researcher to the field.
C)Outline the context for the research project.
D)Provide a theoretical framework for the research project.

Question 28

The pilot study demonstrates to the researcher how:

A)How effective the pilot is at leading the research project.
B)The interview or focus group schedule, or other data gathering method designed for the research, will work in the real data gathering exercise.
C)Effective are the airline pilots.
D)Well they understand the new phenomenon under investigation.

Question 29

In designing a data gathering instrument the most important issue is:

A)That the researcher conducting the research design the instrument.
B)That the researcher design the instrument they wish to design.
C)That the data gathering instrument be simple and clear and easy to understand.
D)The capacity of the data collection instrument to provide the data required for the research.

Question 30

Interviews can be carried out:

A)Face to face.
B)Online.
C)Back to face.
D)Face to face and/or online.

Question 31

An interview or focus group schedule is:

A)The timetable for carrying out data collection.
B)The list of questions to be asked or the series of points to be examined or explored in the interview or focus group.
C)A list of the names of participants in the interview(s) or focus group(s).
D)A list of venues where the interviews or focus groups are to be held.

Question 32

In asynchronous online focus groups, the focus group happens out of real time, using listservs, mailing lists, or discussion groups.

Question 33

The methodological framework is the:

A)First framework in the four frameworks approach to the research project.
B)Second framework in the four frameworks approach to the research project.
C)Third framework in the four frameworks approach to the research project.
D)Fourth framework in the four frameworks approach to the research project.

Question 34

In a one-to-one face-to-face interview one researcher conducts the interview:

A)Over the telephone.
B)Face-to-face with one interviewee.
C)Using a photo-elicitation approach.
D)With a group of interviewees.

Question 35

The issues of validity and reliability are engaged with differently in qualitative and quantitative data.

Question 36

In a telephone interview the researcher conducts the interview:

A)Over the telephone.
B)Face-to-face with one interviewee.
C)Using a photo-elicitation approach.
D)With a group of interviewees.

Question 37

A pilot study is:

A)Test of the design of the research project, or a test of the data gathering instrument(s) designed for the research.
B)A research project designed for the study of airline pilots.
C)A research project which is managed by a pilot.
D)A research project designed to study some new phenomenon.

Question 38

Interviews and focus groups are:

A)Data gathering methods.
B)Research Methodologies.
C)Literature reviews.
D)Contexts for research projects.

Question 39

The researcher develops the design of the interview and/or focus group schedule in the:

A)Computer lab.
B)Science lab.
C)Library.
D)Research diary.

Question 40

Data gathering techniques are part of the:

A)Research statement or question.
B)Theoretical framework.
C)Conceptual framework.
D)Methodological framework.

Question 41

Quantitative and qualitative researchers make different assumptions about:

A)Research.
B)Social Research.
C)Statistics.
D)The social world.

Question 42

The ethical aspects of every element of the research project:

A)Should be signed off on by the research supervisor.
B)Should be clearly outlined for the researcher by the research supervisor.
C)Are of fundamental importance.
D)Are dealt with at the start of the research.

Question 43

In a group interview, the researcher:

A)Interviews the group.
B)Studies the group.
C)Facilitates the group in focusing on the phenomenon being investigated.
D)Facilitates the group in engaging in an interview.

Question 44

The decision on which data gathering methods to use is made based on:

A)The data requirements of the research project.
B)The wishes of the researcher.
C)The wishes of the research participants.
D)The wishes of the research supervisor.

Question 45

Focus groups are generally used when:

A)The researcher knows how to conduct focus groups.
B)The researcher wants to conduct focus groups.
C)The research supervisor wants the researcher to use focus groups.
D)The data required would best be gathered by facilitating a group to focus on the phenomenon under investigation.

Question 46

The participants in the research must:

A)Be well known to the researcher.
B)Strangers to the researcher.
C)Over 18 years of age.
D)Be capable of participating fully and usefully in the research.

Question 47

What is a closed question?

Question 48

In a focus group, the researcher:

A)Interviews the group.
B)Studies the group.
C)Facilitates the group in focusing on the phenomenon being investigated.
D)Facilitates the group in engaging in an interview.

Question 49

Phenomenology in social science research is:

A)The study of lived experience from the first person point of view, i.e. from the view of the person living the experience.
B)The study of a particular phenomenon.
C)The study of different phenomena.
D)The study of critical incidents.

Question 50

The first issue to examine when critiquing the data gathering methods used is:

A)Whether or not they are interesting.
B)Whether they are the most appropriate data gathering methods for the research project.
C)Whether or not they were specifically designed for the research project.
D)Whether or not they were approved by the research supervisor.

Question 51

Name the five different types of interview detailed in the text.

Question 52

Interviews are used as data gathering methods when:

A)The researcher knows how to conduct interviews.
B)The researcher wants to conduct interviews.
C)The research supervisor wants the researcher to use interviews.
D)The researcher can identify key respondents and can engage these respondents in an interview process, and when interview data will serve the research agenda.

Question 53

Explain the value of the research diary when planning to conduct interviews for gathering data.