I have looked into the pros and cons of each tool and listed the bullet points to help me decide which method would be most suitable for my enquiry.
Interview:
Pros-
- Face to face (in person, Skype, telephone)
- Monitor reactions.
- On the spot questions so more likely to be genuine answers.
- They can respond in more detail.
- Allows me as the researcher to probe a response.
- Can record with permission.
- Can be structured questions or relaxed open interview.
Cons-
- May think of responses afterwards.
- Difficult to arrange.
- Be more aware of self conduct.
Survey:
Pros-
- Easy way to ask condensed information.
- Gathering larger quantity of information. quicker.
- Direct questions.
- They have time to think how they'd like to answer.
- Black and white evidence.
- Easily sent now using technology.
- Not as much pressure as face to face.
- Getting people to actually fill them out.
- Are they honest answers hiding behind pen and paper.
- Ordering the data collection afterwards.
Documents:
Pros-
- Solid evidence
- Easily comparable.
- Gaining permission or access to important documents.
- Need to consider data protection.
Observation:
Pros-
- Experience first hand.
- Alows you to reflect and compare.
Cons-
- Harder to arrange.
- Time consuming.
- Picking out relevant points could be harder to spot as it's not on paper.
- Not actually speaking to anyone for an opinion.
- Based on your own opinion/thoughts.
After reflecting on each enquiry tool I feel that interviews and documents would be perfect for my line of enquiry. I have also considered observation and survey as they would both be relevant and easily done for my enquiry however this will become more clear once I start my enquiry plan. As reader 6 says, don't use too many enquiry tools due to work load so I will narrow this down.
I have a list of sources I would like to interview and a couple of documents which are also great evidence so I have a good starting point.
Thanks Lydia
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