Data Collection Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Data Collection Methods - Essay Example Focus group Advantages and Dis-advantagesAccording to Morgan (1996) focus group is a research method devoted to data collection to gather data through group discussion. It is an easy way to listen to diverse views of the research issue. Group discussion deals with real life issues and helps in gathering real time data. However there are several disadvantages of focus group. It is quite expensive and time-consuming research methodology. In focus group that some of the participants are mistaken by the group discussion and they jump to conclusion. It is hard for the moderator to keep the group of people focused on one topic for a long time. Group discussions are not planned. People can go in wrong direction and lot of time is wasted to come back to the original topic. In-group discussion, people take sides, and the mentality of follow the crowd exists. The research interview is defined as â€Å"a two-person conversation initiated by the interviewer for the specific purpose† to find research relevant information and focusing on the interviewee to gather the essential data (Cohen, 2000). The interview involves gathering data through direct verbal interaction between the individuals. Veal (2000) has described interview as a strategy to find out from people about the things, which cannot be observed directly. The interviews are meant to collect data from each respondent face to face. In the interview, each respondent contributes a different perspective of the same question. Personal interviewing provides face-to-face contact with respondents, which permits audible and visual communication with respondents in real time (Joann, 1990).