C4_T2_S3
[00:00.63] ROSA:Oh, there you are, good.
[00:03.38] Sorry I'm a bit late - there was a long queue.
[00:05.63] So, have you worked out how to deal with this assignment then?
[00:09.38] MICK:Not yet, we've only been here a couple of minutes ourselves.
[00:13.38] ROSA:Can you just remind me what the task is exactly?
[00:15.63] PETE:Well, there are two, no, three, parts to it: first, we've got to write an essay about ways of collecting data.
[00:24.38] Then ...
[00:25.13] ROSA:What's the title of the essay exactly?
[00:27.63] MICK:I've got it here: ‘Assess the two main methods of collecting data in social science research’.
[00:34.38] ROSA:And how much do we need to write?
[00:37.38] MICK:Fifteen hundred words.
[00:38.88] That's for the essay.
[00:40.88] Then, for the second part of the assignment, we have to choose one method of data collection, and 'carry out a small-scale study, making appropriate use of the method chosen to gather data from at least five subjects'.
[00:52.38] ROSA:And then we have to write a report on the study?
[00:54.88] PETE:That's right, of three to four thousand words.
[00:57.38] ROSA:Did you get as far as discussing which form of data collection we should go for - questionnaire or interview , isn't it?
[01:05.13] MICK:Yeah.
[01:05.88] I think we should use a questionnaire.
[01:07.38] It'll be so much less time-consuming than organising interviews,I reckon.
[01:12.13] Once we've agreed on the wording of it, we only have to send it out and wait for the responses.
[01:15.88] ROSA:Yes.
[01:17.13] I think it probably would be quicker.
[01:19.63] But what did that article he gave us last week say about the quality of data from questionnaires?
[01:26.13] MICK:I'm pretty sure it recommended questionnaires as a source of ‘highly reliable data’.
[01:30.88] As long as you design the questionnaire properly in the first place, the data will be fine.
[01:35.13] ROSA:No.
[01:36.13] I'm sure it talked about drawbacks as well, didn't it?
[01:39.63] Something about the response rate and the problems you get if it's too low.
[01:44.63] MICK:Yeah but we only need data from five subjects anyway.
[01:47.88] ROSA:I suppose so.
[01:49.63] Another drawback I remember it mentioned was that questionnairedata tends not to reveal anything unexpected, because it is limited to the questions fixed in advance by the researcher.
[02:00.88] MICK:Come on, ROSA.
[02:01.88] This is only a practice.
[02:04.88] It's not meant to be real research, is it?
[02:06.88] ROSA:Well.
[02:07.88] I'm not sure about that.
[02:11.13] ROSA:Maybe I'd belter go through the article again, just to be sure.
[02:14.38] Can you remember what it was called?
[02:16.63] MICK:'Sample Surveys in Social Science Research", I think.
[02:20.38] By Mehta.
[02:23.63] ROSA:M-E-H-T-A?
[02:25.13] MICK:Yeah.
[02:27.13] And he also recommended a more recent book, called 'Survey Research', by Bell, I think.
[02:31.88] It's in that series published by London University.
[02:36.38] PETE:And if we tried to use interviews instead.
[02:38.88] I saw a book in the departmental library that'll be helpful: it's called 'Interviews That Work', by Wilson, published in Oxford in nineteen eighty-eight.
[02:49.88] ROSA:Right.
[02:51.38] I've got a tutorial now.
[02:55.38] Can we meet up again later this week?
[02:55.63] What about Friday morning?
[02:56.63] PETE:Suits me.
[02:57.38] Eleven o'clock?
[02:58.63] ROSA:: Fine.
[02:59.38] MICK:Before Friday, I think we should all look through the reading list.
