Dissertation Without Primary Research

If you ask open questions such as ‘what do you think about the increase in traffic?

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This is a common approach and helps you to 'triangulate' ie to back up one set of findings from one method of data collection underpinned by one methodology, with another very different method underpinned by another methodology - for example, you might give out a questionnaire (normally quantitative) to gather statistical data about responses, and then back this up and research in more depth by interviewing (normally qualitative) selected members of your questionnaire sample.

For further information see Chapter 8 of by Gina Wisker.

They are actually rather difficult to design and because of the frequency of their use in all contexts in the modern world, the response rate is nearly always going to be a problem (low) unless you have ways of making people complete them and hand them in on the spot (and this of course limits your sample, how long the questionnaire can be and the kinds of questions asked).

As with interviews, you can decide to use closed or open questions, and can also offer respondents multiple choice questions from which to choose the statement which most nearly describes their response to a statement or item.

Look at the very brief outlines of different methods below.

Consider which you intend using and whether you could also find it more useful to combine the quantitative with the qualitative.With closed questions you could even give your interviewees a small selection of possible answers from which to choose.If you do this you will be able to manage the data and quantify the responses quite easily.Your research will dictate the kinds of research methodologies you use to underpin your work and methods you use in order to collect data.If you wish to collect quantitative data you are probably measuring variables and verifying existing theories or hypotheses or questioning them.However, often collections of statistics and number crunching are not the answer to understanding meanings, beliefs and experience, which are better understood through qualitative data.And quantitative data, it must be remembered, are also collected in accordance with certain research vehicles and underlying research questions.Data is often used to generate new hypotheses based on the results of data collected about different variables.One’s colleagues are often much happier about the ability to verify quantitative data as many people feel safe only with numbers and statistics.Closed questions tend to be used for asking for and receiving answers about fixed facts such as name, numbers, and so on.They do not require speculation and they tend to produce short answers.