lectures

• Data collection

  Part of the research process; the process of gathering / collecting data to inform a given research project / topic / question
• Data

  • Allows you to confirm, dispute or extend existing claims
  • Allows you to discover 'new' things
• Two types of data

  • Primary data
  • Secondary data
• Primary data


  Data that has been generated / collected by the researcher himself/herself; first-hand data. This can be done through surveys, interviews, experiments; Data specially designed for understanding and solving the research problem at hand
• Secondary data


  Existing data generated / collected by other researchers / institutions; data that is available through various channels: open access databases, articles / theses, etc.
• Quantitative research


  Collects (numerical) data that can be measured, quantified; Descriptive Statistics
• Qualitative research


  Data collected that is not numerical, hence cannot be quantified. It measures other characteristics through interviews, observation and focused groups, among others
• Mixed methods research


  When quantitative and qualitative research methods are used
• Fieldwork


  • Qualitative method of data collection that aims to observe, interact with and understand people while they are in a natural environment
• Methods/Tools for Data Collection

  • Questionnaires
  • Interviews
  • Observations
  • Focus groups
• Example of a Data Collection Methodology

  1. Collected data in Manenberg

  2. Conducted focus groups with participants grouped by language background and age

  3. Recordings were transcribed and annotated
• Grounded theory


  Qualitative research approach used to explain a theoretical process, develop a theory or a theoretical model, explain a phenomenon faced with inadequate or nonexistent theory, and study social processes
• Grounded theory process


  1. Data Collection Instruments

  2. Analysis

  3. Challenges
• Action research


  Research strategies that tackle real-world problems in participatory and collaborative ways to produce action and knowledge in an integrated fashion through a cyclical process
• Why action research?


  • The knowledge produced through research should be used for change
  • Researching change should lead to knowledge
• Key elements of action research

  • Addresses Real-World Problems
  • Pursues Action and Knowledge
  • Participation
  • Cycles of Learning and Action
• Participatory action research (PAR)

  Falls under the action research umbrella, with the main goal of emancipation. It works in participatory ways that value local knowledge and attempts to empower communities to expose and liberate themselves from repressive systems and ideologies
• Key goals of PAR

  • Address practical problems
  • Generates knowledge
  • Enacts change
  • Requires participation
  • Relies on a cyclic process
• Critical ethnography


  The exploration of cultural groups in a bid to understand, describe and interpret a way of life from the point of view of its participants, with the political agenda of exposing inequitable, unjust or repressive influences that are acting on 'marginalized' cultural groups, in a bid to offer avenues for positive change
• Goals of critical ethnography


  • Change the cognitive functioning of researchers
  • Offer a 'voice' to the marginalized
  • Instigate interactions with others that raise social awareness
  • Create networks of those with common goals
  • Become a starting point for legislative and/or policy reform