Friday, December 26, 2008

7. Collect the Data

Introduction

After a detailed proposal is prepared, a number of aspects must be completed prior to starting data collection. These include, approval by ethics commitee, organisation of facilities and equipment, subject selection and pilot testing.

Ethics approval

The ethics is very important in research. Critical issues include, informed consent, minimisation of risk and inconvenience, and acceptance benefits for the costs involved.

Organisation of facilities and equipment

The resources in study need to be carefully organised. Acting professional with due consideration for other people.

Subject Selection

The proposal will outline the inclusion and exclusion criteria of subjects, as well as how subjects are recruited, and how subjects are selected from the volunteer/population pool. Like the people who help with resources, subjects are treated with special care, professionalism and consideration.

Pilot Testing

All the components of the study need be tailored prior to the actual study. It is often easier to try out each component individually before trialling the whole process simultaneously. These trials are vital for a number of reasons. Most measures take a little time to learn how to sue correctly. Learning time should be during piloting, not during the study. This will help to collect less variable (and so more meaningful) data. you will also probably be doing something unique. Thus there will be a small problem which will need to find solutions to. Again this should be completed before starting the proper data collection. If subjects are needed for the pilot studies, use others first (friends etc) This will give you a good idea of what your subjects will have to go through and ensure you don't waste subjects by using them to try out aspects of the study.

Collecting the data

Once the subjects, resources, and measures area carefully prepared the collection of "real" data can be started. Each bit of information collected is helping to answer the research question - a bit like pulling the bits of a jigsaw puzzle out of the box.

The careful preparation, both of the proposal and in piloting the measures, will become worth it, as the data rolls in smoothly or with little hiccups.

Note observations and any extra comments subjects make. These will be useful when interpreting data. These comments and observations are also often useful in teh discussion to highlight some point to or as a novel idea or the subject thought during the data collection.

Be careful not to influence subjects. It is very easy to influence subjects if some of the data has been looked at while still testing the subjects. It is therefore best to keep the tester blind to the data until it is all completed. This is why a
"double blind" study (where neither the subjects not the testers know what the condition is or what the results from a given subject "should" be) ie. questionaires in envelopes.

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