[00:39.77]ROSA:Oh, there you are, good.
[00:42.40]Sorry I'm a bit late - there was a long queue.
[00:45.60]So, have you worked out how to deal with this assignment then?
[00:49.23]MICK:Not yet, we've only been here a couple of minutes ourselves.
[00:52.58]ROSA:Can you just remind me what the task is exactly?
[00:55.66]PETE:Well, there are two, no, three, parts to it: first, we've got to write an essay about ways of collecting data.
[01:04.20]Then ...
[01:04.83]ROSA:What's the title of the essay exactly?
[01:07.29]MICK:I've got it here: ‘Assess the two main methods of collecting data in social science research’.
[01:13.92]ROSA:And how much do we need to write?
[01:16.53]MICK:Fifteen hundred words.
[01:18.48]That's for the essay.
[01:19.49]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'.
[01:32.26]ROSA:And then we have to write a report on the study?
[01:34.90]PETE:That's right, of three to four thousand words.
[01:37.27]ROSA:Did you get as far as discussing which form of data collection we should go for - questionnaire or interview , isn't it?
[01:44.84]MICK:Yeah.
[01:45.41]I think we should use a questionnaire.
[01:47.29]It'll be so much less time-consuming than organising interviews,I reckon.
[01:50.46]Once we've agreed on the wording of it, we only have to send it out and wait for the responses.
[01:55.54]ROSA:Yes.
[01:56.83]I think it probably would be quicker.
[01:58.80]But what did that article he gave us last week say about the quality of data from questionnaires?
[02:05.29]MICK:I'm pretty sure it recommended questionnaires as a source of ‘highly reliable data’.
[02:10.38]As long as you design the questionnaire properly in the first place, the data will be fine.
[02:14.74]ROSA:No.
[02:15.60]I'm sure it talked about drawbacks as well, didn't it?
[02:18.96]Something about the response rate and the problems you get if it's too low.
[02:23.22]MICK:Yeah but we only need data from five subjects anyway.
[02:27.31]ROSA:I suppose so.
[02:28.66]Another drawback I remember it mentioned was that questionnaire data tends not to reveal anything unexpected, because it is limited to the questions fixed in advance by the researcher.
[02:40.21]MICK:Come on, ROSA.
[02:41.43] This is only a practice.
[02:42.91]It's not meant to be real research, is it?
[02:46.24]ROSA:Well.
[02:47.39]I'm not sure about that.
[03:24.98]ROSA:Maybe I'd belter go through the article again, just to be sure.
[03:28.49]Can you remember what it was called?
[03:30.61]MICK:'Sample Surveys in Social Science Research", I think.
[03:35.11] By Mehta.
[03:36.96]ROSA:M-E-H-T-A?
[03:39.49]MICK:Yeah.
[03:41.00] And he also recommended a more recent book, called 'Survey Research', by Bell, I think.
[03:47.18]It's in that series published by London University.
[03:50.17]PETE:And if we tried to use interviews instead.
[03:53.33]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.
[04:03.42]ROSA:Right.
[04:04.79] I've got a tutorial now.
[04:06.91]Can we meet up again later this week?
[04:09.52]What about Friday morning?
[04:10.89]PETE:Suits me.
[04:11.85] Eleven o'clock?
[04:12.95]ROSA:: Fine.
[04:14.60]MICK:Before Friday, I think we should all look through the reading list.
