The Role of Qualitative Data Collection Methods
Data collection is done by researchers to make informed decisions about the situation or condition they are examining. Data collection techniques are usually of 2 types- quantitative method and qualitative method (Community Tool Box, 2022). Out of these two techniques, this essay delves deep into the qualitative one, its role and the importance of selecting focus group technique as a data collection method based on the provided case study.
Role of Qualitative Data Collection
The qualitative data collection technique expresses data in the form of an essay and does not express it in the form of a numerical value. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022), this technique is mainly used by researchers to collect information about any epidemiological situations that has taken place. These methods help to look into the opinions and perceptions of people about the causes and effects of a particular epidemiological outbreak and also help to gain insight into the community norms that are being followed. Hence, these methods can be used to interview two groups of people, the tourists as well as the restaurant employees, who are involved in the provided scenario. According to Akinyode & Khan (2018), qualitative method gives a better understanding of the situation as it collects real-time data from the targeted group of people and assists the researchers to properly interpret the situation. As per the scenario, the qualitative approach involves interviewing the tourists as well as the restaurant employees to receive clarity to the causes of the situation. Hence, the qualitative approach is important in this case.
Focus Groups as a Qualitative Data Collection Method
A specific qualitative data collection method chosen to investigate the source and causes of the disease outbreak, provided in the scenario, is the focus group method. As per the Community Tool Box (2022), the focus group method is an advanced form of interview technique. It involves interviewing 6-10 people on a specific matter of concern. Sim & Waterfield (2019) describes this technique as a topic on which a group discussion is conducted in the presence of a trained group facilitator. Thus, it produces data through a conversation with the group of people. Guest et al. (2017) prioritizes the focus group method over the individual interview method because, in their study, it was found that the focus groups help to advocate more personal disclosures on sensitive issues than the individual interview technique. This ensures accuracy of the data collection method. As per the provided case study, this method would be appropriate to extract required information regarding the source of the outbreak, as two separate groups of people- the tourists and the restaurant employees, are required to be interviewed. The tourists are needed to be interviewed to determine their health status while the restaurant employees are needed to be inquired about the hand hygiene policies followed by them at the restaurants, to determine the cause of the issue. Thus, these interviews can give an insight into the causes of the outbreak, so that necessary interventions can be implemented to improve patient outcomes.
Strengths of Focus Group Method
The strengths of the focus group method are that-
- It helps to extract data from a selected group of people related to various purposes like social or healthcare concerns (Nyumba et al., 2018).
- It helps to determine the perspectives of the people (Nyumba et al., 2018).
- The exploratory analysis and the flexibility of the research is high (Queiros, Faria & Almeida, 2017).
The weaknesses of the focus group method are that-
- Difficulty in choosing the group to be included in the discussion (Queiros, Faria & Almeida, 2017).
- Difficulty in engaging people to participate (Queiros, Faria & Almeida, 2017).
- Reveals various outlooks of people (Queiros, Faria & Almeida, 2017).
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the qualitative data collection method is an effective way to collect data in real-time from the selected group of people. One of such methods is the focus group technique which helps in interviewing a group of people on a focused issue. It helps the researchers to determine the causes of the issue and implement its appropriate interventions.
References
Akinyode, B. F., & Khan, T. H. (2018). Step by step approach for qualitative data analysis. International Journal of Built Environment and Sustainability, 5(3). DOI: 10.11113/ijbes.v5.n3.267
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Collecting and Analyzing Qualitative Data. Retrieved 18 April 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/eis/field-epi-manual/chapters/Qualitative-Data.html.
Community Tool Box. (2022). Chapter 3. Assessing Community Needs and Resources | Section 15. Qualitative Methods to Assess Community Issues | Main Section | Community Tool Box. Community Tool Box. Retrieved 18 April 2022, from https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-resources/qualitative-methods/main.
Guest, G., Namey, E., Taylor, J., Eley, N., & McKenna, K. (2017). Comparing focus groups and individual interviews: findings from a randomized study. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 20(6), 693-708. doi:10.1080/13645579.2017.1281601
Nyumba, T. O., Wilson, K., Derrick, C. J., & Mukherjee, N. (2018). The use of focus group discussion methodology: Insights from two decades of application in conservation. Methods in Ecology and evolution, 9(1), 20-32. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12860
Queirós, A., Faria, D., & Almeida, F. (2017). Strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative research methods. European journal of education studies. https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/view/1017/2934
Sim, J., & Waterfield, J. (2019). Focus group methodology: some ethical challenges. Quality & Quantity, 53(6), 3003-3022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11135-019-00914-5
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