Section

1.1

Research Methods Overview

This module will guide you through the process of choosing goals
and objectives for your project.
 THIS MODULE INCLUDES:

Contents
(Direct links clickable belo[Abstract]w)

 What is it?

 What is it for?

 When should it be used?

 Who should be involved?

 How to use it?

 Practice Exercise

 Additional Resources

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What is it?
Research is the process of gathering information to better understand a situation, event,
group, etc. People do research all the time in informal ways. For example, when we try
to figure out how something works or why something doesn’t work, this is a form or
research. By taking that every day, informal process and making it deliberate and
systematic, we can increase our understanding (of the conflict, people, country,
situation, community, etc.) and make better decisions about the projects or programs
we develop. There are two types of research, which will be detailed, later in this
module: Qualitative and Quantitative research.

Objectivity is one of the key aspects critical to gathering information in a way that can
be impartial. Objectivity does not mean that the researcher has no opinions or biases;
everyone enters a situation with at least some beliefs or opinions that will affect what is
seen or heard. Rather, objectivity means that the researcher identifies his/ her biases
and examines all aspects of the research before reaching a conclusion.

Important Questions to ask before deciding on what type of

research to use
1) What is the information that is required?
2) How will you use this information?
3) From which stakeholders will you get this information?
4) What are the most appropriate tools for collecting the
information?
5) What are the specific questions?

When should it be used?

Research is used before (design) and during (monitoring) a project, as well as during the
evaluation phase. During the design phase of a project, gathering information
(collecting data) can be used to understand what needs to be done in a situation or
community, and can also be used to develop baseline information before the project
begins. Using research tools during a project (monitoring) can help the project make
changes when needed and strengthen aspects that are working well. Evaluation uses
research to help the project determine whether the goals were reached, and to gather
broader lessons that can help develop additional projects.

Who should be involved?

Keep in mind that the following varies by project, context, and personnel:

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Project manager, DME Coordinator and staff and relevant stakeholders should all agree
on the purpose of the research, its methodology, and so forth.

The DME Specialist in the DC office can be used as a resource or facilitator for the initial
discussions and review of the goal and chosen objectives.

How to conduct research?

In order for the information to be as accurate and helpful as possible, it is important
that the process of collecting information be deliberate and systematic. The steps
outlined below can help you to design a process that can be used in a variety of
situations.
It is critical throughout all of these steps to document what you are doing, what
decisions you have made, where and why you made changes. Take notes every chance
you have. This will help you to keep moving forward instead of having to rethink
decisions, and will also help you to determine why something worked or didn’t work as
you look back over the process.

1) Be clear about why you want the information and what you hope to do with it.
What questions are you trying to answer?

2) Gather background or contextual knowledge about the situation, group, setting, etc.
The more you already know about a situation before you start doing the research,
the better focused – and therefore more useful – your research will be.

3) Decide what data collection tool(s) would be most appropriate for the kind of
information you want to gather.
Once you are clear about what kind of information you want, you can then think
about the best ways of gathering that information. There are many different kinds of
data collection tools and each of them will produce different kinds of information.
Any of the following can be used:
Surveys Interviews
Focus Groups Observation
Case Study

4) Develop the specific tool(s) you need

Each of these tools can be used in different ways, varying in degrees between
structured and unstructured. See the Data Collection Tools Module to learn how
to create a specific tool for your situation.

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5) Test the tools you’ve created
Before beginning the research, test each of the tools you’ve created to make
sure that they will actually gather the information you are looking for. Many
times, other people will understand questions that make sense to you
differently. If you are using a survey, test it on a small number of people and ask
them for feedback on how well they understand the questions. Look at their
answers on the survey to see if they are the kinds of answers that fit what you
are hoping to learn. The same applies for interviews and focus groups.

This testing process can be difficult because an open mind must be

maintained when looking at the information. Even if you don’t
agree with or like what you are hearing, you must continue to think
about the quality, not content, of the information, and whether it
will be useful in designing, monitoring or evaluating the project. A
question should not be changed just because the answer is not one
that you wanted to hear.

6) Do the research

Quantitative research
Quantitative research is a study involving the use and analyses of numerical data and
using statistical techniques. They pose questions of who, what, when, where, how
much, how many, and how.

Quantitative research
Quantitative techniques depict
methods are designed to
various elements of research in terms
produce statistically reliable
of numbers.
data that tells us how many
people do or think something.
Quantitative data typically is in numerical form such as averages, ratios or ranges.

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What can quantitative research be used for?

Quantitative research is especially useful when carrying out a large scale needs
assessment or baseline survey. It is independent of the researcher and one should get
similar results no matter who carries out the research. It can also be used to measure
trends.
Quantitative Research and the Researcher.
Quantitative research is usually independent of
the researcher and would generally reveal the
same results irrespective of the researcher
provided that the methodologies
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When should Quantitative Research be used?

Quantitative research should be used under the following circumstances:
 When trying to measure a trend such as ‘do youth talk to their parents about
issues important to them?’
 When data can be obtained in numerical forms such as ‘number of children
under 15 who participate in peacebuilding activities’.
 When simple objective responses can be received such as yes and no questions.

 There is no uncertainty about the concepts being measured, and there is only
one way to measure each concept.
 You are trying to collect data in ratios, percentages and averages.

Advantages Disadvantages
 Can be used when large quantities  Results need to be calculated using
of data need to be collected. Excel, Access, or data analysis
 The result is usually numerical software (such as SPSS), which may
(quantifiable) and hence considered not always be accessible to a country
more “objective”. program.
 The data is considered quantifiable  Time consuming, as the researcher or
and usually generalizable to a larger SFCG team member needs to enter,
population. clean and then analyse the data.
 It can allow SFCG to see changes  The larger the sample, the more time
overtime and help develop it takes to analyse the data and
quantitative indicators. analyse results.
 It can provide a clear, quantitative  The larger the sample the more time it
measure to be used for grants and takes to collect data.
proposals.  The quantitative data ignores a very
important human element.

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 Example
In Liberia, the Talking Drum Studio (TDS) Evaluation conducted in 1999 discovered
that a larger percentage of the uneducated or less educated Liberian population
listened to the TDS than the educated elite. Approximately 82.5 % of people with
no or low levels of education and 89.4% with some education listened to TDS
compared to 76.8% of the people with high levels of education. In order to
measure the efficacy and reputation of the Talking Drum Studio (TDS) surveys
were carried out which asked questions such as “Does the TDS tell the truth” with
fixed responses to choose from such as “very often” “sometimes” and “never”.
Since none of the participants selected “never” it could be stated that all
participants believed that TDS spoke the truth “very often” or “sometimes.”

How do we use Quantitative Research?

Quantitative research can be conducted by using a variety of methods of numerical data
collection. They are:
 Surveys are a quantitative method involving the use of questionnaires and aim
to generalize from a representative sample population to a larger population of
interest.

 Mini surveys or informal surveys are a quantitative method for collecting

program information quickly. They involve relatively small population samples
using brief questionnaires that focus on a limited numbers of variables. Mini-
surveys are very useful for organizations that have projects of relatively short
duration and are carrying out interventions with well-defined expectations.

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 Consent forms
 All interviewees must give their agreement to
participate.
 Interviewers should make sure that interviewees know
they can refuse to respond to questions (that is why we
always include “no response” in the list of possible
response) or stop the interview at any time.
 Investigators must provide interviewees with
information about the activity in a manner appropriate
to their culture and education.
 Consent forms and informational tools should be
developed with community members and field-tested.
For more information on consent forms refer to the Data
Collection Tools Module.

Qualitative research
Qualitative research does not analyse or use statistical data. It is interpretive research
that accommodates the idea that human behaviour is subjective and influenced by
environment and circumstances. Qualitative research focuses more on the how and
why of human actions and situations rather than what and when. This type of research
is designed to obtain people’s perspectives and views. They help us understand why
people do certain actions and how they have reached that stage.

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What is Qualitative research used for?

Qualitative research is used for studying and understanding human opinions and
actions. It is used to understand the reasons as to why a conflict developed and how a
possible consensus can be achieved. It is useful in accommodating the human element
and recognizing that social data concerning man is subjective.

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 Qualitative Research and the Researcher. In
qualitative research the information revealed
is very much dependent on the type and
quality of the researcher. Asking the right kind
of follow up probing questions with a certain
kind of listening style can reveal very different
data from someone asking only a set group of
questions.

When should qualitative research be used?

Qualitative research should be used under the following circumstances:
 When there is no existing data on the topic
 The most appropriate unit of measurement is unclear (individuals? Households?
Organizations?)
 When studying why people do what they do, or why they believe in what they
believe
 When trying to understand how a situation came about
 When a more in depth understanding of an issue is needed

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Advantages Disadvantages
 Versatility  Researcher may only know roughly in
 Gives the interviewer the opportunity advance what he/she is looking for
to probe further and to ask more  The design emerges as the study unfolds
questions  The data analysis and data collection is
 It gives depth to an interview and labour intensive and time consuming
makes the data “rich” i.e. Qualitative  Qualitative data is vulnerable to the
research generates rich and detailed researchers bias/subjectivity
data

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How do we use it?
Qualitative research can be conducted by using a variety and combination of different
methods of data collection
 Case Studies are intended to provide a focused assessment of causal relationships,
contributory or otherwise, between the intervention and specific outcomes or
impacts. (See the Data Collection Tools Module for descriptive instructions.)

Selecting participants
Carefully consider the following when selecting
participants
Gender: Will both men and women feel
comfortable discussing the topic in a mixed gender
group?
Identity: Will people of different religious/ ethnic/
other identity backgrounds talk freely together?
Age: How intimidating would it be for a young
person to be included in a group of older adults or
vice versa?
Power: Would a soldier be likely to make candid
remarks in a group where his/ her supervisor is also
a participant

 Focus Group Discussions consist of expertly moderated small-group discussion (7-11

people) that centres on the perceptions and experiences of knowledgeable
beneficiaries concerning issues of interest to the project/programme undertaking
the study. Their perceptions and experiences are elicited via carefully structured but
open-ended questions. (See the Data Collection Tools Module for descriptive
instructions.)

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 Example: Focus Groups during the Baseline in Nepal
- One aim of a focus group discussion would be to identify perceptions and the
range of opinion about participating in national elections.
- The indicator could be: “Perceptions about voting responsibilities” and the focus
group discussion could aim to understand what people think about this
responsibility, whether they think it exists, what the parameters are and why they
think what they do.
- One question for the group could be ‘How is voting in a national election
relevant to people in this village?’
- The facilitator would aim to keep the discussion focused on this question and to
encourage and document what people responses are, on what do they all agree,
where are there differences, why are national elections considered to be
important/unimportant? Etc.

 Key Informant Interviews are qualitative, in-depth interviews of people selected for
their first-hand knowledge about a topic. The interviews are loosely structured,
relying on a list of issues to be discussed, or a simple interview guide, and resemble
a conversation, allowing a free flow of ideas and information. (See the Data
Collection Tools Module for descriptive instructions.)

Sample Questions for Interview and Focus Group

discussions
 How has the children’s program Nashe Maalo impacted
your child’s choice of friends?
 What are some of the challenges facing the Liberian
society after the elections? Why do you think this is so?
 What in your opinion are the three biggest issues facing
your society today? Why is this? What do you think can
be done to help resolve these issues?
 What are the 3 key recommendations that you feel are
most needed to help resolve this issue? Why is this?

 Open-ended mini surveys are surveys that contain a few very specific questions that
require the participant to provide a detailed response based on what they believe or
have experienced rather than a response that is quantifiable. (See the Data
Collection Tools Module for descriptive instructions.)

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 Why? Just adding an open ended why as a follow up to
an objective and/or subjective question can reveal
extremely rich and useful data. For example “on a
scale of 1 for poor to 5 for excellent, how would you
rate the general organization of the conference? Why?

 Observation is a process in which an evaluator collects information about events as

they occur in their natural setting. It can be used to set the basis for both
quantitative and qualitative data collection. (See the Data Collection Tools Module
for descriptive instructions.)
 Story Telling is the telling of a happening or connected series of happenings in the
form of a story or account The storytelling method allows SFCG to receive first hand
information on an event that has happened from the perspective of a person that
took part in it. It provides the perspective and interpretations of the interviewee,
and therefore it is most useful when SFCG needs that kind of personal insight.

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Mixed method research

A research model does not need to be just one single model. In most cases the most
appropriate methodology in the field of conflict transformation is a mixed method
approach where quantitative methods like surveys are combined with in-depth
interviews and story telling. This accommodates the need for both “objective data”
(breadth of an issue) and the “human element” (depth of an issue).

So, when you design your methodology, look for the type of research that works best. It
may mean that will be using surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant
interviews. Create the best combination in order to acquire the appropriate
information.

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 Example
In Morocco a mixed method approach was used when interviewing
participants from the ADR outreach conference in Rabat.
Some of the questions asked were “What do you think are the general
issues affecting the development of ADR in Morocco?” “What types of
support to the ADR process in Morocco do you think are required?” “On a
scale of 1 for no understanding to 5 for complete understanding, how
would you rate your comprehension of mediation theory? (circle number)
1 – no understanding
2 – poor understanding
3 – average understanding
4 – good understanding
5 – excellent understanding”

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Additional Resources
The following resources are particularly good for research methods.

Catholic Relief Services. RRA Manual.

http://www.crs.org/publications/pdf/Gen1199_e.pdf

In Search of Strategy: An Agenda for Applied Research on Transitions from Conflict.

http://www.fafo.no/pub/rapp/480/480.pdf

Audience Dialogue. Qualitative or Quantitative Research?

http://www.audiencedialogue.org/qualiquant.html

Cheyanne Church and Mark Rogers. Designing for results. SFCG. Chapter 12.
http://www.sfcg.org/programmes/ilr/ilt_manualpage.html

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