Comparison of Research Methods
do not possess online access, online questionnaires may have serious response rate problems in populations of older, lower-income, and lower-educational demographic groups.
3. Although Internet usage is growing rapidly, it is far from universal. Online questionnaires therefore may not represent the entire population. This is true even if a sample of Internet users is selected to match the general population in terms of age, gender, and other demographics.
4. Online questionnaires could lead to biased samples because there is often little control over respondents. People with varying backgrounds from all over the world can complete a questionnaire. Moreover, some may respond to a single questionnaire multiple times.
Online questionnaires are probably most helpful when one¡¯s target population consists mostly of Internet users. Business-to-business research and employee attitude surveys often meet this requirement. Surveys of the general population usually do not.
¢ó.Observation Method
There are two main types of observation methods: Direct (Reactive) Observation and Unobtrusive Observation. The commonly used methods in the former are Continuous Monitoring and Time Allocation, whereas the methods of the latter include Behavior Trace Studies and Disguised Field Observations¡£
In direct observations, people know they are being monitored. The associated drawback is that individuals may alter their natural behavior. The Hawthorne Effect states that workers react to the attention they are getting from researchers and, consequently, productivity increases. However, such artificial behavior may reveal aspects of social desirability or privacy in a relationship. Moreover, replicated observation can overcome this problem. Direct observation is relatively easy but a time consuming endeavor.
Unobtrusive observation is performed when individuals are unaware that they are being observed. When conducting unobtrusive observations, issues of validity may arise. A large amount of observation of a representative sample needs to be conducted in order to generalize findings. This is especially difficult when studying a specific group. Such findings are therefore often not strong in validity. Replication is also difficult in unobtrusive observation. The main problem with unobtrusive observation, however, concerns issues involving invasion of privacy.
Advantages of Observation Methods
1. Observations are usually flexible and do not require theoretical hypotheses. Before undertaking structured research a researcher may conduct observations to form a research question, and then find a relative theory.
2. Observational research findings are considered valid because researchers are able to collect much first-hand information about a particular behavior.
4. With the observation method, one can obtain information in cases where language and culture pose as research obstacles.
5. The observation method can be used to compensate for deficiencies in other research methods, supply more specific information, or test the results of other research methods.
Disadvantages of Observation Methods
1. Waiting for certain behavior to recur can be a time-consuming task. Many people don't realize that observational research may be time-consuming. In order to obtain reliability, behavior must be observed multiple times. It is in a researcher¡¯s best interest to observe for long periods of time.
2. In observational research, findings may only reflect a unique population and therefore cannot be generalized against the population [next page]