After talking to Catherine during my tutorial, she mentioned using group discussions instead of individual questionnaires to gather data from the students. She mentioned these would probably yield more results.
After reading:
Vaughn, S., Schumm, J. S., & Sinagub, J. (2013) ‘Why Use Focus Group Interviews in Educational and Psychological Research?’. Focus group interviews in Education and Psychology. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Available at https://methods-sagepub-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/book/focus-group-interviews-in-education-and-psychology/n2.xml (Accessed 27 November 2024).
I found some useful information to back this up and evidence why focus groups might be more effective:
“Perhaps the focus group interview’s closest relative is the individual interview. Hess (1968) noted that the focus group interview offers researchers distinct advantages over the individual interview. These include the following:
1.synergism (when a wider bank of data emerges through the group interaction),
2.snowballing (when the statements of one respondent initiate a chain reaction of additional comments),
3.stimulation (when the group discussion generates excitement about a topic),
4.security (when the group provides a comfort and encourages candid responses), and
5.spontaneity (because participants are not required to answer every question, their responses are more spontaneous and genuine)."These five points demonstrate the positive attributes of a focus group over individual interviews or questionnaires.
I’ve decided to use this method for my method of gathering data from the students about their reflections on the project.
“Focus group interviews offer researchers in education and psychology the opportunity to garner qualitative data (gathered in small, interactive groups) regarding the perceptions and opinions of purposively selected individuals”
“If conducted properly, the researcher can elicit substantive information about participants’ thoughts and feelings on the topic of interest in relatively little time. Unlike more impersonal approaches to data collection (e.g., paper and pencil surveys), focus group interviews have the potential to bring the investigator closer to the research topic through a direct, intensive encounter with key individuals.”