Interpretation in cross-language qualitative research presents a range of methodological and ethical challenges. Among these are the interpreters' influence on data generation and interview power dynamics. Having translators review and/or produce an independent translation of recorded interview material for comparative purposes is regarded as one…

Survey research is prevalent among many professional fields. Both cost effective and time efficient, this method of research is commonly used for the purposes of gaining insight into the attitudes, thoughts, and opinions of populations. Additionally, because there are several types of survey research designs and data collection instruments, the…

Threshold concepts were introduced nearly 10 years ago by Ray Land and Jan Meyer. This work has spawned four international conferences and hundreds of papers. Although the idea has clearly gained traction in higher education, this sub-field does not yet have a fully fledged research methodology or a strong critical discourse about methodology.…

This study compares work time data collected by the German Time Use Survey (GTUS) using the diary method with stylized work time estimates from the GTUS, the German Socio-Economic Panel, and the German Microcensus. Although on average the differences between the time-diary data and the interview data is not large, our results show that significant…

Three major methods of survey research, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, and mail questionnaires, are compared with respect to the quality of the data. The literature on experimental comparisons of these methods is reviewed, and the effects of the mode of data collection on aspects of data quality are examined. The effects of the…

Analyzed data from two data sets in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Wave I to identify discrepancies between in-school questionnaire and in-home interview results. Identified a group of "jokester" adolescents likely to have identified themselves as adoptees, when they were not. Found evidence suggesting that this…

During round 16 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), 900 NLSY sample members were randomly assigned to be interviewed about the period since their round 14 interview. Their responses were compared to those of approximately 8,000 NLSY sample members who were assigned to be interviewed about the 1-year period since their round 15…

Eight established methodologies were evaluated and compared in this preliminary study, which was conducted to resolve methodological questions and problems and develop an adequate approach for the collection of valid, generalizable data for an extensive study of family use of television. The study focused on four variables: which family members…

This document consists of four symposium papers each providing a critical examination of a particular data collection technique in vocational education research. Texts of the following presentations are provided: "Mail Survey Research," by Betty Heath-Camp; "The Telephone Interview as a Data Collection Technique," by James P. Key; "The Personal…

Describes results of a field study where 74 people were interviewed about their experience with using either an electronic or a printed version of a brief project description. The popular belief that electronic information systems are more efficient was not confirmed. Methodological problems of comparative media studies are discussed. (Author/LRW))

A group of high school self-reported dropouts and a group of simulated high school dropouts were compared with graduates in their participation rates, efforts required for data collection, and the overall quality of their responses in the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. The results indicate that dropouts are less…

A longitudinal study of language development in the preschool years was conducted in order to describe developmental sequence and to estimate, at three-month intervals, the range of language attainment in a normal population of children between 15 and 60 months of age. Additionally, possible determinants of variation in rate and style of language…