How To Conduct Background Research & Choose Your Participants By: Reem Juraid

Once you have decided upon a research project you have to start planning it. The first thing you need to do is background research this will help you to be familiar with your topic & also introduce you to other beneficial researches. There are two types of background research:

1-Primary Research : which involves the study of a subject through firsthand observation & investigation. Example: if I’m conducting a research about a certain football team the best way to learn about the team is to go talk to them & observe their behavior or watch videos of their matches & check their team historical records & talk to all the coaches who trained the team also gather some statistics about them.

2-Secondary Research : involves the collection of information from studies that other researchers have made of the subject. Example: if I’m conducting a research about the same football team the best way to learn about them is to go to the library read books about the team or new papers pamphlets & encyclopedias or google them on the internet & get all the previous researches that were done about them.

Sources of Background Information SecondaryPrimary Research BooksRelevant People Research ReportsResearcher Observation Journal ArticlesResearcher Experience Articles Reproduced onlineHistorical Records/texts Scientific DebatesCompany/organization Records Critiques of Literary WorksPersonal Documents (diaries,etc) Critiques of ArtStatistical Data Analyses of Historical EventsWorks of Literature Works of Art Film/Video Laboratory Experiments

For getting information the two easiest & most accessible places are internet & libraries As for the internet we have to be aware that some information can be misleading or incorrect so we have to take extra precautions to check the reliability & quality of the information so we only use the websites that are run by trusted organizations or look for the stamp of approval such as the which? Stamp. Or uses the national source of the data or specific websites created only for that topic.

For the library, they offer interlibrary loan service which means that you can access books from other university libraries if they are not available in your library.

Keeping Records : is very essential,so we have to keep accurate records of the data & the sources.This will save time & frustration later especially when writing the research proposal or the final report & bibliography. So its better to organize them into 2 files one for primary research & it will include notes from each contact with their name,number, address & date & time of meeting with the researcher. The secondary file is used for bibliography.

How to Choose Your Participants If its not possible to contact everyone in the research population, researchers select a manageable number of people to contact.This is called sampling. In Quantitative Research the result can be generalized (generalization) but in Qualitative research that’s not the goal they would seek to describe or explain what is happening within a smaller group of people.(description)

There are two main types of Sampling category: 1-Probability Samples 2-Purposive Samples

In Probability Samples: all people within the research population have a specifiable chance of being selected. Only within random samples do participants have an equal chance of being selected.

Purposive Samples : a non- representative subset of some larger population are used with the description goal rather than generalization. Within these two types,there are several different sampling methods.

Probability Samples Simple Random Quasi Random Stratified sample cluster Purposive Samples Quota Sample Snowball sample Theoretical Samples Convenience samples

Sample Size: In quantitative surveys you will need to contact many more people than you would for small qualitative research. Cause the larger the sample the more accurate results sampling size should take into account issues of non- responses. In some purposive samples it is difficult to specify at the beginning of the research how many people will be contacted. It is possible to use a mixture of sampling techniques within one project which may help to overcome some of the disadvantages found within different procedures.

Sampling Dos & Don’ts Dos:1-Take time and effort to work out your sample correctly if you’re conducting a large scale survey. Time taken at the beginning will save much wasted time later. 2- Discuss your proposed sampling procedure and size with your tutor, boss or other researchers.

3-Be realistic about the size of sample possible on your budget and within your time scale. 4-Be open and up front about your sample. What are your concerns? Could anything have been done differently? How might you improve upon your methods? 5-Use a combination of sampling procedures if it is appropriate for your work.

Don’ts: 1-Rush into your work without thinking very carefully about sampling issues. If you get it wrong it could invalidate your whole research. 2-Ignore advice from those who know what they’re talking about.

3-Take on more than you can cope with. A badly worked out, large sample may not produce as much useful data as a well-worked out, small sample. 4-Make claims which cannot be justified nor generalized to the whole population.

5-Stick rigorously to a sampling technique that is not working. Admit your mistakes, learn by them and change to something more appropriate