Objective fact finding Methodologies
Potential situations where the five different qualitative data collection methods can be used respectfully, provide facts for objective analysis; such methods detailed below facilitate objective information for needs assessment diagnosis;
- One-on-one interviews can be had with incumbents to determine their level of knowledge, interest and skill set in a given position, such data collection is used during organization development efforts.
- Focus group interviews are conducted to generate group brainstorming in topics where all parties have common interest, a trained facilitator can lead discussion for a company campaign, where a task group can input ideas towards fundraising as an example. The key of this data collection method is to prompt contribution for participants in a given subject where opinion viewpoints contribute to open dialogue.
- Open-ended questionnaires can be given to large groups, organizations or communities to solicit feedback on how a company, state or even a nation perceives effectiveness on use of resources, as an example. Another strategy where surveys can be implemented are for employee engagement assessments. As a result, tempo can be gauged and quality can be measured.
- Observations are useful in that, team members performance han be assessed for topics of safety for example. You can audit protocol and ensure compliance.
- Documents provide process information, for example. if you would like to depict trends, defects or errors in processes this is a good method to review safety inspections for example, and minimize risk.
Tip: I find that one-on-one interviews allow for communication with incumbents which can aide in gaining more comprehensive feedback, see how effective interviewing is done in the video: