Reflection on Presentation 4: Instrumentation Part 2 (Checklist, Observation, and Interviews)

The next part of Instrumentation, which is Instrumentation II (Interview, Checklist & Observation), was presented on August 19, 2010 by Syed Khairul Hisham Syed Yusuf, Siti Fairuz Hamid and Nur Shaminah Mustafa Kamalu.

INTERVIEW

Interview is largely used in qualitative research to collect data. It is best known as careful asking of relevant question. Interview refers to an interchangeable of views between two or more people on a topic of mutual interest (Kvale, 1996) which is in this case, the interviewer and the interviewee. Why some researchers choose to conduct an interview? There are 4 purposes of interviews discussed in the classroom: (1) To find out what is in the interviewer’s mind (2) To test or develop hypothesis (3) To gather data and (4) To sample respondent’s opinions.

The types of interviews are as follows:

The six types of interview questions are as in the table below:

During the interview process, the interviewer must maintain the interviewing behaviours:

1. Respect the culture of the group being studied

2. Respect the individual being interviewed

3. Be natural

4. Develop an appropriate rapport with the participant

5. Ask the same question in different ways during the interviews

6. Ask the interviewee to repeat an answer or statement when there is some doubt about the completeness of a remark

7. Vary who controls the flow of communication

8. Avoid leading questions

9. Ask only one question at a time

10 Don’t interrupt

CHECKLIST

Another instrument discussed in the classroom is checklist. The two types of checklist are Performance Checklist and Self-Checklist.

Performance Checklist is one of the most frequently used of all measuring instruments. It consists of a list of behaviours that make up a certain type of performance. Performance checklist is normally used by the researcher to determine whether an individual behaves in a certain way when asked to complete a particular task. If a particular behaviour is present, the researcher places a check mark on the list.

Self-Checklist is a list of several characteristics or activities presented to the subjects of study. The subjects will mark the checklist themselves in which they have engaged. Checklist is usually used by the researcher that wants subjects to diagnose their own performances.

How to Create a Reliable Checklist?

The advantages and disadvantages of checklist:

OBSERVATION

Another type of instrument is observation. Observation is a process of recording the behavioural patterns of people, objects and occurrences without questioning or communicating with them (Burney & White, 2004)

The whole idea about observation is summarized in the table below: