c.4: Demographics and Data Collection

The mixed methods and qualitative checklists have a section called Demographics, in which you should discuss the relevant demographic characteristics of your participants. Typical items include gender, race, and age, as well as any characteristics specific to your study. For example, if you interviewed homeless teen mothers, it would be important to know how long they have been on their own and the age of their children.


For all methods, the next section is Data Collection. You need to describe when the study was done (for example, months and year). Describe how you recruited your participants, and how many participated in all phases of the study. If you had to change any of your data collection procedures from what was listed in c. 3, indicate how and why it was changed (and that you went through IRB to do so).


For Qualitative and Mixed Methods Studies. Describe the location of your study, how often you met with participants and the length of time both for individual interviews/surveys and for the total study. Next, describe how you recorded your interviews and how they were transcribed. If you encountered any unusual circumstances during your data collection describe it and how it affected your data collection (e.g., equipment failure, a participant died between interviews, etc.).


For Quantitative Studies. Describe your demographics as discussed above. Describe how representative your sample is to the population of interest or how proportional it is to the larger population if non-probability sampling is used (external validity). Provide results of basic univariate analyses that justify inclusion of covariates in your model, if applicable.  

For this section, keep in mind that your reader should have a good picture of how you did your study, and would be able to replicate it based upon your description.

Next time we will talk about c.4: Data Analyses: Quantitative. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

In today's Mandy break photo she is reminding you that even when you can't do what you really want to, having a friend makes it easier.