Data gathering instruments are an important consideration for researchers. Most researchers know that data are only useful within a specific context. In particular, good researchers know which data are useful and relevant, and which are not. For these reasons, this study examined a single case in depth and used different data gathering approaches. As Bouma (2000) stated:
It is often better to use several data-gathering techniques to answer a research question. Using a variety of techniques may provide different perspectives on the situation, thereby increasing what is known about it (p. 182).
Strauss (1987) indicated that varied materials (for example, documents, questionnaires and interviews) provide indispensable data for social research. Thus the major tools of data gathering instruments in this mixed-mode study were documents, questionnaires and interviews. The respondents were stakeholders who had different relationships with the BSC who provided their perceptions about the effectiveness of the BSC. The nature of each instrument is described as below.
3.2.1 Documents
Documents are crucial components of research as they make the researcher aware of what the current issues are. They enshrine the 'official story' of a phenomenon, a story that insider accounts may contradict (Denscombe, 2003). Research involves surveying the contents of documents, to encompass existing material on a topic, while getting a view of the landscape (Denscombe, 2003).
In qualitative research, documents are used to answer the question 'What was happening at this time and place to these people?' (Bouma, 2000). According to Strauss and Corbin (1998a), 'It is not that we use experience or literature as data but rather that we use the properties and dimensions derived from the comparative incidents to examine the data in front of us' (p. 80).
Document analysis was part of the framework of data gathering in this study. Analysis of the documents was undertaken to develop the conceptual structure of the study by first examining the official story. The documents studied were the Payap University's mission and vision statements; a description and course objectives of the BSC at Payap University; the government's policy on community products (OTOP); and the National Educational Act. Document analysis helped with the design of the questionnaires and confirmed the instruments of the study. Furthermore, reviewing the course description and course objectives of the BSC was a vital part of evaluating the effectiveness of the course.
Utility of Documents in Relation to the Study:
Denscombe (2003) stated that documents generally provide a source of data which is permanent, stable, available and of a high level of credibility in a form that can be checked by others and the data are open to public scrutiny. Documents can provide an important historical perspective on any area of education (Wellington, 2000). In this study, documents provide excellent sources of additional data including: course outlines and course objectives, textbooks, policy documents, and the University Education Curriculum. The data found in documents can be used in a similar manner to data from interviews in qualitative research. Documents can ground an investigation in the context of the problem being investigated (Merriam, 1998). Document analysis deals with large volumes of source material, so it forms, when used carefully, a sound means of triangulation, helping to increase the trustworthiness, reliability and validity of research (Wellington, 2000).
3.2.2 Questionnaires
Questionnaires are structured ways of collecting data from a population or a sample of a population (Burns, 2000). The researcher used both closed and open-ended questions because closed questions can limit the scope of responses, and may
therefore produce a focused response more easily than open-ended questions. Also closed questions are more easily administered to large numbers of respondents. Open-ended questions broaden the scope of possible responses, provide support in formulating other more specific questions and provide a context for deeper understanding of responses. Open-ended questions also allow for the written opinions and views of respondents providing an authenticity and vividness which tables of figures seldom can (Wellington, 2000).
The questionnaire used in the study was based on an assumption that the respondents would be willing and able to give truthful answers (Burns, 2000). It was intended to provide accurate information and the researcher has confidence that the responses to the questionnaires are as full and honest as they can be (Denscombe, 2003). Questionnaires were distributed to students who studied the BSC in the second term of the 2003 academic year. Supervisors, faculty staff, suppliers, villagers and bureaucrats were surveyed at the same time. In this study, the researcher assumed that all respondents were involved with the BSC. They were contacted face-to-face and by telephone to ask for their permission and were asked to sign the Consent Form before the questionnaires were administered. However, the respondents were free to answer in their own time. The researcher avoided the need for respondents to mail the questionnaires, by collecting them from the Marketing Department at Payap University, or collecting them from the respondents personally. This maximised the return rate.
As a mechanism for obtaining information and opinion, questionnaires have a number of advantages and disadvantages when compared with other tools. The key strengths and weaknesses of questionnaires in this study are described below.
Utility of the Questionnaires in Relation to the Study
Cost was an important factor in this study, so the questionnaire was a desirable research tool because it was not expensive to administrater, particularly because the respondents were in diverse locations; for example, villagers, suppliers and government officers surveyed, were geographically distant from each other (Denscombe, 2001).
According to Denscombe (2003), the data collected via questionnaires are little affected by interpersonal factors. Also, questionnaires are easy to organise and supply standardised answers. For example, outsider participants were from a range of educational backgrounds, so instructions and questions asked were simple with the purpose of the survey explained clearly in print.
In this type of study, questionnaires can guarantee confidentiality and often participants will provide a more forthright response than in a personal interview. This was particularly important as confidential business relationships were investigated and relationships between the university, students, villagers and bureaucrats are sensitive. Also, direct contact is able to be avoided, which is important in the Thai cultural context, as when interviewed face-to-face people may feel that they should answer in a way that pleases the interviewer (this is particularly so when the participants are students). If questionnaires are written, the respondents feel free to answer in their own time and at their own pace (Wellington, 2000), without fear or favour
In this study, open-ended questions allowed respondents to include more information about their feelings, attitudes and understanding of the subject. This allowed the researcher to better access the respondents' true feelings on an issue.
Poorly developed questionnaires may be ambiguous, incomplete or poorly completed so that answers cannot be followed up (Denscombe, 2001). With complex instruments, ambiguity or vagueness can cause poor responses, thus, in this study a pilot of the questions dealt with this problem. Following administration of the questionnaire, oral interviews were used to clarify information given in the questionnaire. In addition, respondents may be limited in expressing their opinions, as a result of instrument-design considerations. However, alternatively, open-ended instruments could produce data that cannot be merged easily for systematic analysis. Following up questionnaires with oral semi-structured interviews should help to deal with these difficulties.
3.2.3 Interviews
Interviews involve hypothesising and establishing an understanding of a situation which is not generally associated with a casual conversation (Denscombe, 2003). Interviews are question-and-answer sessions, used to gather experiential data. As Merriam (1998) stated, 'The most common form of interview is the person-to-person encounter, in which one person elicits information from another' (p. 71). Interviews have been described as falling into three categories: unstructured (open-ended), semi-structured and structured (Burns, 2000; Merriam, 1998; Wellington, 2000).
Merriam (1998) asserted that 'interviewing in qualitative investigations is more open- ended and less structured. In this type of interview either all of the questions are more flexibly worded, or the interview is a mix of more and less structured questions' (p. 74). The purpose of interviews, as argued by Patton (1990), is as follows:
We interview people to find out from them those things we cannot directly observe…The fact of the matter is that we cannot observe everything…The purpose of interviewing, then, is to allow us to enter the other person's perspective. Qualitative interviewing begins with the assumption that the perspective of others is meaningful, knowable, and able to be made explicit (p. 278).
These data offer a sense of reality, expressing as clearly as possible what the informant feels (Burns, 2000). In addition, interviews can obtain information which other methods cannot reach (Wellington, 2000). However, comparability of the information between informants is difficult to assess and response-coding difficulties are likely to arise (Burns, 2000).
The main type of interview used in this study was semi-structured, in order to provide in-depth data drawn from the personal experiences of participants involved in the BSC at Payap University. A semi-structured interview asks questions which are more flexible than the close-ended type and permits a more complex response from the informants.
The researcher asked the respondents for permission to use an audio-tape recorder for later transcription to avoid the need to concentrate on note-taking, because audio- taping has the obvious advantage of recording the subject's responses verbatim (Burns, 2000). The interviews of 'inside' participants were conducted in a comfortable private room at Payap University to avoid any disturbance. For 'outside'
participants, the interviews occurred at the participants' houses or offices – it was left to them to decide which was preferable.
Utility of Semi-structured Interviewing in the Study
Interview can provide information about participants' internal meanings and ways of thinking, because the interview focuses on the crucial issues of the study, so it will affect the quality of the data collected. Wellington (2000) stated that 'We can probe an interviewee's thoughts, values, prejudices, perceptions, views, feelings and perspectives' (p. 71).
In this study, the researcher was not inhibited in communication with participants because some of them are the interviewer's students and colleagues and others are known by reputation. The researcher used language natural to the respondents and tried to understand and fit responses into the concepts of the study. Language is an important aspect of the study and its use underlies the content of the study. Also in the Thai culture, to communicate with villagers in an informal way could be a way of obtaining more detailed or more precise information (Wellington, 2000).
In-person interviews usually are expensive and analysis of data can be difficult and time-consuming. The transcribing and coding of interview data is a major task for the researcher, occurring after the data have been collected (Denscombe, 2001).