Elizabeth Drakulich, senior insight analyst, Christian Aid

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Elizabeth Drakulich
Christian Aid
Asking the right questions

2. What is research
Collecting data in order to answer a question
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Written feedback
Online survey
Focus group
Telephone
interview
Product
review
Results
Activity logs
Direct
observations
Market
research
In-person
interviews
Evaluations
Pre-testing

3. Quick overview
1. Incorporate in your plans
2. What do you want to know?
3. Identify the best method
4. Undertake your research
5. Analyse results
6. Implement findings
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4. Methodology
Quantitative
- Statistics
- Can ask how many
- Actions
- Surveys
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Qualitative
- More in-depth
- Can ask why
- Motivations
- Discussions / provide
open feedback

5. Focus groups and interviews
Focus groups
-Facilitated discussion with a group of people
-Pros: Learning about feelings and motivations; testing concepts
and exploring how they resonate, discussions, richer results
-Cons: Not representative, time intensive, costly
Interviews
-Semi / un-structured one-on-one discussions
-Pros: Learning about feelings and motivations, testing concepts,
can be candid discussion, richer results, can be done remotely
-Cons: Not always representative, time intensive, costly
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6. Surveys
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Questionnaire
that people fill
out.

7. Surveys
Methods
-In-person
-Telephone
-Paper – handed out, post
-Online – specific website, social media
Pros – can create a representative sample, good for creating a
baseline/tracking behaviours and attitudes, anonymity, rolling
surveys, can be less expensive, easier to analyse
Cons – need larger number of participants, more prone to bias from
self-selection, cannot immediately explore answers in more detail,
people may not complete a survey the way you want, may exclude
people with more/less interest in technology
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8. Other types of research
- Diary or activity logs
- Responses or actions
- Direct observations
- Literature reviews / pulling together
previous studies
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9. Top tips - picking participants
- Typical of intended audience?
- Core vs test samples
- Demographic information
- Think about numbers
- Be clear about anonymity
- Think about how you recruit
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10. Top tips - writing questions
- Length of survey
- Length of answers
- Language appropriate for audience
- Readability and layout
- Avoid leading questions
- Avoid double answers
- Rankings – even vs odd
- Spontaneous vs prompted
- Test your survey
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11. Analysis and implemetation
- Record your methodology
- Put into context
- Statistical analysis
- Narrative results / representative quotes
“Where there is poverty and injustice, Christian Aid should seek to help end
this. It doesn’t matter if the country is low income, or middle income, if
poverty exists then it needs to be tackled.’”
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Any questions?