Test of practicality

Economy, convenience and interpretability are the three characteristics on the basis of which the feature of practicality of an instrument could be judged. 

According to economy characteristics, there should be some trade off between the ideal research projects and between what the budget could afford. Economic pressures are fast felt in length of measuring instrument. There surely are other items where the researcher could get more reliability, but in order to limit the interview or observation time, only few minutes are required for study purpose. Even data collection methods that are used are dependent on economic factors.

According to convenience characteristic there should be no complexity in administering the measuring instrument. There should be proper attention given to the right layout of the measuring instrument. For example the questionnaire is more effective and easy to complete if there are clear instructions given.

According to the interpretability characteristic, it is especially significant when other people and not the designers of test are involved to interpret the results. In order to make the measuring instrument interpretable, it must be supplemented by:

I. Complete instructions to administer the test
II. Scoring keys
III. Evidence about the reliability
IV. Proper guidance for using the test and to interpret the results of the test.

Ordinal scale:

Ordinal scale is the lowest level of scale. It places events in order but there is no attempt to make the intervals of the scale in regard to any rule. Order scales are represented by rank orders basically used in research relating to qualitative phenomenon.  An example of student’s rank in his graduation class involves the use of an ordinal scale.

The usage of ordinal scale means a statement of ‘greater than’ or ‘less than’ without being able to tell how much greater or lesser. There could be real difference between ranks 1 and 2 maybe less or more than the actual difference between ranks 5 and 6.

The right measure of central tendency is the median since the number of this scale has only a rank meaning. In order to measure dispersion, a percentile or quartile measure is used. Correlations are restricted to different rank order methods whereas measures of statistical importance are constrained to the non-parametric methods.

Once a book is worth a close look, it should not be read mechanically just to mine it for data to record.  It is not clerical work to take notes. When the notes are taken thoughtfully on a source not just the ideas and words is that the reader engages into but also its consequences, implications, shortcomings and also the new possibilities. The source should be engaged in a way as if the writer was sitting with us, eager for a conversation. The most fulfilling and promising sources should be read twice for an advanced project for generous understanding of them. If the reader disagrees soon, the text could be exaggerated or misunderstood.

The text should be then reread critically and slowly as if a friend is being questioned amiably, imagining his/her answers and then questioning them. If the reader disagrees, the source should not be out rightly rejected rather it should be read in a way that would encourage one’s own original thought process. Until and unless some ideas of one’s own are not deliberated upon, the sources cannot be fully engaged.

The reader should read sources creatively and actively like an engaged partner rather than reading them passively as a consumer. Even if the reader agrees with the sources, he/she must go beyond one’s sources to have richness in work which would also enhance the quality of writing. It becomes a satisfying moment when the source confirms with the views of the reader. But if the researcher passively agrees he would not be able to develop his own ideas. Therefore, the reader should extend his/her source claims like what can be the new sources that could be covered.

Interviewing is one of the major aspects of research work, but how many of us are actually aware about the main purpose of interviewing? I am sure many of us are still unaware about this aspect of research paper writing. This post of mine would help you gather some great information about the sole purpose of interviewing while writing a research paper.
 
The purpose of conducting interviews is not only to get answers to questions, or to test hypotheses or to “evaluate”, but it is basically an interest in understanding the lived experience of other people and the meaning they make of that experience. Being interested is the key to some of the basic assumptions underlying interviewing technique. While conducting interviews regarding their research paper, the interviewers need to keep their ego in check. They need to realize that they are not the center of the world, but their actions indicate that others’ stories are important.  

Recognizing the limits on our understanding of others, we can still strive to comprehend them by understanding their actions. Once you have chosen your research topic, you can always start off by conducting various interview sessions, as per which you can gather a brilliant amount of information about what different people think regarding the respective research topic. Interviewing is a process which provides access to the context of people’s behaviour and thereby provides a way for researchers to understand the meaning of that behaviour. A basic assumption in in-depth interviewing research is that the meaning people make of their experience affects the way they carry out that experience. By collecting facts and figures related to your research topic, it would become quite easy for you to come up with a brilliant research document that will earn you great amount of appreciation from renowned researchers across the globe. I hope all the information provided by me in this blog would surely assist you in understanding the importance of interviews while conducting research work.