Seminar 4

This seminar wasn't actually called a seminar, it was called a workshop and the design of it was a bit different to the previous seminars. We were two groups in one this time, which caused a bit of chaos but worked out okay in the end I think. During the workshop we discussed quantitative methods vs. qualitative methods and their pros and cons. This weeks' text, the one written by Olle Bälter and colleagues, was about a quantitative study which illustrated very well the problems that can occur in such a study.

There are always a risk of dropouts in big surveys since people might feel like "they are just a drop in the ocean". During the seminar Olle talked about a couple of steps that could/should use in order to prevent the dropouts actually dropping out. It was a chain of communication in which you should start out by inviting people to your survey through mail (actual mail, not e-mail) in which you either include a paper survey or a password and a url were they can conduct the study online. After that, for those that didn't participate, you should remind them through mail followed by a call and perhaps a last letter. The key to all of this, no matter in which order you conduct these steps, is to treat these people with respect and don't try to force them into anything.

Another tip is to construct the survey in a way were the participants actually gain something from it. For example, Olle showed us a survey from Karolinska Institutet which was about food and health, and in the survey you could type in your length and weight and then get your BMI. And with your BMI a text that said somethings about it to keep the participant interested in the survey.

I think that the last thing, the interactive survey, shows a good example of how you can benefit from conducting studies on a digital platform instead of on paper. (Other than just the distribution part). A simple way of actually "tricking" people into a survey. This was the most interesting epiphany from this weeks theme I would say.