Non-directive interviews Essays

Non-directive interviews Essays Non-directive interviews Essay Non-directive interviews Essay There are a number of different research methods I can use for my primary research, but I have decided that the methods that will benefit my research are: questionnaires, non-directive interviews and structured interviews I am going to begin with a pilot study before going onto my interviews. By doing this I should be able to obtain some valuable information which I will be able to put into numerical form e.g. pie charts, statistics and percentages.This is a big advantage as I will be able to compare data easily and it will give me a better understanding of what teenage girls feel about the pressures of dieting. Questionnaires are also a cheap, efficient and fast method for obtaining large amounts of information, which is helpful to me, as I do not have much time to carry out my primary research. Potentially, information can be collected from a large portion of a group, but this potential is not often realized as returns from questionnaires are usually low.For example, postal questionnaires are a relatively inexpensive method of obtaining information but often only a very small percent of the sample return them and those who do often have a special reason for doing so which makes the results untypical as a whole. This is why I have decided not to send postal questionnaires but to give them to girls at my school instead, this way I will be able to make sure that everyone returns their completed form to me. I am going to use random sampling in order for my results to be more representative of teenage girls as a whole. I will go through a register for each year group from years 7-13 and cross of every third name until I have ten names from each year. I will then give each person a questionnaire to fill out.However, there are some disadvantages of using questionnaires in my study. Respondents may answer superficially especially if the questionnaire takes a long time to complete, so I will make sure that the common mistake of asking too many questions is avoided. Great care must also be taken when wording the questions so there is no bias, or words that some people may misinterpret or not understand. If this happens my results may not be as representative or accurate as they could be. I will also avoid including open-ended questions as these can generate large amounts of data that can take a long time to process and analyse.Some girls may not be willing to answer some of the questions as my project is on quite a sensitive topic, especially for girls. So I will ask them to reply honestly and tell them that the questionnaire is anonymous. My second research method is unstructured interviews. With non-directive interviews there are few problems of misunderstanding or misinterpretation and the interviewee is not restricted to set questions like in questionnaires, they can really say how they feel. The respondent is in control of the content of the interview and is free to explore any aspect of the topic they want. This will give me a more in-depth and detailed insight into the real thoughts and feelings of the interviewee.However, there are a few disadvantages with using this method. By using an unstructured interview it is difficult to generalise as it is a small sample, and in my case only one persons opinion. This also makes it harder to analyse or make any generalisation that all girls feel the same way as the respondent does. There could also be interviewer bias which is quite a big disadvantage. I could in some way influence or direct the answers given by the interviewee, therefore the respondent may change their answer according to the type of question given. But if I am careful with how I phrase and say my questions, I should be able to avoid any interviewer bias.My third research method is structured interviews. The advantage of structured interviews is that they allow the exploration of specific topics, while allowing people to tell the interviewer what they think is important. I am going to video- tape the opinions of five teenage girls on dieting and the media. I aim to find out if they feel pressured at all by the media to be slim and how far they have taken dieting in order to achieve this media image of the perfect female body. I think it will be interesting to see how their answers compare and differ by asking the same questions to five different girls.Structured interviews give the respondent the chance to speak for themselves about the topic and the chance to clarify complex questions. However success depends on the skill of the interviewer, but I will spend time making sure that the questions I ask will be beneficial to my project. Another disadvantage is that I may give out unconscious signals to the respondent which may lead them to change their reply. Another problem is that I might only follow up my areas of interest there fore restricting the respondents answers. These interviews can also be very time consuming, so I have only decided to interview five people for my study.There are some types of primary research which I have decided not to use. Methods such as longitudinal studies and participant observation would require a great amount of time which I would like to have, but have not got enough time to carry out properly. A longitudinal study is an ideal way of understanding social life at one point in time, but in order to understand social life in the present it is essential to see it as a development from the past. This method requires a picture of social life over a long time which is not possible for me to do.With participant observation the number of people observed is small therefore generalisations are not possible. This method would not be very useful to my project either, as it would be hard to observe peoples eating habits without asking personal questions about weight etc and many people would find covert observation for my topic unethical. A case study could be a good source of primary data for me to use as they can give a more detailed picture than research based on large samples. However, as they are seen as one off examples they cannot be seen as representative. They are also quite time consuming. I am confident that my chosen research methods will provide me with some valuable information from which I can analyse and draw a conclusion from.

Job Hunting While Employed Dos and Donts

Job Hunting While Employed Dos and Donts Sophie Deering over at TheUndercoverRecruiter knows about the delicate dance of looking for another job while you’re still employed by your last one. You have to keep your search below the radar, which flies in the face of the typical advice to advertise your job-hunting status everywhere for networking purposes! DOUpdate your LinkedIn profile. Check your privacy settings first to make sure you’re not broadcasting each update to your entire network. An up-to-date profile is one of the first things a recruiter’s going to look for.Schedule interviews during non-work hours. There are only so many â€Å"doctor’s appointments† or â€Å"work from home† days you can fit in without attracting suspicion. When scheduling your interview, request beginning or end of day slots- your prospective employer should understand, and even appreciate your discretion.Network! Get in touch with past colleagues and supervisors to let them know you’re searching for something new; the last office job I held I got after reaching out to former coworkers who had somehow all relocated to the same company. We got two more years of working together, and are all still in touch as freelancers today.Give appropriate notice in writing. Once you’ve passed the interview phase and gotten that job offer, give necessary notice. Be a team player as they find and train your replacement.Leave in a professional manner. Unless your industry is so vast you may never need to see these people again, you should be professional and dignified until the very last minute. You may need your former colleagues as references or want to approach your old boss for a future collaboration. Storming out might feel great in the moment, but being gracious and poised will take you further.DON’TTalk to colleagues about your job hunt. If you have one or two close colleagues who you know are well-connected, it may be a good idea to let them know you’re looking so you have a reliable reference at your current gig, but you definitely don’t want your business becoming water-cooler conversation. It’s counterproductive for morale and productivity.Don’t dress differently than normal. If your current workplace is pretty casual, you don’t want to suddenly show up in a suit or more formal outfit- take a change of clothes with you and change somewhere en route to avoid suspicion.Don’t job search while you’re at work. This should be a no brainer, but unless you want your job search financed by your severance pay, keep your Monster.com searches confined to your evenings, lunch hour, and weekends.Don’t post your resume on job boards. The odds of someone from your organization seeing your info there are higher; apply for jobs that have submission processes, not the ones that require a job-searching profile.Don’t mention the job search on social media. I don’t think this one is fair, but as an employee you’re always representing your employer in some capacity- if you’re kvetching where anyone can see it or openly ready to move on, your employer may decide to take care of the conflict of interest in a way you won’t like.  The Do’s and Don’ts of Finding a Job When You Are Already in a Job  Read More at theundercoverrecruiter.com