Practical Considerations in Research

All research needs to be paid for by someone; if a big business/company is finding the research, researchers will have more money to spend on the research process. However, the actual research type/process may be controlled by those providing funding.

A large fund allows the researcher to use more expensive methods e.g hiring of interviewers or a long term observation study. However, if the researcher has no access to funds, then a cheap method will be required e.g secondary data on the topic.

Research method will be influenced by the number of researchers available to conduct the research. If there is a large team of researchers, methods such as interviewing may be an option. However, if there are only a small number of researchers the use of questionnaires may be more appropriate

The time constraints in which the researcher is working will also have an impact on the type of method they will choose in their research. Some methods such as observations, will undoubtedly take longer than other methods such as questionnaires, which may provide a quick response.

Researchers will have to ensure they have access to their required participants. There are also other questions that may need to be asked when thinking about the participants: are the participants geographically dispersed? Are participants literate? Do they speak English?

Sometimes, in order for researchers get access to their needed participants they need to get permission from the ‘gatekeeper’. The gatekeeper can be in a position of control or authority, and will be able to grant or deny access to the participants.