Data collection and management techniques in qualitative research

¶ … Management

Data Collection and Management Techniques for a Qualitative Research Plan

Data management for my qualitative research study:

Organizing my interview results

Given that the focus of my qualitative research study is on the female victims of human trafficking, observational analysis would not be suitable: my interviews would take place after the women had been rescued from their situation. It would be unrealistic and impossible to bear witness to what the women were actually going through while they were being subjected inhuman conditions while being trafficked. The focus of my research will be on interviewing the women, which I do regard as an appropriate method of data collection.

However, even the interviewing process is somewhat problematic from the point-of-view of a researcher. Many of the women who are the subjects of the study will have limited command of English. Translators must be provided who are reliable and understand the cultural as well as the linguistic background of the women. Additionally, speaking about the process of being abducted might be traumatic for the women. Counselors might need to be at hand to deal with any emotional issues which were stimulated by the interviews and the women should have access to follow-up counseling, in case they experienced PTSD as a result of the interviews after the fact.

A concern which always arises with interviewing is bias, of course. These women would be in a very vulnerable state, after the experience of their trauma had occurred and they would be speaking to me outside of a familiar cultural context. In light of this, although I would be asking semi-structured interview questions, I would be careful to keep the questions probing yet non-threatening and open-ended in nature. After all, the intention of the research was to let these women 'speak' about their lives, chronicling their experiences as they had seen them. I would begin by asking questions like: why did you leave your home country? What did your abductors originally tell you your situation would be like? How was it different from what you expected? Were you subjected to violence in your situation? What emotions did you experience (fear, rage, humiliation)?

The interviews would be staged in the presence of a translator in a relatively non-threatening place although to ensure accuracy, I would (with the subject's consent) have the interviews video-taped. I believe this is necessary given that 1. Issues of translation may arise and this will allow me to go over the interview text verbatim and 2. The women's body language might be just as revelatory as their words. Although there is a paucity of studies of victims of human trafficking in which the victims are allowed to speak for themselves, in their own voices, I would consult the interview techniques and types of questions used in interviewing victims of similar atrocities, such as survivors of war crimes and sexual assaults. These would guide my approach and the types of questions I asked. However, given the need for sensitivity, I would have to be hyper-aware of the women's mental states so I could alter the pattern of my questioning if required and end the interview if the strain on the women became too much. The women should be aware of the fact that they were in control of the interview and had the ability to end it if they felt overcome with emotions.

I would also be conducting interviews with persons who were experts in the emotional fallout which can occur as a result of human trafficking or who were political experts on the subjects such as academics. Video-taping these interviews would not be as necessary and I might elect to merely tape-record them given that English would be the first language of these speakers and they would have more personal experience in dealing with interviewers on this subject.

In terms of organizing my data, although I would not be conducting surveys through social media (one of its major applications) NVivo could be extremely useful in analyzing my video results, allowing me to analyze "word documents, PDFs, pictures, database tables, spreadsheets, audio files, videos (imported video files and YouTube content), social media data and web pages" (Features and benefits, 2013, NVivo). According to the technology's website, it allows you to "work through your information, highlight key points, allowing for quick recall or analysis later. Take this a step further with NVivo 'nodes' - like virtual filing boxes they allow you to see all information on a theme summarized together" (Features and benefits, 2013, NVivo).