Archive for the ‘Research’ Category
Research Interview Locations and Digital Voice Recorders
In PhD Student Life, Research on December 18, 2008 at 7:30 pmBeing a research student, I often held my interviews in public places like coffee shops or museums, wherever I’d think that it is possible to chat without much distraction. Sometimes I’m lucky and its a quiet day, I’ll be able to conduct my interview in peace but there are also moments where its completely impossible to hear what the other person is saying.
I’m using a Micromemo, which is an extenstion to my existing iPod Classic. So far, even in quite noisy areas, its seems to be able to pick up a person’s voice quite clearly without needing to hold it close to the person’s mouth. I just lay it on the table most times and it seems to do the trick.
In terms of locations, I recently had the chance to meet up with some interesting people who chose the location for us to meet and both were very ideal.
1) Royal Commonwealth Club – This place was really nice. It seemed quite temporary and had a remote where you could call the waitress to come and take your order. The thing I liked about this is it had PC terminals if you need to use it, which is very useful in my case. Sometimes I find I need to show a website to research participants to understand their perception of it. So that was a good place but you need to be a member of this club which is costly if you’re a student.
Fee details for RCC
London Members
(if you live within a 50-mile radius from Charing Cross)
Entrance Fee:£130
Membership Fee:£270pa
Country Members
(if you live outside a 50-mile radius from Charing Cross)
Entrance Fee:£130
Membership Fee:£220pa
2) The Hub by King’s Cross – This place was very interesting and inviting. For pics click here. Huge beanbags, heaters (that almost burnt me! ;p ), long and short table upstairs where you can plug in your laptops and just wizz away. Its also got some sort of meeting room I think but everything see-through, so you can see everyone in it. I heard that Tom Watson hangs there too! 
The atmosphere is perfect for busy professionals looking for a quiet place to chill and do some work. There are also benches you could sit and just chat with your friends or other professionals that you wish to link up with. The loo was also an interesting sight. It is unisex and has this cool blue (I think) board that says “What are you doing tonight?” that you can write on with this funky pink/red marker. I didn’t write anything, but now kinda wish that I did. Anyways, coming back to the interview, it was a really great experience conducting my interview there. I heard the fee is £40 per month, which I think is reasonable of you are going to use it often for interviews or just to do some work while in town.
Hope this was helpful, I will update it if I go to other interesting places. 
Tweet your way into networking – Finding research contacts online
In Internet Research Methods on December 18, 2008 at 5:26 pmIts common knowledge that there are a lot of difficulties when it comes gaining access to research participants. I personally found it an uphill struggle trying to get access to government officials and organizations. However after 1 research participant, Hugh of HarringayOnline suggested that I sign up to Twitter I was saved (Wikipedia: a free social networking and micro-blogging service, that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length). He also suggested a list of people who are experts or enthusiasts within the area of my research. What happened next was ‘HISTORY’.
I suddenly gained access to the brains of movers and shakers of e-government. And surprisingly, they were more than happy to talk to me. Now, not only my research has gained an army of research participants. It has also done wonders for the development of my research. I was initially stuck in a rut, hitting a brick wall and possibly almost hitting my own head to the wall. But with about 30 contacts on my list (which is considered very few for twitter btw… Update: After 1 week I now have 42 followers) my research has somewhat been resuscitated and given me the most up to date practices currently being implemented in e-government.
With those 30 contacts, I now have access to blogrolls to the most important people in e-government. I am now able to know what stakeholders and enablers are thinking every minute of the day and keep my research as relevant as possible.
Good luck if you choose to try this method!
