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Data Collection Methodology

Post 4: Data Collection Methods

Method

The qualitative data collection method that we would be using is the interview method. We decided to use this type of method because our topic consisted of knowing what types of resources in regards to housing accommodations are available for those you transition out of the foster care system. Our interview would focus on what resources are made available in helping to accommodate their housing needs once they transition out. This type of method is appropriate because it would be best to hear firsthand from the individuals themselves than from someone else.

Population and Sample

Our population of interest would be the youth that are in the foster care system in transition into the adult world once they age out. We will be using a participatory approach because the people that have agreed to be in our research would be those willing to answer some questions. There are the directors, staff and youth that would be our frame during this process. There are the directors, staff, and youth that are going to be the different categories. Within each category, there would be at least 3 people we will be talking to. From the population we would select about 10 people as our sample. We will use the non-probability approach of the informant type so that he or she can provide privileged information about a person or organization.

Study Site

Our study site will be the organization we will be visiting. We would conduct our interview in the organization that we go to. This will be our only site visit that we will be studying. We selected it purposefully so that we can understand the participants’ feelings and thoughts on the subject matter. We will gain access by asking the parents if we can use their house for the interview. To gain access to this site we would make some phone calls beforehand explaining to whomever is in charge our intentions of studying the organization.

Data Collecting Procedures

  1. Interview

The roles of the interviewer and the child would be conceived by allowing the children (youth) to answer some questions we have devised based on our topic of interest. To recruit participants we would have already obtained consent forms that allows the youth to be aware of our research and its purpose. Recruiting would be based voluntarily on who wants to participate. We will be interviewing the youth in the organization as well as the staff and directors. The interview will be different because each group of people will have various questions pertaining to whom we are asking and what information we want to gather from them. So for instance, we would have questions intended for the youth to answer and questions intended for the directors and staff to answer. The interview will be both formal and semi-structured. We will have an outline of what we would ask them as well as the order in which we will ask. This interview will be one-on-one because I feel that each candidate will share personal feelings and thoughts and based on our confidentiality code of ethics, we wouldn’t want to break that. We want the participants to be able to express their thoughts comfortable and behind closed doors. We would record our observations either through audio/video recorder or paper and pencil. The interview will take approximately 10-15 mins to conduct with the participants we would be observing.

Sample of Interview Questions

For Directors

  1. Is there any type of resources that the youth may use once they age out of the foster care system?
  2. How will you help in supporting their housing accommodations upon exiting the system?
  3. Do these youth receive proper life skills that help in assisting their survival outside on their own?

For the Youth

  1. What type of resources would you like offered to help you?
  2. What would you like to see changed in this organization to help further assist those who would be leaving the system.
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