Once you have decided on your research question and started to read the existing literature on the topic, you must decide what approach you are going to employ to further your research. There are a variety of tools available to you to gather the data you need to answer your research question such as interviews, surveys, case studies, design and test, experiments etc. You will need to decide which tool is appropriate for the research questions and whether you have the skills to use it effectively.

No technique is perfect. For example experimentation suffers from artificiality, and observation may suffer from differences in opinion between observers. However, each tool will have some advantages too such as the economies of scale seen with online surveys. In some instances the most appropriate procedure cannot be used. In this situation a combination of other tools may be the best compromise. Ultimately though, the choice of tool should be decided by the question to be answered and the time, resources and skills available.

Table 1 below is adapted from Sommer and Sommer (2002, p6) and may help you choose the tool appropriate for your research question. For some questions more than one tool may be needed.

Table 1: choosing among research tools

PROBLEM APPROACH RESEARCH TOOL
To obtain reliable information under controlled conditions Test people, equipment or procedures in a laboratory  Laboratory experimentSimulation
To find out how people behave in public Watch them Systematic observation
To find out how people behave in private Ask them to keep diaries Personal documents
To learn what people think Ask them Focus groupInterviewQuestionnaire/survey

Attitude scale
To find patterns in written or visual material Systematic tabulation (categorisation) Content analysis (qualitative techniques)
To understand an unusual event or specific instantiation Detailed and lengthy investigation Case study
To find out what people have done in the past Check public records Archival research
To discover whether a function is achievable Build it in the lab and test against set criteria Design and test
To generate new guidelines or theories from existing knowledge Read existing literature and synthesise conclusions or new meaning which may be applied to new situations Discursive

Sommer, R. & Sommer, B. (2002) A Practical Guide to Behavioural Research. Tools and Techniques. 5th Ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press

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