Activity-Based Research

Here is a scenario - does this resonate?

You conduct data gathering in a research study. As the researcher, you place heavy emphasis on how to ask the “right question”. Even after careful scrutiny of the questions, your interactions yield shallow answers from participants. This results in lots of chatter afterward about the participant being “good” or “bad”.

Let’s think about the details here.

As the researcher – ask yourself:
Do you really ever deliver the question exactly as it is written?

Now put yourself in the participant’s shoes:
When was the last time you spoke about a topic, that you don’t think about all the time, for one hour or longer? If so, were your thoughts always well-formed?

It’s time to rethink the way we connect with participants when asking them questions.

In this talk, Meena will introduce the concept of activity-based protocols. This approach invites participants to think more deeply about what they want to share, and in a way that allows them to unravel their own thoughts. Using activity-based protocols inherently removes the emphasis on the researcher to
craft the “right question”.

Meena will share examples of typical questions in a way that encourages the participant to share rich answers, in a fun and transparent manner.