Approaches to evaluation

There are many ways to address evaluation questions but, as ever, the design and the methods chosen must be 'fit for purpose'. Robson (2002) says that the options available to a real world researcher are the same as those available to a detective when 'making enquires'.

'We can watch people and try to work out what is going on; we can ask them about it; and we can look out for fingerprints (as well as any other evidence they leave behind them). p223

But how do we ask a group of students what they thought of a module? You could,

• ask them to stay at the end of the class and get them to talk about it
• take them one by one and ask them the question
• give them a set of written questions to gain their views

The choice is yours but you will find that there are advantages and disadvantages to each of these approaches.

Robson, C. (2002) Real World Research. London: Routledge. 2nd Edition