Techniques in data collection for the SBA
By Marjorie Henry, Contributor

Montego Bay High School students during a cookery session. - Claudine Housen Photo

FOR THE past weeks, I have been focusing on the School-Based Assessment (SBA). To date, I have shared with you that:

* The SBA is compulsory for all students offering the subject at the General Proficiency level;

* It is a field study;

* The topic can be chosen from any section of the geography syllabus;

* The title of the study must be stated as a question;

* It must have at least one aim;

* The aim narrows the focus of your study;

* You should decide on the areas to be concentrated on in the study;

* The study should be based essentially on primary data rather than on secondary data.

With all of the above in place, the next aspect of the study to be considered is that of data collection. As mentioned in the last lesson, there are several techniques that can be used in your effort to obtain the information needed. These include conducting interviews, administering questionnaires, recording observations made in the field and the use of secondary sources. Let me share with you on each of these techniques mentioned.

INTERVIEWS

The literature informs us that interviews can be structured, that is, you can have a brief series of questions, which require 'yes' or 'no' as a response, or one of a set of alternate choices. This form is used when seeking information on very sensitive matters, like a person's age and salary. For example, if you need to know the interviewer's age, use a band rather than directly asking 'How old are you?' An example could be 20-30 years; 31-40 years; 41-50 years; over 50 years. On the other hand, the interviews can be semi-structured where open-ended questions are used and by so doing, you can obtain more information. In reference to the topic on the bauxite operation that I used in an earlier lesson, in an effort to find out how the bauxite operation has helped the community, I could ask ­ 'What services has the bauxite company provided for the community?'

There are some guidelines that you must follow when conducting an interview:

* Make contact with the person you wish to interview ahead of time in order to set an appointment.

* Make sure to keep the appointment. Should a problem arise and you are unable to do so, make contact with the individual to explain the situation and request a rescheduling of the interview if possible.

* You may need a letter from your school to verify that you are a student of geography and the reason for wanting to do an interview.

* Make sure to state the purpose of your interview.

* Decide on your questions before the date of the interview. These should be relevant to the topic, brief and precise. Have a copy of these questions available to pass on to the person being interviewed. Sometimes, this can be sent to the individual ahead of time so that he/she can prepare properly for the interview.

QUESTIONNAIRES

For this technique, you would prepare a number of questions to be answered that you may want to leave with individuals or you yourself would indicate the response. You may choose to stand in the street and question passers-by, for example. Here are some guidelines in preparing the questionnaire:

* Begin by stating the purpose for the questionnaire.

* It may be necessary to give brief instructions at the beginning. These should be clear.

* The questions should be in a logical order and relevant to satisfying the aim of the study.

* Leave spaces for the answers.

* The questions should be easy to complete.

* The questions must be clearly worded and straight forward.

* Each item should be numbered.

* Avoid too many questions. Ten is considered the ideal number.

* Should you choose to leave the questionnaires with individuals, indicate when you will return for them. Do not fail to do so on the date indicated.

I will continue the discussion on the techniques for data collection in the next lesson. In the meanwhile, I do trust that you are making some progress with your SBA administration.

* Marjorie Henry is Geography teacher at Glenmuir High School in Clarendon.