Introduction
There is a difference in the way varied researches are carried out. The differences occur due to various strategies that the researchers employ in order to carry out the research and reach a conclusive result. It is vital to consider the involvement of a researcher in order to find out the various means and intelligence employed.
Community service requires the commitment of trained volunteers to deal with the various connections involved in the community. This is because people in the community tend to have varied behaviors but they are connected in different styles (Katz et al, 2004, p 309). There are instances when they connect through the immediate person, friends, elders and even work partners. This is the reason that the researcher can spend time to study the various connections and devise ways to connect, communicate and serve the community.
Question 1. The philosophy involved
Serving the community is important and the most probable way for a researcher to understand the study sample. This is because the researcher gets the avenue to interact directly with the subject and, therefore, pick the important information about the subject (Hox & Boeije, 2005, p. 594). The community tends to interact with the researcher who in turn picks the necessary information from them. The information includes personal and group behavior as well as the culture and response strategies of the group. It is therefore picked by the researcher who identifies the different patterns and sieves the information for the important aspects.
There are instances when the researcher comes up with conceptions about the group. This is according to the geographical position of the people involved, the kind of obligations they are in and even their numbers in terms of population size. Distributing bikes to the community requires the inclusion of numbers and to understand the family demographics. This way the bikes will be given to the right family that will use them to the maximum advantage. To understand the demographics of the family, the researcher has to be in the field to interact with the families and the problems they face in order to understand the required means of transport and how to care for them.
It is important for the researcher to understand the strain that the families go through. This will help in repairs and replacement strategies. The acquisition of such information involves the collection of the necessary data from the families and placing them on a comparison scale. Comparison should show the level of need of each family, the amount of need which can be through the number of family members and the distance from the necessary social amenities. Level of need is the flexibility that will be added to the movement of the family by the awarding of bicycles. The amount of need deals with the need of occupants that are in the family and can use the bicycles for flexibility in movement.
Distance is a vital point of reference. It determines two main ideas that are put in consideration when awarding bicycles to the families in the community. The location of social amenities from the family determines the urgency that may be required to reach them and the amount of repair needed. Urgency is because of the long distance which means that the people take time before visiting the places. They therefore collect their needs and visit the social places at a predetermined time so as to save on the strain of covering large distances. The same distance also affects the community during emergencies and therefore bicycles tend to serve an important role in improving the life of the families.
Repairs on the bicycles is also determined by the distance. This is under a number of perspectives which depend on the use of the bicycles and the distance. The more the bicycle is used is the more it wears off and therefore repair needs increase. The frequent use comes because of distance and lack of an alternative transport means. This shows that the community will entirely depend on the bicycles as a means of transport because of its flexibility to maneuver through the paths of the villages. The over-reliance will end up straining the means of transport and therefore repairs have to be frequent.
The researcher has to understand the use of the bicycles in the community in order to gauge the amount of repairs to be done. This will ease the repair process in that the necessary parts will be made available and the number of repair technicians will be determined before-hand. There are families that can use the bicycles to fetch water, start transport businesses or even transport farm produce. This means that the amount of luggage and work on the bicycle will increase. This in turn puts a strain on the bicycles and therefore the rate of repair increases.
The bicycles can stall if there are no enough repair parts allocated to the needed area. The technician’s in numbers are also determinant of the repair process and whether the bicycles will continue being used. A delay or lack of spare parts to repair the bicycles tends to slow down the rate of use of the bicycles and therefore becomes a burden to the community. There is need for the researcher to understand the number of users, the workload on the bicycles and the distance to be used by the bicycles in order to determine the amount of spare parts to be supplied and repair technicians. This method will involve both the positivism philosophy and interpretivism philosophy.
Positivism will include the testing of the data in a scientific manner so as to deduce the necessary data (Saunders & Tosey, 2013, p 58). This will involve the researcher interacting with the community to collect the data, find the results and do the necessary tests before the actual allocation of the bicycles. Interpretivism depends on the data metrics presented to the researcher through their interaction with the community. The researcher will study the social status, the behavior and even the number of people in the community. This way, he or she will be able to understand what is needed by the community for use of the bicycles.
Question 2. Key limitations on the proposed method
There are a number of problems that the research is bound to face. This is because of the field work and the proposed methods of data collection. The methods of data collection affect the outcome of the exercise since they determine the amount and quality of information to be collected. This in the end affects the results presented and hence leads to wrong data or a shallow research exercise. There is need for the researcher to consider behavioral changes in the community because of the exercise, adapt to the environment and look into time to avoid unnecessary sluggishly.
There are chances that the study population will hide their usual ways and behavior during the study period. This is because of the favor they get from being awarded the bicycles and the advantage of the researcher being unfamiliar with their behavior. The changing of the behavior by the population is a means of sabotaging the research project. This means that the information acquired will be false and hence a waste of time and resources in the process (Colorado, 2016). Since the population understands that they are under study, they are bound to change their behavior in order to favor themselves in the results.
The interview method has a limitation that is associated with data authenticity (ucdavis.edu, 2016). The interviewee is bound to give false information either deliberately or due to lack of knowledge in the same. This tends to affect the research results since false information is a mode that affects the outcome of the research. Deliberate giving of false information can be the ultimate goal of the interviewee. Since they are informed of the purpose of the research, they tend to lean more on the benefits of the research and therefore lie in order to receive favor.
The interview method is also not the best since the respondent is bound to be shy. The shyness can come from the process or the situation in which the respondent faces the interviewer (Anon, 2014). The information retrieval in this situation may be hard. This is because the respondent may be unable to give credible answers or even inaudible answers. This means that the researcher will have to spend a lot of time to familiarize with the population in order for them to understand him or her. There are instances when language creates a barrier in communication for the two parties.
Researcher inability to adapt to the environment
The researcher is bound to face difficulty in adapting to the township environment. This is because he or she has to visit and stay in the new town in order to get the information required. Adaptation is important in familiarizing the researcher with the study environment. The researcher adapts to the environment through syncing with the people, their culture, the weather and even the food. It means that in order to correctly handle the research, the researcher has to be a native. This will contribute to more cooperation from the study population
Methods are time consuming
The interview method is a time consuming form of data collection (Portsmouth, 2010). This is in the situation where the researcher requires an interpreter in order to understand and be understood. The language has to be studied prior to the interviews and this tends to affect the time factor. The target time period of six months maybe minimal due to the scope of the area and data to be collected.
Question 3. Reliability, validity and generalizability of the instruments
There is need to test the reliability of the study instruments so as to authenticate the results of the study (Kimberlin & Winterstein, 2008). This is because the instruments proposed have a tendency to lean on shallow phenomenon and the researcher cannot realize in the case of a hitch. Reliability of the instruments which include the observation schedules, interview voice recorders and mark lists are the few instruments proposed in this research.
Observation schedules give direction on the time and the concepts to observe by the researcher. The case where the researcher misses to check on the list means that the instrument will go blank. This tends to bring the research exercise backwards. Checking of the observation schedules therefore has to be in line with the objective of the research. It means that it has to be prepared specifically for the data to be collected.
The validity of the research instruments in this perspective are on point. This is because the process requires observation, reference on available literature and interviews. Observation helps the researcher to deduce what is in the environment primarily (Atkinson & Hammersley, 1994). It means that in the case of not comprehending, he or she has the liberty to carry out an interview and gain the lost information. Studying available literature gives the researcher an edge over groping for information. It is possible for the researcher to familiarize with the environment or the people by reading the available literature. It is therefore important to find out the validity of the research instrument in correspondence to the research.
Generalizability of the data can be done with the use of the proposed instruments. This is because of the scope of the research and study population. To avoid generalization of information, each aspect has to be tested individually. This should be in a bid to reach the conclusion of the research question. Assumptions are the other aspects of research that lead to generalization of data. This is why each aspect of the data has to be analyzed individually. This can be done by highlighting the information in terms of importance.
The analysis of the information tends to break down the required goals. This way, it is possible to head to the goal of the study and let the unnecessary information out of it. It makes the study more subjective in that the results target a specific goal and therefore time cannot be wasted sieving through a large amount of unnecessary data but rather picking out the required data. The proposed research instruments are therefore important in reaching the goals of the study.
Question 4. Ethical considerations in the research
There are a number of ethical issues that crop up due to the undertaking of the research. There is the issue of the researcher living among the township people, which is a mix of two cultures. This is bound to bring about a culture shock to the people and therefore the issue has to be handled with care. The authorities and the community has to be alerted prior to the research (TREG, 2016). The information should be given regarding the purpose of the research, the methods to be used to gain data and the duration the research will take.
Seeking permission is the second aspect of ethics that has to be considered. Permission should be sought from the authorities so as to be allowed to conduct the research (Resnik, 2011). This means that the research committee should approach the local authorities and the research agency in order to seek permission to conduct the research. This is bound to avoid any hitches that may occur during the research. The authorities have to be aware of the research and accord the necessary support required in the field. This can be in terms of security or even insurance cover. The community has to be aware of the research and accept to participate in it so as to make the exercise worthwhile.
Necessity and benefit of the research
The community and the authorities have to be let in on the benefits of the research. It means that the research benefits have to be credible and they should help to improve the knowledge or even the living standards of the community. The information is important in that the community will understand why they have to give an effort in the study. The benefits have to be guaranteed so as to benefit the community that is participating. The dangers involved in the project also have to be communicated to the participants so as to make them prepare for the outcome.
The participation of individuals in this research should be voluntary (Adams, 2014, wbpg 4). This means that the research should not promise incentives or threaten the participants with an outcome. The participants can pull out of the process at any time of the research. The research methods should not infringe the rights of the participants or put them in danger. There is also a need to ensure that the study environment is conducive to the participants especially with the use of the bicycles to avoid injuries.
Finally there is need for the individual information and answers to be handled with the required confidentiality. This will ensure that the integrity of each individual is upheld and handled with the required respect. Since each individual represents the traits of the community in response to the research objectives, it is important to ensure the data is confidential. Confidentiality of the data is a right to the respondent and this is one reason that personal information should not be collected. The personal information includes the name, the identification number or even the street address of the respondent.
Question 5. Survey
This project can be worked through a simple survey research. A sample size can be selected by the use of simple random sampling (WMICH, 2003). This should be based on the most active population in terms of willingness to participate in the research. A population of about 100 families can be picked for education to determine the local mechanics and bicycle users. Training of the mechanical concepts can be done to 20 individuals and the small number is due to time considerations.
Data collection will depend on observation and interviews (Cohen & Crabtree, 2006). This is to determine the methods of training the mechanics as well as the use of the bicycles by the community. Collection through interviews is to enhance the method of observation. This tends to neutralize the problem brought about by the change of behavior by the respondents. It is because of interviews that the respondents can give their feelings about the program so that some parts of the program can be customized to satisfy the needs of the respondents.
Observation is important in determining how the population will use the bicycles. The researcher can observe the roads, the lifestyle and the behavior of the respondents on how they will use the bicycles. It is a vital method that shows the acceptance of the project by the population.
The data will be presented in two ways. Through frequency distribution tables and graphical representation. This is because the two methods are known for better presentation especially on easy identification of patterns and comparison purposes. A frequency table is best in presenting data in a summary form. It separates data in a numerical or categorical way (Academics, 2015).
Presenting the data with the graphical method is appealing to the user. This means that data will be easy to catch and appealing to the eye of the user. Graphical data representation will be done by the use of bar graphs and pie charts. This is because bar graphs show the level of the variables and are easy to interpret.
References
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