textual data collection- story completion tasks

a method of data collection, where participants are given the start of a story and asked to complete or continue it

a short hypothetical scenario; as a method of qualitative data collection

a book in which one keeps a daily record of events and experiences

story stem

flesh out

story cue

story needs to be easily understood

story needs to be meaningful to participants

it should be clear and use appropriate language

it should prompt responses that are easy to analyse

piloting

specificity

clarification

penguin approved

useful for understanding people's opinions, perceptions and views

like surveys, can collect lots of data and avoid face-to-face ethical issues

useful method for comparative designs

can get clear straight to the point responses

An indirect and ‘disguised’ way of accessing people’s views and perspectives (potentially avoiding social demands)

A way of accessing assumptions and ‘hidden’ meanings

Useful for researching sensitive and ethically/morally complex topics

it's interesting to re-read

it's not time consuming

Data is less predictable than other (self-report) methods

Data generated can be less transparent and harder to analyse than self-report data

Gap between story and ‘reality’(but in qualitative research we are more concerned with the meanings people draw on in writing their stories)

The artificiality of the technique

it's very ambiguous thus cannot draw conclusions to meanings behind stories

15-30 is a good range

can use potentially any analysis, but TA, GT, NA and PS-DA are particularly suitable

TA is more suitable to analyse responses

180-200 is a good range