Describe methods to evaluate health education campaigns. Methods: Qualitative Quantitative

AS and A Level Healthcare

Health, Social Care & Early Years

National Level 3

Unit 17

4a. Describe methods to evaluate health education campaigns.

Methods:

Qualitative
Quantitative

Pre-set criteria:

Measurable

Presenting information:

Charts
Graphs
Statistics

What is qualitative data?

Qualitative data is information which is collected that is descriptive and involves a lot of written information that is in depth and detailed. It is that form of data which s observed not measured as it gives an analysis and records any information relating to it in detailed response. Qualitative data in other words can be known as quality as it involves great explanation.

Qualitative data analysis is:

Involves great explanation which is needed.
Involves questions such as ‘why’ to ask for great and in-depth explanation.
Involves looking at individuals theories more carefully by paying attention.

There are many ways which individuals can gather qualitative data that will involve a lot of in detailed description and analysis. The ways which they can gather information are, for example:

Questionnaires: using questionnaires as a way to gather information is very easy and quick as it contains question which are in need to quick but detailed answers which will provide them with sufficient amount of information which they need for gather information on certain topic or area. Questionnaires are mainly used to gather quick opinions of individuals relating to a particular issue or topic. Using this method is an easy way to reach individuals across the globe at a very low cost using telephone or over the internet.

Using questionnaires in my chosen campaign which was Alcohol Awareness Week was very important as it gather much information which was needed and was relating to the chosen topic. It provided with quick answers which the community had given regarding the misuse of alcohol. Using this method when seeking for quick answers was very important as it meant that they would be collecting information regarding alcohol from many different users who drink alcohol on a regular basis.

Interviews: Interviews are mainly used to gather direct responses from individuals on the spot. This method is very useful as they discover what the individual’s feelings and views are on certain topic which is raised. It allows individuals to ask detailed questions which the opposite individual has to response in detail too. The main advantage of using interview to collect data is that the words which are said are from the individuals themselves which means that these words are original words that have come out of their mouths directly.

Using interviews in my chosen campaign which was Alcohol Awareness Week was very important as it gather much information which was needed and was relating to the chosen topic. It provided with detailed and in-depth responses directly from the individuals which the community had given regarding the misuse of alcohol. Using this method when seeking for quick answers was very important as it meant that they would be collecting information regarding alcohol from many users who drink alcohol on a regular basis.

Focus groups: Focus group is another method which is used to gather information of certain topic which involves investigation on people’s behavior. This is a very effective method to gather information as it involves different groups having different opinions and attitude towards a certain topic raised. It is easier than using interviews as it involves opinions of individuals in a group as a whole. It gives the individuals a very detailed response from wider range of public.

Using focus groups in my chosen campaign which was Alcohol Awareness Week was very important as it gather much information which was needed and was relating to the chosen topic from a group of different individuals with different responses on how they feel and their attitude towards it. It provided with detailed directly from a group of individuals which the community had given regarding the misuse of alcohol. Using this method when seeking for quick answers was very important as it meant that they would be collecting information regarding alcohol from many users who drink alcohol on a regular basis.

Why we do qualitative data analysis:

Needs more information than just looking at numbers and frequencies.
Looks for in-depth descriptions of individual’s comments and remarks.
Development of theories which they gather.
Looks for information which requires great explanation.
After gathering information, they look for comparisons and differences.
Uses a lot of sources to gather in-depth and detailed responses.

What is quantitative data?

Quantitative data is described as something which contains information that can be counted or shown numerically. This type of information does not need in-depth or ...

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Why we do qualitative data analysis:

Needs more information than just looking at numbers and frequencies.
Looks for in-depth descriptions of individual’s comments and remarks.
Development of theories which they gather.
Looks for information which requires great explanation.
After gathering information, they look for comparisons and differences.
Uses a lot of sources to gather in-depth and detailed responses.

What is quantitative data?

Quantitative data is described as something which contains information that can be counted or shown numerically. This type of information does not need in-depth or detailed responses as it only deals with numbers or one word answers such as yes or no. the information which is collected from this type of data is usually be presented in a graph, tables, charts or histograms. The questions used to collect this type of information can be such as ‘what’ or ‘how many’ to collect the information they want on a certain topic raised.

There are many ways which this type of data information can be collected from which is important. Some of these sources which quantitative data can be collected from is similar to the ways which qualitative data is collected from. The ways which quantitative data can be collected from are:

Questionnaires: using questionnaires to gather quantitative information is very important as it is the best way to gather numerical information and responses. The questions which are used to collect this type of data are called close ended questions. The close ended questions are used to provide answers which are numerical. The individual who answers this type of question do not need to provide with an in-depth answer which asks for values and opinions of them. Then eventually the answers which are provided are then evaluated into a graph or a chart.

Using this method for the campaign chosen for my task was very information as it meant that it would gather numerical information which is needed and was very important. The use of close ended questions provided with quick response that included answers that were not in-depth or detailed.

Interviews: interviews are another method which is used to gather information which is very important. The questions which are used to collect this type of data are called close ended questions. The close ended questions are used to provide answers which are numerical. The individual who answers this type of question do not need to provide with an in-depth answer which asks for values and opinions of them. Then eventually the answers which are provided are then evaluated into a graph or a chart.

“Why do we do quantitative data analysis?

Once you have collected your data you need to make sense of the responses you have got back. Quantitative data analysis enables you to make sense of data by:

organizing them
summarizing them
doing exploratory analysis

()

There are many ways which the quantitative data can be presented as which can be any from:

Tables
Graphs and charts
Statistics

The advantages and disadvantages of qualitative data:

Advantages:

There are many advantages which can be found using qualitative data, one of them is that the use of open ended questions which gives individual the opportunity to give the answer in their own words which means that they will be giving answer from their perspective. It does not require a forced answer or a fixed answer like quantitative data does. The individuals are allowed to give their response in a very detailed and in-depth way.

Open-ended questions have the ability to evoke responses that are:

• Meaningful and culturally salient to the participant

• Unanticipated by the researcher

• Rich and explanatory in nature

There are many ways which this type of data can be gathered from which are by using questionnaires, interviews or focus groups. It allows the individuals to give as much detail as possible without having limits. The information which is needed can be gathered at a very low cost by using questionnaires or interviews.

When individual are giving information out in great depth, this puts a great awareness on the readers as the individuals share their own point of views and opinions. It is usually something which is more detailed and descriptive information which is provided.

Advantages of qualitative data analysis:

Greater awareness of the perspectives of program participants (or product users)
Capability for understanding dynamic developments in a program (process) as it evolves
Awareness of time and history
Sensitivity to the influence of context
Ability to “enter the program scene” without contrived preconceptions … a more fluid approach to finding out “what’s happening”
Alertness to unanticipated and unplanned events

Disadvantages:

There are also many disadvantages that are found when gather qualitative information one of them is that the data collect can be sometimes superficial which means that the data will not be reliable. Having data which is correct and accurate is very important for individuals as wrong or inaccurate data can lead to many problems for example individuals who have been relaying on wrong information will be frustrated when they find out.

Another disadvantage of qualitative data is that there are only few people who will be able to provide with in-depth response or answer which the individuals might be looking for. For this reason they might receive a smaller amount of people who they can ask for information.

Seeking information this way is also time consuming as they first have to choose individuals who will be able to provide them with the best in-depth response then they will have to write all the information given and eventually analyze their response. This can take a lot of time which means that gathering information like this needs a lot of time and enthusiasm.

Usually fewer people studied: collection of qualitative data is generally more time consuming that quantitative data collection and therefore unless time, staff and budget allows it is generally necessary to include a smaller sample size.
Less easy to generalise: because fewer people are generally studied it is not possible to generalise results to that of the population. Usually exact numbers are reported rather than percentages.
Difficult to make systematic comparisons: for example, if people give widely differing responses that are highly subjective.
Dependent on skills of the researcher: particularly in the case of conducting interviews, focus groups and observation.

The advantages and disadvantages of quantitative data:

Advantages:

There are many advantages of using quantitative data which are found one of them is that when seeking quantitative information, the information does not require in-depth response which means that it only seeks for numerical data which is needed to provide them with an answer for example when an individual wants to know how many individuals drink in a certain pub on a Saturday night the answer they will receive will contain numbers such as ‘20’.

There are many ways which this type of data can be gathered from which are by using questionnaires, interviews or observations. It allows the individuals to give as much numerical data as required. The information which is needed can be gathered at a very low cost by using questionnaires or interviews.

Another advantage of quantitative data is that an individual who is giving out this data will not have to think about a lot of information to share rather they will just have to give a simple numerical data which is important and they will have to make sure that it is accurate and correct.

When collecting this type of data it is also not time consuming as it requires simple but accurate information whereas when an individual looks for qualitative data they will consume a lot of time by looking for information which is detailed and in-depth. Also this data does not require a lot of resources too which is another advantage as it will not cost them much.

allow for a broader study, involving a greater number of subjects, and enhancing the generalisation of the results
can allow for greater objectivity and accuracy of results. Generally, quantitative methods are designed to provide summaries of data that support generalisations about the phenomenon under study. In order to accomplish this, quantitative research usually involves few variables and many cases, and employs prescribed procedures to ensure validity and reliability
using standards means that the research can be replicated, and then analysed and compared with similar studies. Kruger (2003) confirms that 'quantitative methods allow us to summarize vast sources of information and facilitate comparisons across categories and over time'
personal bias can be avoided by researchers keeping a 'distance' from participating subjects and employing subjects unknown to them

Disadvantages:

There are also many disadvantages that can be found when quantitative data is used one of them is that when quantitative data is found sometimes it can be superficial which means that it won’t be as accurate as it should be. For this reason many people have to double check the information they receive is that it is accurate and correct so that they are not giving wrong information out to the public.

Also another disadvantage found from using quantitative data is that there will be less information which will be provided to them if they are looking for certain type of information whereas with qualitative data there will be a lot of in-depth information which will be given to them.

collect a much narrower and sometimes superficial dataset
results are limited as they provide numerical descriptions rather than detailed narrative and generally provide less elaborate accounts of human perception
the research is often carried out in an unnatural, artificial environment so that a level of control can be applied to the exercise. This level of control might not normally be in place in the real world yielding laboratory results as opposed to real world results
in addition preset answers will not necessarily reflect how people really feel about a subject and in some cases might just be the closest match.
the development of standard questions by researchers can lead to 'structural' bias and false representation, where the data actually reflects the view of them instead of the participating subject.

What is pre-set criteria?

Pre-set criteria are something which sets the task beforehand. It is decided at the start of the chosen campaign so that it makes it easier for the individuals to follow their aims and objectives step by step. They have targets which they have to achieve in order to become successful. Pre-set shows the individuals what they will need to do in order to reach their goals and targets in term of quantity and quality and how long it will take them to reach their chosen goals.

“Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.”

How information is presented in a form of graph and charts:

Graphs:

Graphs are used when individuals want to define, explore and summarize numerical data in order to come to a solution or an answer. They are used to present large amount of data into a table which will summarize the whole thing into smaller data. There are many different graphs which individuals can explore their chosen data on such as line graph, bar graph or even histograms. Presenting their data on a graph is very important as it enable the reader to interpret the data easily.

One of the most common graphs which are used to interpret the data is bar charts. Bar charts are used to compare the data together which consists of numbers, frequency and other measures. The graph consists of two axis: y and an x. The y axis is used to present different categories whereas the y axis is used to present the units of measurement.

Presenting data on a graph is very important if an individual wants to interpret data, they will have to make sure that the data they want to interpret or compare has to be accurate and correct. When an individual want to interpret or compare continuous data they have make sure that they are using the right graph or chart.

When an individual wants to display their results on a graph they have to bear in mind about the graph they will be using. The data that is interpreted will be organised into:

• Discrete or categorical data

• Continuous data

Charts:

When wanting to present a large amount of numerical information, that individual will have to make sure that they present in a chart. There are many different charts which individuals can explore their chosen data on such as bar chart, pie chart or even line chart. Presenting their data on a chart is very important as it enable the reader to interpret the data easily.

Presenting data on a chart is very important if an individual wants to interpret data, they will have to make sure that the data they want to interpret or compare has to be accurate and correct. When an individual want to interpret or compare continuous data they have make sure that they are using the right chart.

Statistics:

When individuals have done research on certain topic such as alcohol and find results, they put their outcomes together to form a statistic. Statistic can be on anything such as how many teenagers drink alcohol before they reach the age of 15 or it can be ‘what is the most popular reason teenagers drink alcohol’.

Statistical information can be written in any form which can be from bar graphs to histograms. However they have to make sure that they choose the right graph/chart to present their information in. An example of this can be:

Bibliography: