Provide a brief overview of the four major techniques for gathering diagnostic data. In your discussion,
propose and motivate the most suitable data collection method for Full Circle Design.
Questionnaires
A Questionnaire is a series of questions used to collect data. Questionnaires are structured and they are practical
and efficient because they contain fixed-response questions about various features of an organisation. They can be
administered to large number of people at once and can be analysed quickly, especially with the use of computers
making it easy to feed back information to employees.
Questionnaires can be wide in scope, some evaluating particular features of the organisation and others assessing
more broad organisation characters. Questionnaires vary in the extent to which they are either standardised or
tailored to a specific organisation. Since every organisation has its own distinctive barriers and its own particular
language, standardised instruments will need to be modified to suit the specific organisation. One of the advantages
of questionnaires is that they are quite economical to use.
Potential problems of questionnaires are that, responses are limited to the questions asked. Sometimes different
respondent’s interpreted questions differently. They also provide limited possibility to probe for additional data.
Also questionnaires tend to be impersonal, and employees may not be willing to provide honest answers. All the
disadvantages of using questionnaires make it difficult to draw valid conclusions from employee reports.
Observations
Observations are a direct way of data collection. The ODP may do this by walking casually through a work area
and looking around or by simply counting the occurrences of specific kind of behavior. Observations can range
from complete participation of detached observation. Observations are free from inherent biases in self report data.
They put the ODP in direct touch with the behaviors in question. Observations also involve real-time data,
describing behavior occurring in the present rather the past. This avoids the distortion that invariably.
Observations are also adaptive in that the ODP can modify what he/she chooses to observe, depending on the
circumstances. Drawbacks are that observations are difficult to interpret meaning of the underlying observations.
ODPs may need to devise a coding scheme to make sense out of observation data. Personal bias and subjectivity
can distort the data unless observer is trained and skilled in knowing what to record systematically. Observer not
only must decide which people to observe, they also must choose the time periods, territory and events in which to
make these observations. Failure to attend to those sampling issues can result in highly biased samples of
behavior (Cummings & Worley, 2015).
Interviews
Interviews are probably the most widely used technique for collecting data in OD. They permit the interviewer to
ask the respondent direct questions. Further probing and clarification is possible as the interview proceeds. This
flexibility is invaluable for gaining private views and feelings about the organization and exploring new issues that
emerge during the interview. Interviews may be highly structured, resembling questionnaires, or highly
unstructured. Structured interviews typically derive from a conceptual model of the organisation functioning. The
model guides the types of questions that are asked.
Interviews are usually conducted one-to-one but can be carried out in a group. Group interviews save time and
allow people to build on other’s responses. Group interviews may, however, inhibit respondent’s answers if trust
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, is an issue. A popular type of group interview is the focus group or sensing meeting, those are unstructured. A
small group of 10-15 people is selected representing a larger group of people.
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