Navigating the waves

The usefulness of a pilot in qualitative research

Bibliographic Data

ID12697294
AuthorsHelen Sampson (0000-0002-5857-9452, Seafarers International Research Centre, Cardiff University, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume4
Issue3
Pages383-402
Publication date2004-11-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQualitative Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-7941 • E-ISSN: 1741-3109
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1468794104047236
OpenAlexW2168970336
LanguageEN
Citations received27
References cited13

In line with a more reflexive approach in social science, particularly amongst ethnographers, authors increasingly report not just what they have found from a piece of research but how they have gone about doing it. Using a similar style this article considers the importance of pilot work in undertaking qualitative and ethnographic studies, prior to researcher immersion in the ‘field’. It offers an account of the author’s experiences of ‘cold’and total immersion in a fieldwork setting and uses a contrasting example of a funded and carefully developed pilot study using a variety of methods, in order to highlight the benefits of pilot work. In doing so it suggests that while pilots are not new to ethnographers they are under-discussed and to some extent under-utilized, perhaps as a consequence of methodological allegiances and a tendency to link pilots with more positivist approaches in social science. The article suggests that while pilots can be used to refine research instruments such as questionnaires and interview schedules they have greater use still in ethnographic approaches to data collection in foreshadowing research problems and questions, in highlighting gaps and wastage in data collection, and in considering broader and highly significant issues such as research validity, ethics, representation and researcher health and safety

Data collection · Engineering ethics · Epistemology · Ethnography · Positivism · Qualitative research · Reflexivity · Research design · Research ethics · Social research · Social science · Sociology · Applied Psychology · Data Analysis and Archiving · Engineering · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Psychology · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics

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