Page 247 - DCAP304_DCAP515_SOFTWARE_PROJECT_MANAGEMENT

Unit 12: Monitoring & Control

Notes

Task Indices and scales are often used interchangeably to refer to all sorts of measures,
absolute or relative, single or composite, simple or elaborate. “Scaling” refers to the
procedure by which numbers or scores assigned to the various degrees of opinions, attitude
and other concepts. Explain

12.2.4 Pilot Studies and Pre-tests

Pilot Study

It is difficult to plan a major study or project without adequate knowledge of its subject matter,
the population it is to cover, their level of knowledge and understanding and the like. What are
the issues involved? What are the concepts associated with the subject matter? How can they be
operationalised? What method of study is appropriate? How long the study will take? How
much money it will cost? These and other related questions call for a good deal of knowledge of
the subject matter of the study and its dimensions. In order to gain such pre-knowledge of the
subject matter of an extensive study, a preliminary investigation is conducted. This is called a
pilot study.

Pre-test

While a pilot study is a full-fledged miniature study of a problem, pre-test is a trial test of a
specific aspect of the study such as method of data collection or data collection instrument -
interview schedule, mailed questionnaire or measurement scale.

Need for Pre-testing

An instrument of data collection is designed with reference to the data requirements of the
study. But it cannot be perfected purely on the basis of a critical scrutiny by the designer and
other researchers. It should he empirically tested. As emphatically pointed by Goode and Hatt,
“no amount of thinking, no matter how logical the mind or brilliant the insight, is likely to take
the place of careful empirical checking”. Hence pre-testing of a draft instrument is indispensable.
Pre-testing-means trial administration of the instrument to a sample of respondents before
finalising it.

Purposes of Pre-testing

Pre-testing has several purposes: (1) to test whether the instrument would elicit responses
required to achieve the research objectives, (2) to test whether the content of the instrument is
relevant and adequate, (3) to test whether wording of questions is clear and suited to the
understanding of the respondents, (4) to test the other qualitative aspects of the instrument like
question structure and question sequence, and (5) to develop appropriate procedure for
administering the instrument with reference to field conditions.
Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
5. Two different people, collecting the same measure for the same item will collect the
………………...........

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