The process of research is flooded with a lot of problems and hazards that need to be considered. The novice or amateur researchers find it very challenging to take care of the problem areas of research, when they have out in so much energy and effort into the process. Some of the common errors that the researchers make are:
Lack of challenge and interest generating content in the data collection tool/questionnaire: Sometimes it does happen that the researcher chooses a problem with a biased perspective but it lies beyond the interest of the scientific community. In that case it fails to generate new knowledge or insight for the investigated phenomenon. A whole lot of effort is invested in the research process from beginning till the end and hence it should be ensured that the research process does not go futile and real problems are dealt with instead of the hypothetical ones.
Following short lived trends: A very common mistake is this one, where often a researcher is seen undertaking studies that have more popularity and a very short span of shelf life and in the end the complete effort of the study becomes a waste as the topic does not hold much relevance after some duration. So many times it is seen that the fads die down much before the completion of the research. Timeless topics are the best choice and researchers should be careful and aspire to choose such topics that stand strong in the test of time.
Unsighted data mining: Most of the novice researchers are seen going ahead with the process of data collection to begin with and keep the planning process for later. It is dangerous and hazardous for research to not know the means in which the data will be used before collecting it. A chain of other steps are necessary before the data collection is done and if that is not done, the data comes out to be irrelevant, not perfect and completely useless. The researcher must imperatively understand this that huge quantity of data is not a compensation for unplanned technique and poor execution.
Major issue occurs when data has to be collected many times from same respondents when we have to study the results before and after interventions.
Majority of respondents ignore online questionnaire. Then I started with face to face interviews that method is quite effective in data collection
Can someone suggest me on how should I calculate the sample size? I am working on my Master’s dissertation. Thanks!