hi, I'd really appreciate any help/advice on this:

I'm helping out in a qualitative study and so far recruitment has been almost impossible. People are now saying they would rather answer questionnaires than have a face-to-face interview. But how can we change the protocol now, and questionnaire is not the same? How do I write up this work if we change the way we ask people???

I have also submitted an abstract for a conference in September. From being a usually positive person suddenly I am a bit worried that the study is not strong enough for the abstract to be accepted! Has anyone else had an abstract rejected? So if it is really rejected, could it also be that the conference may have had so many number of abstracts that they've had to exclude a few???

Thanks
love satchi

Hi Satchi,

I have just finished my PhD and only went to one conference. At the conference I went to, they had separated the days into half-day sessions each with a specific subject area, which meant that there were only a limited number of slots for talks, and even a set number of poster spaces in each category.

In my lab, three of us applied for posters, and one person actually got asked to give a talk rather than a poster. When we got there, it was clear that some sessions had hundreds of people there, meaning only the top professors gave talks, whilst other sessions were much emptier meaning that students were asked to do talks. So I definitely wouldn't worry too much, just see what happens, but if your abstract does get rejected then I wouldn't take it too personally!

Fingers crossed your abstract gets accepted!
Nikki

Hi Satchi

It is possible, depending on what type of qualitative research you're doing, to gather data without a face to face interview. For example, I've seen published papers in which open-ended questions were sent to participants by email, and then follow-up questions asked. Is it possible that people would take part on this basis? If you can justify your data collection in terms of having to work with participants' availability or if there's some reason why interviews are not the best option, it's still possible to carry out and write up the research.

I think you would be fine changing the mode, especially as it is lead by the results of your findings (that participants prefer a certain way of participating, which in itself is a finding!).

You wouldn't need to change the protocol, it'd be a mixed methods procedure, so using more than one method to get the findings you need. As it is qualitative it is very easy to combine,

Dear nikkiW, chickpea and Chococake, thank you so much for your replies.
I certainly feel "renewed" at this, I will go ahead and change the mode of getting my data.
Just that from my transcriptions, there doesn't seem to be any useful findings, honestly.
I guess this is down to the skill of the interviewer -- I guess I need to sharpen my skills because I don't seem to be getting "intelligent" answers :-(

I have been to many conferences, giving academic papers, but I think I have just been very lucky. I sent out loads of abstracts while doing my PhD, so that I maximize my chances. There were a few times (3-4) that I was offered a poster presentation instead, especially in the beginning of my PhD. I had no problem with this. I was happy to present a poster.

Well, it's not the end of the world if they do not accept your paper. You can present it in another conference, when you are ready.

Hi Satchi

I certainly have one paper that used email 'interviews' saved on my pc - if you'd like to pm me your email address I will send it.

hi chickpea I have pm-ed you
thanks
love satchi