1

By

P. Satya Prakash

PILOT STUDY

2

PILOT STUDY

• A pilot study, is a small experiment conducted in advance of a planned project, specifically to test aspects of the research design and to allow necessary adjustment before final commitment to the design.

• A good research strategy requires careful planning and a pilot study will often be a part of this strategy.

3

Objectives

• To gain insight into how subjects will respond prior to administering the full survey instrument.

• To get insight into effective designing of research, before a mega-research project is undertaken.

• Although a pilot study constitutes primary research, it tends to be used in the context of a qualitative analysis.

4

REASONS FOR CONDUCTING PILOT STUDIES

• Developing and testing adequacy of research instruments.

• Assessing the feasibility of a full scale survey.

• Designing a research protocol.

• Collecting preliminary data.

• Determining what resources are needed for a planned study.

5

• Developing a research question and research plan.

• Training a researcher in as many elements of the research process as possible.

• Convincing funding bodies that the research team is competent and knowledgeable.

• Convincing funding bodies that the main study is feasible and worth funding.

• Convincing other stakeholders that the main study is worth supporting.

6

IMPORTANCES OF PILOT STUDY

• It permits preliminary testing of the hypotheses that leads to testing more precise hypotheses in the main study. It may lead to changing some hypotheses, dropping some, or developing new hypotheses.

• It often provides the researcher with ideas, approaches, and clues which may not have foreseen before conducting the pilot study. Such ideas and clues increase the chances of getting clearer findings in the main study.

• It provides better knowledge about the problem under study.

7

It helps the researcher to some unnecessary dimensions of the study.

It helps the researcher in identifying the nature of relationship between the variables and in formulating hypothesis.

It helps the researcher to have better clarity about the sampling procedures adopted in the study.

It helps the researcher to access the suitability of data collection methods adopted in the study.

It helps the researcher to identify the actual problem in the field work.

8

• It saves a lot of time and money. Unfortunately, many research ideas that seem to show great promise are unproductive when actually carried out. The pilot study almost always provides enough data for the researcher to decide whether to go ahead with the main study.

• In the pilot study, the researcher may try out a number of alternative measures and then select those that produce the clearest results for the main study.

• The pilot study helps the researcher to restructure the entire process to complete the same in a more systematic way.

9

PILOT STUDYRESEARCH TECHNIQUES

There are four major qualitative research techniques that can be used as a part of a pilot study.

• Depth Interview

• Focus group

• Panel

• Projective Techniques

10

Advantages Saves resources like Time, Money, HR etc. Gives better focus & clear direction to in-depth research.

Disadvantages If any mistakes are done in pilot study stage, it gets

magnified in later stages also. Extreme care is required in going for this method.

11

CONCLUSION

• Well-designed and well-conducted pilot studies can inform us about the best research process and occasionally about likely outcomes.

• Therefore investigators should be encouraged to report their pilot studies, and in particular to report in more detail the actual improvements made to the study design and the research process.