Quantitative research

The Institute of Social Research and Analysis works actively in both quantitative and qualitative research.

The research organization uses the following methods in quantitative studies:

• Face-to-face interview;
• Data gathering by completing questionnaires;
• Content analysis;
• Telephone survey.

One of the results of the organization’s long work history is the development of a network of interviewers across the country. This network of up to 120 interviewers provides an opportunity for conducting large-scale field work (needed in case of national sampling) successfully and with a high quality due to the experience and professionalism of its members. The network of interviewers is managed by project coordinators and a team of 11 regional supervisors who provide local supervision. Supervisors oversee their own region which provides them with an opportunity to gain full knowledge about the peculiarities of their region with regard to field work.

The network of interviewers and supervisors provides the Institute with an opportunity to study samples of any scale and type (in terms of demography, geography or other relevant parameters).

The interviewers of the Institute of Social Studies and Analysis are distinguished by these following characteristics:

• Good communication skills reflected in the high percentage of respondents’ replies to questions;
• Relevant qualifications and a high level of intellectual skills in humanities and social sciences which enable the interviewers to analyze and understand topics from various fields and with varying levels of difficulty, master interviewing instructions and follow the dynamics of questionnaires in the period of preparation of the study;
• Professional approach towards work reflected in adherence to high standards of professional ethics and high quality in terms of reliability of data.

ISSA gathers data for quantitative research mainly through face-to-face interviews with the use of tablet computers. The tablet computers are equipped with a special data gathering application - ODK Collector - which, when needed, provides an opportunity for “live” receipt of data.

The Institute of Social Studies and Analysis provides interested persons and organizations with the service of conducting both the full cycle of a study including all the major stages of the study (designing the study program, creating the sampling design, developing research tools, conducting field work, processing and analyzing data), as well as separate operations.

In quantitative studies, the organization’s statisticians and analysts use diverse approaches towards data analysis to achieve the goals and objectives of research projects. Quantitative data are analyzed using uni-, bi- and multivariate methods as per the types of variables. The analysis encompasses comprehensive and in-depth study of the topic of research based on empirical data. For this purpose, complex methods of statistical analysis such as correlation, regression, factor analysis, etc. are used.