Pilot Study

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The Concise Oxford Thesaurus defines a pilot study as on experimental exploratory, test, preliminary, trial or try out investigation.

A trial study carried out before a research design is finalized to assist in defining the research question or to test the feasibility, reliability & validity of the proposed study design.

A small scale study conducted to test the plan & method of a research study

Definitions

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Pilot test is a trial collection of data to detect weaknesses in design and instrument and provide proxy data for selection of a probability sample.

Pretesting is intended to reveal errors in the design.

Pretesting permits refinement before the final test.

Definition

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Main Reasons :

1. Process : This assesses the feasibility of the process that are key to the success of the main study

2. Resources : This deals with assessing time & resource problems that can occur during the main study.

3. Management : This covers potential human & data management problems.

4. Scientific : This deals with the assessment of the response, effect & variance of the effect

Reasons for conducting Pilot study

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1. Developing & testing adequacy of research instrument2. Assessing the feasibility of a full scale study /survey3. Establishing whether the sampling frame & technique are

effective collecting preliminary data.4. Determining what resources are needed for a planned

study5. Assessing the proposed data analysis techniques to

uncover potential problems.6. Developing a research question & research plan.7. Convincing funding bodies & other stakeholders that the

main study is worth supporting.

Other Reasons :

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A pilot study is a small study designed to gather information prior to a larger study, in order to improve the quality of final study.

A pilot study can reveal deficiencies in the design of a proposed research proposal.

A good research strategy requires careful planning & a pilot study often is a part of this strategy.

When to carry out a Pilot Study

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It permits preliminary testing of hypothesis 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 & clues the researcher may not have foreseen before conducting the pilot study. Such ideas & clues increase the chances of getting clearer findings in the main study.

It permits a thorough check of the planned statistical & analytical procedures, giving a researcher a chance to evaluate their usefulness to the data. The researcher may then be able to make needed alterations in the data collecting methods & therefore analyze data in the main study more efficiently.

Advantages of a Pilot Study

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It can greatly reduce the number of unanticipated problems because the researcher have all opportunity to redesign parts of his/her study to overcome difficulties that the pilot study reveals.

It may save lot of time & money. 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 & then select those that produce the clearest results for the cleanest results for the main study.

Advantages of a Pilot Study

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The less research experience the student has, the more she/he is likely to benefit from a pilot study.

Because of that possibility, the student should attempt a pilot study whenever possible.

Especially for Students

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Possibility of making inaccurate predictions or assumptions on the basis of pilot data.

Completing a pilot study successfully is not a guarantee of the success of the full scale survey. Although pilot study findings may offer some indication of the likely size of response rate in the main survey, they cannot guarantee this because they do not have a statistical foundation & are nearly always based on small numbers

Problems of Pilot Study

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A further concern is that of contamination. This may arise in two ways :

a) Where data from pilot study are included in the main results

b) Where pilot study are included in the main study, but new data are collected from these people.

A more common problem is deciding whether to include pilot study participants in the main study.

Problems may also arise where a pilot study requires significant investment & resources, making it difficult for the study team or researcher to call a halt to the research after an unsuccessful pilot study.

Problems of Pilot Study

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