What methods will you use for the audit? There are many methods you can use to gauge the views of your colleagues, external stakeholders and partners. Surveys and questionnaires are useful tools to gather information from a large number of people. However, that information tends to be more superficial. Focus groups, workshops and interviews, on the other hand, are suitable for smaller numbers of people and the information will be more detailed. It is good practice to use a combination of methods to gather your data. This may involve using methods that gather both quantitative data (counting and numbers) and qualitative data (descriptions and words). Figure 10 gives examples. Figure 10: Examples of quantitative and qualitative data Audit Area Quantitative Data Qualitative Data Document Review The salary levels of staff NHRI staff salary policy Survey The number of staff employed The comments from staff in disaggregated by gender and other the open question sections of intersectional categories the survey The number of people attending The thoughts expressed focus groups disaggregated by by participants during focus gender and other intersectional groups discussions Focus Groups categories Using a combination of methods allows you to collect multiple perspectives on an issue. It also enables you to check consistency by cross-referencing your information against several sources. This is called data triangulation. 26