Pilot Study
A small-scale trial run of a study conducted before the main data collection to test procedures, instruments, and feasibility.
A pilot study rehearses the research on a small sample: trying out the questionnaire, timing the interview protocol, checking that instructions are understood and equipment works. It reveals ambiguous items, unrealistic procedures, and practical obstacles while they are still cheap to fix. Pilot data are normally excluded from the main analysis, and pilot samples are too small to test hypotheses.
For a thesis, a pilot is inexpensive insurance against discovering a broken instrument after months of data collection. It also strengthens the methodology chapter: reporting what the pilot revealed and what you changed demonstrates a defensible, iterative approach. Supervisors and ethics committees often expect one for newly developed instruments, so build the extra time into the project schedule.
Writing the thesis this term belongs to?
CiteDash takes a thesis from research question to a compiled document, with AI that cites only real papers and verifies every claim against its source.