Method of data collection

Where do data come from?
 Secondary data
 Primary Data

Secondary data
 Secondary data – data someone else has
collected
 Examples:
 County health departments
 Vital Statistics – birth, death certificates
 Hospital, clinic, school nurse records
 Private and foundation databases
 City and county governments
 Surveillance data from state government programs

Secondary data Limitation
 When was it collected? For how long?
 May be out of date for what you want to analyze.
 May not have been collected long enough for
detecting trends.
 There may be missing information on some
observations.
 May be Sample selection bias and source choice are
bias.
 Proxy variables may not be appropriate.

Secondary data Advantages
 It will save you money and time.
 It may be very accurate. (Government data are
funded by large resources)

Primary data
 Primary data – data you collect
 Both primary and secondary data have pros and
cons.
 Primary data are collected by several method
 Observation Method
 Interview Method
 Questionnaire
 Schedules
 Other methods such as warranty cards, projective
techniques, consumer panel etc.,

Observation Method
 The researcher goes in to place and observe the
condition in their natural state.
 For structured observation, the researcher specifies in detail
what is to be observed and how the measurements are to be
recorded, e.g., an auditor performing inventory analysis in a
store.
 In unstructured observation, the observer monitors all
aspects of the phenomenon that seem relevant to the problem
at hand, e.g., observing children playing with new toys.

Disguised vs Undisguised
Observation
 In disguised observation, the respondents are
unaware that they are being observed. Disguise
may be accomplished by using one-way mirrors,
hidden cameras, or inconspicuous mechanical
devices. Observers may be disguised as
shoppers or sales clerks.
 In undisguised observation, the respondents
are aware that they are under observation.

Observation Methods
Personal
Observation
Mechanical
Observation
Trace
Analysis
Content
Analysis
Audit
Observation Method

Personal Observation
 A researcher observes actual behavior as it
occurs.
 The observer does not attempt to manipulate
the phenomenon being observed but merely
records what takes place.
 For example, a researcher might record traffic
counts and observe traffic flows in a
department store.

Mechanical Observation
Do not require respondents' direct participation.
 turnstiles that record the number of people entering or
leaving a building.
 On-site cameras (still, motion picture, or video)
 Optical scanners in supermarkets
Do require respondent involvement.
 eye-tracking monitors
 voice pitch analyzers
 devices measuring response latency

Audit
 The researcher collects data by examining
physical records or performing inventory analysis.
 Data are collected personally by the researcher.
 The data are based upon counts, usually of
physical objects.
For Ex:
 Number of Products dispatched from inventory
 Number of undesired event happen in plant A

Content Analysis
 Content analysis is the analysis of texts of various
types including writing, images, recordings and
cultural artifacts. The purpose of content analysis
is to
 Make inferences about the antecedents of a communication
 Describe and make inferences about characteristics of a
communication
 Make inferences about the effects of a communication.
 Ex: Search word in online (giving correct suggestion), in
media content analysis by reporter

Trace Analysis
Data collection is based on physical traces, or evidence,
of past behavior.
Examples:
 The number of different fingerprints on a page was used to
gauge the readership of various advertisements in a
magazine.
 The position of the radio dials in cars brought in for service
was used to estimate share of listening audience of various
radio stations.
 The magazines people donated to charity were used to
determine people's favorite magazines.
 Internet visitors leave traces which can be analyzed to
examine browsing and usage behavior by using cookies.

Interview
 The Interview schedule is referred to as a form filled in
during a personal interview in which both the interviewers
as well as the respondent are present. It contains a set of
questions which are asked and then the columns are filled
in by an interviewer in a face to face situation.

Types of Interviews
 Structured and Unstructured interview
 Focused interview
 Clinical interview
 Depth interview

Structured or Directive Interview
 This is an interview made with a detailed
standardized schedule. The same questions
are put to all the respondents and in the same
order. Each question is asked in the same way
in each interviews. This type of interview is
used for large-scale formalized surveys.

Unstructured or Non directive
interview
 The interviewer encourages the respondent to talk freely
about a given topic with a minimum of prompting or
guidance. In this type of interview, a detailed pre-planned
schedule is not used. Only a broad interview guide is used.
 The interviewer avoids channeling the interview directions.
 This interviewing is more useful in case studies rather than
in surveys.

Focused Interview
 This is a semi-structured interview where the
investigator attempts to focus the discussion on
the actual effects of a given experience to which
the respondents have been exposed.
 The interview is focused on the subjective
experiences of the respondent, i.e., his attitudes,
and emotional responses regarding the situation
under study.

Clinical interview
 This is similar to the focused interview but with
a subtle difference.
 While the focused interview is concerned with
the effects of a specific experience, clinical
interview is concerned with broad underlying
feelings or motivations or with the course of
the individual's life experiences.

Depth interview
 This is an intensive and searching interview
aiming at studying the respondent's opinion,
emotions or convictions on the basis of an
interview guide. This is generally a lengthy
procedure designed to encourage free
expression of his/her feeling, emotion, his
knowledge about particular area of study.

Advantages and Disadvantages of
Interview
Advantages:
 The interview is more appropriate for complex situations.
 It is useful for collecting in-depth information.
 Information can be supplemented.
 Questions can be explained.
 Interviewing has a wider application
Disadvantages:
 Interviewing is time consuming and expensive.
 The quality of data depends upon the quality of the interviewer.
 The quality of data may vary when may interviewers are used.
 The researcher may introduce his/her bias.

Questionnaire
 List of a research or survey questions asked to
respondents, and designed to extract specific
information from the respondents is called as
Questionnaire.

Steps in Questionnaire
Construction
 Preparation
 Constructing the first draft
 Self-evaluation
 External evaluation
 Revision
 Pre-test or Pilot study
 Revision
 Second Pre-test if necessary
 Preparing final Copy

Types of questions
1.Factual questions
Normally pertain to respondents ages, education, library experience,
memberships in professional organizations, or any other pertinent personal data
needed in the study.
2. Opinion and Attitude Question
When the purpose of a survey is to obtain information about respondents
beliefs. feelings, values, and related concepts, opinion and attitude questions can
be used
3. Information question
In some types of survey research, investigators might attempt to determine
how respondents know about a given topic and how or when their research
subjects gained certain knowledge

Types of questions
4. Self perception question
 These questions is about the self-perceptions of respondents in a
given topic or area.
5. Standard of action question
 In some types of surveys, investigators might attempt to determine
how respondents will act in certain circumstances or how subjects
feel about a new development or forthcoming event.
6. Projective questions
 At times, questions are used that allow respondents to answer
inquiries in an indirect manner by imposing their personal feelings,
attitudes, or beliefs on another person or group of persons.

Unstructured and Structured
question
Questions can also be classified, on the basis of
form and method of response, into two major
categories: Unstructured and structured.
 Unstructured Question:
 allow respondents to reply freely without having to select
one of several provided responses
 Structured Question
 It specifies the respondents answer in a several provided
options in a question.

Way of Administering
Questionnaire
 Collective Administration - One of the best way of
administering a questionnaire is to obtain a captive audience
such as students in classroom, people attending a function.
 Administration in a public places - Sometimes you can
administer a questionnaire in a public place such as a
shopping Center, health center, hospital, school or pub, it is
dependent upon the type of study population .
 The mailed questionnaire - The most common approach to
collecting information is to send the questionnaire to
prospective respondents by mail.

Schedule Method
 Incase informants are largely uneducated and
data cannot be collected by the mailed
questionnaire method.
 Questionnaires are sent through the
enumerators to collect information. (Schedule
Method)
 Enumerator explains the scope and objective
to respondent and get the data whatever you
want.

Other Method if data collection
 Warranty cards: To collect information regarding their products
from customer.
 Distributor or store audits: Distributors get the retail stores
audited through salesmen and use such information to estimate
market size, market share, seasonal purchasing pattern
(Observation).
 Projective techniques: Projective techniques (or what are
sometimes called as indirect interviewing techniques) for the
collection of data have been developed by psychologists to use
projections of respondents for inferring about underlying motives,
urges, or intentions which are such that the respondent either
resists to reveal them or is unable to figure out himself. (e.g.
sentence completion, story completion and pictorial representation
test etc)

SELECTION OF APPROPRIATE
METHOD FOR DATA COLLECTION
 Nature, scope and object of study (Most
important).
 Availability of fund.
 Time factor.
 Precision required.

Method of data collection

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