Business Decision Making
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Lesson Outcomes
Identify the various types of data
Identify the sources of secondary data
Be aware of the advantages /
disadvantages of types of survey
Be able to design questionnaires
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What is Data?
Data is simply a scientific term for facts,
figures, information and measurements
Data is raw. It simply exists and has no
significance beyond its existence. It
can exist in any form, usable or not.
Data can be qualitative or quantitative.
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data
Qualitative
(attributes)
Quantitative
(variables)
Discrete
(whole units)
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Continuous
(all values)
Data Sources
Data collected by an organisation may be:
Internal (from the organisation itself)
eg. Sales, financial, employee, transport,
stock etc
External (from outside the organisation).
eg. Government, institutions, market
research companies, media etc.
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In order to make decisions
Primary;
Data needs to be collected.
Secondary;
Tertiary
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Primary Data
Information which is collected first hand,
and especially for the purpose of whatever
survey is being conducted.
For example, a pop poll interview on a
street, commissioned by an organisation,
intended to gain specific market share data.
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Primary Data
Primary data is captured using a variety
of processes, for example:
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Surveys;
Interviews;
Focus groups;
Questionnaires;
Audits.
Secondary Data
Already available, and collected by
someone other than the user.
Examples of secondary data sources:
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Journals;
Books;
Census data;
Newspaper articles;
Biographies
Attributes
A quality, property or feature belonging
to or representing a person or thing.
Something an object has/has not got
A specific value on a variable
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Variables
Something which can be measured.
e.g. height
Can be classified as discrete (a finite
or countable number of values within a
given range), or continuous (may take
on any value, measured rather than
counted)
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Internal Data
Relate to activities or transactions
performed within the organisation.
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Examples: Administrative tasks such
as correspondence or payroll
calculation, the production of products
and services, or the sales of those
products.
Internal Data
Internal sources of data can be
classified according to the department
of the organisation to which it relates:
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e.g. Purchasing,
Production,
Sales,
Marketing etc.
Gathering internal data/
information from inside the
organisation involves:
Establishing a system for collecting or
measuring data . As to what data is
collected, how frequently, by whom and
by what method
Relying to some extent on the informal
communication lines between
managers and staff eg, word of mouth,
conservations at meetings, email etc.
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External Data
Organisations need to collect data relating to
the outside world or the environment of the
organisation
Data relating to the environment of an
organisation might be classified under:
Political
Economic
Social
Technological
Competitive
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3 main types of Data
Collection
Census
Sample Survey
Administrative by-product data
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Census
This refers to data collection about
everyone or everything in a group or
population.
e.g. if you collected the age of everyone
in your department, it would be
regarded as a department census.
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High degree of accuracy
Costly and time consuming
Sample Survey
In this type of data collection only part of the
total population is approached for data.
e.g. If you have collected the age of 10 people
in a department of 50, it would be a sample
survey of the department rather a census.
Surveys cost less than census and results are
obtained at a greater speed.
Depending on sample size there can be
inaccuracies, and information in small
populations may not be obtainable
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Administrative by-product data
Collected as a by-product of an organisations
day to day operations.
e.g. Include data on births, deaths, marriages,
divorces, airport arrivals and motor vehicle
registrations.
Advantage high degree of accuracy as data is
collected on everyone associated with the
service
Data is on-going so trends can be observed
Lack of flexibility
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Methods of obtaining
sample data
Observation
Experimentation
Questionnaires
Qualitative techniques
Consumer panels
Trade audits or retail audits
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Primary & Secondary
Research
To generate the data/information
requirements you need to define and report
the following:
Scope: means the boundaries of what you
are doing
Focus: means what you are collecting data
about
Contexts: means the factors in the
immediate environment of the problem area.
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Quantitative Research
Quantitative research is used to measure how
many people feel, think or act in a particular
way.
These surveys tend to include large samples anything from 50 to any number of interviews.
Structured questionnaires are usually used
incorporating mainly closed questions questions with set responses.
There are various vehicles used for collecting
quantitative information but the most common
are on-street or telephone interviews.
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Qualitative Research
Qualitative research seeks out the
why, not the how of its topic through
the analysis of unstructured information
things like interview transcripts and
recordings, emails, notes, feedback
forms, photos and videos.
It doesnt just rely on statistics or
numbers, which are the domain of
quantitative researchers.
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Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is used to gain
insight into people's attitudes,
behaviours, value systems, concerns,
motivations, aspirations, culture or
lifestyles.
It is used to inform business
decisions, policy formation,
communication and research.
Focus groups, in-depth interviews,
content analysis and semiotics are
among the many formal approaches.
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Qualitative Research
Collecting and analysing this
unstructured information can be messy
and time consuming using manual
methods.
When faced with transcripts, emails,
pictures, diaries and audio or video
material - finding themes and extracting
meaning can be a daunting task.
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Data Manipulation
After editing, data may be manipulated
by computer to produce the desired
output.
Some typical ways that software can
manipulate data:
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Spreadsheets
Databases
Charts
Spreadsheets
These are used to create formulas that
automatically add columns or rows of
figures, calculate means and perform
statistical analyses.
They can be used to create financial
worksheets such as budgets or
expenditure forecasts, balance
accounts and analyse costs.
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Databases
These are electronic filing cabinets.
They are used to systematically store
data for easy access to produce
summaries, stock takes or reports.
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A database program should be able to
able to store, retrieve, sort and
analyse data.
Charts
These can be created from a table of
numbers and displayed in a number of
ways, to show the significance of a
selection of data.
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Bar, line, pie and other types of charts
can be generated and manipulated to
advantage.
Sampling
Sampling involves selecting a sample of
items from a population.
It is subject to quantitative methods.
In most practical situations the
population will be too large to carry out
a complete survey and only a sample
will be examined.
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Methods of Sampling
Random sampling
Quasi-random sampling
Non-random sampling
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Random Sampling
A random sample is a sample selected in such
a way that every item in the population has an
equal chance of being included.
Example: if you wanted to take a random
sample of library books, it would not be
good enough to pick them off the shelves,
even if you picked at random.
This is because the books which were out
on loan would not stand a chance of being
chosen. The library catalogue can be used
for this purpose.
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Quasi-random sampling
This sampling provides a good
approximation to random sampling,
necessitates the existence of a sample
frame.
The main methods of quasi-random
sampling are:
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Systematic sampling
Stratified sampling
Multistage sampling
Non-random sampling
There are two main methods of nonrandom sampling, used when a
sampling frame cannot be established.
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Quota sampling
Cluster sampling
