Collecting Your Own Data-Primary Research
Dr. Nancy Agens, Head,
Technical Operations, Statswork
info@statswork.com
I. INTRODUCTION
In every research studies, the
scientist wants to identify the truth or they
wish to develop meaningful insights into
the problem. In order to make any valid
conclusion about the research problem or
hypothesis, we need valid evidence.
Moreover, the evidence can be represented
by collecting data (numeric or non-
numeric in nature). In any statistical
analysis, data collection is the
fundamental step and there are two forms
of data collection; Primary and
Secondary method of data collection. I
will describe you the meaning of primary
data, examples of primary data collection
and different ways of collecting the same.
II. PRIMARY DATA
The researcher collected the
Primary data through surveys, experiment,
interview, etc, and it is considered to be
the best research methodology as the data
are collected from the original source.
However, before collecting the primary
data, the main task of the researcher is to
identify the sample population and the
mode of data collection.
III. EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY DATA
COLLECTION
 Suppose if you are interested in
identifying the sales of a product in the
market and make a profitable
business plan, then you may conduct a
sample survey about the product to
selected customers and identify the
pattern of sales and fix a target for
future years (Niraula, 2019).
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 In many psychological experiments,
they often collect primary data through
lab experiments, questionnaire, etc, to
understand the relationship between
the variables under study.
 Suppose a research student want to
find out which cool drink they like
most. Then he/she collect the data by
conducting experimental research. That
is, he/she take a sample of say 30
people and ask them to choose which
drink taste good from the 5 different
cool drinks presented before them and
recorded the findings for the study.
IV. PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION
METHODS
Primary data can be collected in
different ways and are explained as
follows:
 Data collection through Interview –
In this method, there are two groups:
one is the researcher asking questions
to the respondents or the interviewer
and the other group is the people
answering to the questions or
interviewee. An interview can be done
either telephonic conversation or direct
(face-to-face) interview. The benefits
of the interview method are that the
information is clear and deep, and
missing data can be easily identified
and we can control the size of the
sample. The limitations of this method
are it involves longer time to complete,
manual mistakes while recording or
coding the data and cost incurred is
high (Pochiraju & Seshadri, 2019).
 Questionnaires and Surveys – In this
case, the researcher frame a set of
questions to be asked to the
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 respondents and collect the data by
circulating them. Mostly, a pilot study
should be conducted when we make
use of this data collection method.
These data can be collected either
offline mode (direct survey like a
census) or on-line mode (google
forum, email, etc). The benefits of this
data collection are the respondent gets
enough time to answer the questions,
and the cost of conducting this method
is comparatively low. The limitation of
this is once the question is framed, we
cannot alter in the middle and it
requires more time.
 Data collection through observation
- This type of data collection is often
used in behavioural science. The
researcher uses a tool to collect the
data. For example, in a teaching
requirement process, the person is
asked to present a demo to evaluate the
capability of the teacher. The benefits
of this method are that it is not related
to the past or future outcome and is
objective in nature. The limitation is
limited information and selected target
samples.
 Data through Experiments – This
type of data collection is often carried
out in the medical field. Suppose a
researcher wants to identify the
performance of a new drug and he/she
conduct an experiment by taking a
sample subject. Here the subjects are
pre determined because only the
patients with certain disease are tested
by giving the appropriate drug. The
benefits of this method are there is no
non-response in the data and it is also
objective in nature. The limitation is
that human error is possible and
expensive.
The main advantages of collecting
primary data over the secondary data is
that (1) it provides freedom to collect data
according to your research objective (2)
the recorded data is more accurate than
secondary data (3) you don’t need to share
the data to others unless if you wish to (4)
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you can have proper control in the sample
size and finally (5) the information is up to
date (Gray, 2009).
Statistical support service Once
the collected the data then proceed the next
phase as statistical analysis. The statistical
analysis is used to describe the data
structure, classify the data, correlate or
identify the relationship, validating the
data, predicting the future outcomes in the
study. Data analysis service offers the
serveral tests that available in the literature
for analysing primary data. For example, if
the sample size is small, then one may use
the t-distribution test and if the sample is
large enough then one may use z-test, etc.
In addition, there are few situations that
the data may be non-numeric in nature,
then one can use the classification and
clustering technique for analysing the
primary data (De Vaus, 1986).
To sum up, primary research
involves the proper collection of data and
appropriate research objective. The first
step of any primary research is to identify
the data type and choose the appropriate
data collection method and proper
statistical tool to make reliable results. The
primary data collection method is often
accurate and gives real time conclusions.
Primary research can be either qualitative
or quantitative or a combination of both
types in nature. On the basis of the data
type you can execute either qualitative or
quantitative analysis to make
conclusions.
REFERENCES
[1] Gray, D.E. (2009). Doing Research in the Real
World. 2nd Ed. [Online]. United kingdom: SAGE
Publications. Available from:
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=l4dEQTQl1N
YC&dq=doing+research+in+the+real+world&sou
rce=gbs_navlinks_s.
[2] Niraula (2019). A review of research process, data
collection and analysis. Insights in Biology and
Medicine. [Online]. 3 (1). pp. 001–006. Available
from: https://www.heighpubs.org/hjbm/ibm-
aid1014.php.
[3] Pochiraju, B. & Seshadri, S. (2019). Essentials of
Business Analytics. International Series in
Operations Research & Management Science. B.
Pochiraju & S. Seshadri (eds.). [Online]. Cham:
2
 Springer International Publishing. Available from:
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-
68837-4.
[4] De Vaus, D.A. (1986). Surveys in social research.
[Online]. Allen & Unwin. Available from:
https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:225795.

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