RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS FOR DATA COLLECTION

WHAT ARE RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

These are the fact finding strategies. They are the tools for data collection. There is
no doubt that in Educational Research, data collection, forms an essential
component of the research process. This is because it enables the researcher to
obtain relevant information or gain the experience of others from which he or she
imbibes lessons for the enrichment of his report. In this respect, different
procedures and data collection instruments have to be employed. These
principally include questionnaire, interview, observation, reading and
transcribing. Since data collected specifically in qualitative research has to help in
answering research questions, the researcher must carefully select the informants
(respondents) to be interviewed or administered with questionnaire. He must
carefully choose relevant documents to be read or visual materials to be observed.
This means that research question or statement of hypothesis significant in
quantitative research determines the appropriate data collection instrument for a
research.

Essentially the researcher must ensure that the instrument chosen is valid and
reliable.

In data collection, it is important to find out which instrument or tool will better serve
the purpose of the study, in order to obtain the right information that will answer the
research questions. Please note that the validity and reliability of any research
project depends largely on the appropriateness of such instruments. Whatever
procedure one uses to collect data, it must primarily be critically examined to check
the extent at which it is likely to give you the expected results.

Today, the use of both digital and analogue recorders enhance data collection.
Technical gadgets such as the audio and video recorders, cameras, telephones,
computers, fax, and e- mail systems have gained importance as auxiliary tools and
equipment in the data collection processes. Sketching in drawing is one of the
traditional artistic skills, by which fine artists, industrial designers and architectural
designers collect data for studio and design-based research.

NOTE: Do not commence Data Collection exercise when;

1. a research problem and suitable topic has not been identified and stated
2. your aims and objectives have not been specified
3. the research question has not been stated
4. your hypothesis, if necessary, has not been stated.

The above, obviously set the parameters within which the scope and delimitations of
a academic research activity can be defined.

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Questionnaire
• This is a data collection instrument mostly used in normative surveys. This
is a systematically prepared form or document with a set of
questions deliberately designed to elicit responses from respondents or
research informants for the purpose of collecting data or information.
• It is a form of inquiry document, which contains a systematically compiled
and well organised series of questions intended to elicit the information
which will provide insight into the nature of the problem under study.
• It is a form that contains a set of questions on a topic or group of topics
designed to be answered by the respondent.
• The respondents are the population samples of the study. The answers
provided by the respondents constitute the data for the report.

The effective use of questionnaire for data collection depends on the mode of
formulation and administration of the questions, the medium of delivering the
questionnaire and the method of contacting respondents for retrieval of the
questionnaire. These modes affect the credibility and quality of the data obtained.
Note that the respondent is not under any obligation to respond to the
questionnaire. The respondent therefore has to be influenced in order to submit
accurate data to the questions administered. Read more for some expect
strategies.

Types of Questionnaire
Questionnaires may be designed as Structured (closed form) or Unstructured,
(open ended form).

Structured questionnaire
They are those in which some control or guidance is given for the answer. This may
be described as closed form because the questions are basically short, requiring the
respondent to provide a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response, or checking an item out of a list of
given responses. Questions that require yes or no answers are also termed as
Dichotomous questions. It may, also be multiple choice options from which the
respondent selects the answer closer to their own opinion. The respondent's
choices are limited to the set of options provided.

Unstructured questionnaire
This type, which is also termed as open-ended or unrestricted type of questionnaire
calls for a free response in the respondent's own words. The respondent frames and
supplies the answer to the question raised in the questionnaire. It also constitutes
questions which give the respondent an opportunity to express his or her opinions
from a set of options. Spaces are often provided for respondents to make their
inputs.

Interviews
Interviews become necessary when researchers feel the need to meet face-to-face
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with individuals to interact and generate ideas in a discourse that borders on mutual
interest. It is an interaction in which oral questions are posed by the interviewer
to elicit oral response from the interviewee. Specifically with research interviews,
the researcher has to identify a potential source of information, and structure the
interaction in a manner that will bring out relevant information from his respondent.
The creation of a cordial atmosphere is therefore vital to the success of such an
interaction. Apart from face-to-face interviews, they can also be conducted over the
phone or the computer terminal via video conferencing technology.

Interviews range from formal to less formal and to completely informal interviews.
There are four principal types of interview: (a) the structured interview; (b) the
unstructured interview; (c) the non-directive interview; and (d) the focus interview.

Structured Interviews
The Structured Interviews are formal because, sets of questions known as interview
questionnaire are posed to each interviewee visited and the responses are
recorded on a standardized schedule. It is therefore characterised as being a
closed interview situation. In structured interview, the interviewer follows a set
pattern usually adhering as much as possible to the order of questions on the
interview questionnaire whilst posing the questions in a formal manner. Interviewers
must always ensure that the atmosphere of an interview is congenial to establish
interviewer-interviewee rapport.

Unstructured Interview
The Unstructured Interview is the less formal type in which although sets of
questions may be used, the interviewer freely modifies the sequence of questions,
changes the wording and sometimes explains them or adds to them during the
interaction. Hence the researcher has to be careful in order not to deviate from his
focus. The atmosphere is often casual. This is conducted in what is characterised
as an opened situation because there is more flexibility and freedom in the
interaction.

Non-Directive Interview
The Non-Directive Interview or the unguided gives excessive freedom for the
respondent to express his or her ideas subjectively and spontaneously as she
chooses or is able to. There are no set questions in this style. It is the most
appropriate type of interview to use when investigating issues where the
respondent has to be allowed to talk uninterrupted on a very broad topic which will
unconsciously reveal personal motives, feelings, attitudes etc.

Focus Interview
Focus Interview as the name suggests, focuses on the respondent’s subjective
responses and experience on the subject matter to elicit more information. This
method is used by researchers to render the non-directive interview more
interviewer control with the use of verbal cues that serve as a stimulus to inspire

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respondents to volunteer more information on the subject. As the story unfolds the
researcher can hum in approval of what the respondent submits or chip in a
stimulating question to encourage the flow of the conversation.

Transcribing
Audio-visual recordings on mediums like CD's and DVD's have become major
sources of soft data which researchers rely on during data collection. Other sources
include you-tube. Such soft data and those recorded from verbal interaction with
respondents during interviews have to be transcribed. (i.e. convert the speech
sound into words as accurately as possible). This is an essential tool in linguistics
where recorded speech is systematically represented in a specific language.

A message in a written text from a particular language can also be transcribed into
a new language. This is often described as translation.

Transcription must be made from the original recordings of any speech or

interview. Even though interviews are always dotted with non-verbal communication
such as hand, face and body gestures, they must not influence the transcription in
anyway. It is also not appropriate to put words in the respondent’s mouth as one
transcribes.

Transcription has mainly been carried out through the manual use of pencil and
paper, using an analogue sound recorder as in Cassette tape recorders. In this
digital age however, special computer software are used to transcribe into electronic
documents. Example is the ANVIL (Annotation of Video and Language Data) and
‘Dragon software’ which is speaker dependent speech recognition. The software
are designed to accurately transcribe the voice of a single speaker. A user simply
speaks out loud the text that he or she wants to appear on the screen into the
microphone. A user can also dictate an article or presentation directly to the
computer or by playing back his/her voice from a digital recorder and the software
will execute the transcription. In absence of this, word processing software like
Microsoft Word can be used to manually type the text whilst listening to the
recordings.

Observation
The study of photographs, videotapes, tape recordings, art objects, computer
software and films fall within this type of data collection procedure. It is the
appropriate data collection instrument when there is the need to conduct a study on
people who cannot be tested with writing instruments as in the case of infants,
autistic persons or even illiterates who cannot read or write. This instrument is
creative and captures attention visually. Observational procedures should be
unobtrusive to enable the subjects of the study, expose and share their realities
directly with the researcher.

Observation is one of the very important methods for obtaining comprehensive data

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in qualitative research especially when a composite of both oral and visual data
become vital to the research. In this case a researcher will obviously need an
audio-visual recorder for the collection of such comprehensive records. It is
important to note that the presence of a photographer or a video technician may be
intrusive and influence responses hence researchers must regulate their usage as
much as possible.

By the use of observation strategy, researchers are able to obtain first hand
information about objects, and eventful happenings like durbars and festivals. The
possibility of distorting facts and records are reduced to the barest minimum. Fine
artists, industrial artists, graphic designers and draughtsmen in the field of
architecture employ the technique of drawing, often in scheme of sketching as they
observe nature to collect data in studio and design-based research.

With this instrument, the researcher may become a

1. Participant observer
or
2. Non-participant observer.

Participant Observer:
In this type of observation the researcher lives as a member of the subjects of
the study while observing and keeping notes of the attributes of the subject that is
being researched so that he can directly experience, the phenomenon being
studied. Even though he is seen by the subjects of the study, he conceals his real
identity as a researcher. By this approach the researcher gets firsthand experience
with informants. This is the type of observation which deals with covert investigation
for which information may be sensitive and informants may feel uncomfortable to
disclose. Investigative journalists employ this type of scheme to unravel clandestine
heinous dealings in society.

Non-Participant Observer:
In this approach the researcher does not live as a member of the subjects of the
study. The researcher watches the subjects of his or her study, with their
knowledge of his status as a researcher, but without taking an active part in the
situation under study. This approach is sometimes criticized on the grounds that the
very fact of their being observed may lead people to behave indifferently, thus
invalidating the data obtained.

Reading of Documents
Although reading is more to do with literature review of relevant theories, it is also
an instrument for studying public documents such as newspapers, minutes of
meetings and private documents such as letters, biographies, diaries etc., to enable
the researcher obtain the language and words of informants who may not be alive
at the time of the research. The limitation or difficulty in this approach is that the
documents may be protected and researchers may not have access to them either
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because they are national security documents or confidential documents. An
advantage is that such documents can be studied at both the researcher and the
informant's convenience.

Researchers must ensure to acknowledge the sources of their reading

materials to safeguard acts of plagiarism.

Major Sources of Public Documents include:

1. Public records (governmental agencies) 7. Social-media channels (internet)
2. Archival records (Museums) 8. Official gazettes
3. Biographical records 9. Minutes of meetings
4. Confidential records (Police reports) 10. Blue prints
5. Print-media (Newspapers) 11. Visual documents (art works)
6. Electronic-media (Television)

Supporting Reference Sources

Alhassan S. (2007). Modern Approaches to Research in Educational
Administration, Payless Publication Limited, Revised Edition.

Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (1994). Research Methods in Education,

th
Routledge London, 5 Edition.

Kumar, K. L. (1997). Educational Technology: A Pratical Textbook for Student,

Teachers, Professionals and Trainers. New Delhi: New Age International
publishers, p 34.

Kumekpor, T.K.B. (2002). Research Methods and Techniques of Social Research,

SonLife Printing Press

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