CHAPTER FIVE DATA COLLECTION |DATA COLLECTION ¢ Data collection is the process of gathering the required information for each selected unit in the survey. ¢ Data is raw, unorganized facts that need to be processed. ¢ There are two data sources primary data and secondary data. ¢ Primary data are those which are collected afresh and for the first time ¢ Secondary data, Data collected by someone else for some other purpose (but being utilized by the investigator for another purpose).Data collection is the systematic approach to gather and measure of information from a variety of sources to get a complete and accurate picture of an area of interest. There are for collecting data: Depending on the research questions and hypotheses, researchers select either already existing instruments or develop new ones from scratch. A( © But to determine the most suitable method, researchers ask three basic questions. ¢ 1. Which method(s) of data collection will produce the kind of information needed? This has to do with the validity of the measurements, or of getting the best information available to build confidence in the research. e 2. Which the method(s) will best produce accurate and dependable data? This has to do with reliability or consistency of measurements. The method chosen should be able to get the best information available and build up a rich and accurate picture as possible. ¢ 3. Which method(s) will collect sufficient data in the available time? This has to do with the feasibility of the method or the method to be used to collect the data.More often than not, it is not possible to answer all the questions effectively on just one method. Several times, researchers have to use combinations of methods to be able to collect sufficient, valid and reliable data in the shortest possible time. Once a researcher has answered the three basic questions, the researcher should then ask the following subordinate questions:1. What data will be collected? For example is the study designed to measure knowledge, attitude, behavior or perceptions? A researcher should make a distinction between qualitative and quantitative data and between primary and secondary data. 2. How will the data be collected, or which procedures will be used. A data collection procedure should be guided by research questions or hypotheses; the design of the study; and the knowledge available on the issue of interest. 3. Who will collect the data? The researcher or field assistants? 4. Where will the data be collected? 5. When will the data be collected?1. Questionnai ¢ A questionnaire is a collection of precise pre-formulated written items designed to yield specific information to meet particular needs for research, and to which research participants are expected to respond usually in writing. It can be used to determine the level of knowledge on an issue, opinions, attitudes, beliefs, ideas, feelings, experiences and perceptions as well as to gather information about the respondents.¢ There are three types or formats of questionnaires used in educational research: structured, unstructured, semi-structured questionnaires.Structured Questionnaire ¢ A structured questionnaire is formed solely from close- ended (or forced-response) items. Close-ended or forced- response items restrict the respondents in the kind of information to provide and how to provide it. ¢ Structured questionnaires enable researchers to collect a lot of data in a relatively short time. © Close-ended (forced-response) items may take different forms. These include rank-order, multiple choice and rating scale items.I. Ranking (Comparative) Items The ranking items questionnaire require respondents to place certain factors that have been determined as relevant to an issue of interest in a particular order according to some criteria. e Ranking may take the form of parried comparison or rank-order.¢ Rank order items require participants to arrange certain factors that have been identified as related to a concept in increasing or decreasing order according to some criteria.Example Rank the following factors in order in which they hinder your achievement in ICT, using a scale of 1 - 5, with 1 being the most and 5 the least. 1, Student's ability 2. Teacher quality 3. Teaching-learning facilities 4, University administration 5. Home background The respondents will then enter 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 against each factor as they please. a the rankings, it is possible to determine what a student feel most hinder or her achievement in ICT.Paired comparison items require participants to express their attitude by making a choice between two cases. ¢ Pair the following factors in order in which they hinder your achievement in mathematics. (A). Students’ ability; (B). Teacher quality; (C). Teaching- learning resources; (D). University administration. The one that is most effective is first order, and an arrow should come from it to the other factor (second order). Fist Onder Sesond Order @ © © e OOO: OO)II. Multiple Choice Items ¢ Multiple choice items require respondents to choose one alternative from a set of possible alternatives. ¢ Which of the factors listed below most hinder your achievement in ICT? A. Students’ ability. B. Teacher quality. C. Teaching-learning resources. D. University administration. E. Home background. A respondent can then choose A, B, C, D, or Eas he or she may please.TIT. Rating Seale Items ¢ Rating scale items require participants to indicate their feelings, opinions, thoughts, or behaviors on a series of gradation of levels or values that describe the various degrees of something. e The rating make take the form of “like-dislike’”, “above average, average, below average”, “often, occasional, rarely’ or any other design ¢ The most popular rating scales in research are the Likert, Matrix, Semantic Differentials, and the Thurstone and Guttman’s scale.* A Likert (or summated) scale uses alternatives that run from 3 to 7, but usually 5, with equal positives and negatives on the opposite sides of a neutral. © It consists of statements that express cither positive and negative, or favorable and unfavorable positions towards a given standpointee ° My ability is the most important factor that hinders my achievement in ICT. 1.Strongly Agree | De Agree 3. Neither Agree nor Disagree 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree | * Strongly agree and agree are positive responses while disagree and strongly disagree are negative responses. Neither agree nor disagree is the neutral response. © respondent cannot rate at more than one level on the same item.. The Matrix Scale An advanced form of Likert scale is the matrix type items. Sometimes a researcher may want to ask several questions that have the same set of answer categories. Such questions may be arranged in form of a matrix. Statement SA JA [iN DA SDA 1, My ability is the most important factor that hinders my achievement in ICT. 2, Teacher quality is the most important factor that hinders my achievement in ICT. earning resources are the most important factor s my achievement in ICT. 4. Home background is the most important factor that (hinders my achievement in ICT.en-ended These are like essay questions in an examination. ¢ Non-structured questions, or open-ended questions, are questions where there is no list of answer choices from which to choose. Respondents are simply asked to write their response to a question. Example: Describe the factors that hinder your achievement in ICT. e What are the facilities and services do you expect from your { @obrary?s (Partially Structured Question) In some situations, you may have a partial list of answer choices, but you may still have some doubt or uncertainty about other possible responses. You can create a partially structured question such as the following: ¢ What are the factors that hinder your achievement in ICT? My ability. Teacher quality. Teaching-learning resources. University administration. Home background. e Any other (Please specify):2. The Interview Method BOG * Interview isa purpose-full verbal conversation between two or more people with the objective of collecting specific information. a The specific information is the purpose of the interview.INTERVIEWING ¢ You must have witnessed many programmes on TV, which are basically interview-based. These programmes usually invite celebrities, film personalities, politicians, industrialist, etc. to get information on their life, works or they may be asked questions pertaining to some social theme or current political event. Interviewing in Survey Research is different from these interviews. e We will study some of the definitions to know the meaning of this term. eo¢ According to Krishan Kumar (1992) defines “interviewing is a process of personal interaction between a researcher and a respondent.” ¢ Ranjit Kumar in his book Research Methodology(1999) opined that “any person- to- person interaction between two or more individuals with a specific purpose in mind is called interview.” ¢ O’ Leary (2004) of the view that “Interviewing a method of data collection which involves researchers asking respondents basically open-ended questions.” ¢ In simple words we can say that survey interviewing is a face-to- face interaction with the respondents to get specific information.PO The Interview Structure Like a questionnaire an interview has: o Structured o Unstructured o Semi-structured= : Structured Interview o During structured interview the interviewer asks the pre-drafted questions. Here, he/she cannot change the questions, or their sequence. o No freedom is given to add new questions or delete any question. The interviewer is strictly instructed to ask the pre-decided questions in precise and also to record them. It contains open ended as well as closed ended questions. The interview stops when the respondent cannot answer a question correctly o It does not need any professional skill to conduct interview sessions because of listed questions. This type of interview can be conducted person-to-person or through telephone or by using electronic device.Unstructured Interview v Unstructured interview may permit the interviewee to give responses freely. v The interviewer asks the respondents only such questions, which comes under the area of research problem. v Some times and most of the times the questions are not pre-written, only specific themes are indicated. v One question leads to another and so on. v The interviewer should Keep interview guide/schedule with him/her at the time of the interview. It helps him/her to know the areas to be covered and it also provides guidelines for smooth conduct of oui session.v Interviewer is free to ask additional questions and also repeat or delete questions as mentioned in the guide. v If he/she feels some questions are not very clear he/she can exercise full freedom to change or reward it. v At the time of the interview if it is felt that putting certain questions or changing the sequence may yield some useful results, interviewer can do it freely. v On the respondent’s side, they are given opportunity to give their views, opinion freely on the questions asked. v An effort can be made during interview to encourage them to speak freely. v This flexibility helps generating spontaneous, useful responses on @re area of research,“CONT.. v Unstructured interview Unstructured Interview easy to conduct but difficult to analyze the results. v Reason is that no two interviews reveal same type of responses. v On same questions you may get different responses. Y This type of interview calls for sufficient knowledge background, good interviewing skills, command on language; and ability to convince the respondent to answer. v This type of interview demands specialized training to be imparted to the interviewer/researcher to get best results. v Unstructured interview is also called in-depth interview. v It is also said that this type of interview is best suited to those situations where very little is known.semistructured Interviews Semi-structured interviews are a combination of both structured and unstructured interviews such as, a researcher will come up with a list of questions to be asked in the interview, but he can also ask follow-up questions to get deeper detail or explanation from the respondent on the basis of his response.There are three main types of interview: I. Key Informants Interview(KII) Il. Survey Interviews Il. Group InterviewsI. Key Informants Interview(KIT) v In key informants’ (or key actors) interviews, data is collected from individuals who are deemed to have special information or perceptions that would otherwise be unavailable to a researcher if people were interviewed at random. v Key informant interviews are qualitative in-depth interviews with people who know what is going on in the community. The purpose of key informant interviews is to collect information from a wide range of people—including community leaders, professionals, or residents—who have first hand knowledge about the community.Survey interviews are interviews conducted on individuals or groups that have been selected at random.ILI. Group Interviews v These are interviews that address questions to homogenous groups of between 5 - 12 people who have been assembled for this specific purpose, and who have been selected because they are well- informed about the issue at hand. v A group interview can be a focus group discussion (FGD) or a nominal group discussion (NMG). vIn a FGD, decisions on what is data are made by the researcher after synthesis and analysis of the from the group. vIn a NGD, it is the group that determines what counts as data through consensus.f e_———_ 3. Observation Method > Observation means watching carefully. » We do see many things, situations in our routine life. There may not be any motive behind seeing. » What we see is mostly casual and without any purpose. But observation is different from casual seeing; it is being done systematically with a definite purpose. > In the process of observation the observer uses all his sensory organs in an integrated manner. The observer obtains information about the World around him for a definite purpose. This is one of the best scientific tools to collect the data for research. > Observation method of collecting the data is one of the oldest and this ou": is used by both the scientists and social scientists.MEANING AND DEFINITION » Every human being observes the things around him, many times it is casual and without any purpose. » They observe it because it is in front of them. As seeing is not planned and concentrated the observer may not be able to remember what has happened and even what is remembered could not be in detail. > Observation is defined as a planned methodical watching that involves constraints to improve accuracy (Ram Ahuja). > Krishna Swami defined observation as a systematic viewing of a specific phenomenon in its proper setting for the specific purposed of gathering data for a particular study. > Observe means “to watch attentively in a scientific manner”. In an observational study, the current status of phenomenon is determined not by asking but by bserving Ronald R Powell).The definitions state that watching with a definite plan/systematically a specific situation/phenomena with a definite purpose of collecting the data helps in recording accurate data. Purpose The purpose of observation is to : to capture the human conduct as it actually happens; to provide more graphic description of social life; to study important events and situations; to verify and extend the generalizations or theories formed on the basis of other studies; to gain insights in to the problem.zee — Characteristics The characteristics of observation method of data collection are: > It involves both mental and physical activity. The observer may see many things but attention has to be drawn only on the items useful / relevant for the study. » Observation is made on selective basis i.e. the researcher selects a relevant sample. > Observation takes place in natural surroundings. » It helps the researcher to determine the reality by himself or herself. > It avoids manipulations. > The collection and recording of data is not selective, it is done as it is observed in natural environment rather than creating an artificial/laboratory environment. » It involves few or no controls on the surroundings. > It could be observation of fewer items/subjects. oa must serve the formulated research purpose.GAND PROCESS OF OBSERVATION > To overcome the limitations and collect factual data, there is a need for planning for observation. > The observer should examine the following questions well in advance to enable to have effective plan of action. They are: what should be observed; how the observation should be recorded; what type of tools and techniques need to be used; how to ensure accuracy of observation; and what type of relationship should be there between the observers and observed-how the desired relationship should be established. The planners need to have comprehensive knowledge of the problem and techniques of investigation. They also need to have experience, on the basis of which the plans could devised. The planning includes forecasting the situation and preparation of step-by- procedure.Williamson... [et al] have suggested four stages for the observer. They are: 1) choosing the research site; 2) gaining access in setting and taking a role; 3) jotting down notes; and 4) formulating the analysis. >Observation must be done under conditions which will enable to collect accurate results. >The distance and light must be satisfactory. »Proper mechanical aids should be chosen. The observation should have sufficient number of samples.$$ RECORDING OF DATA The observer needs skills and training to observe and record the data. It is essential to have the knowledge of different types of tools used to record the data. The observer needs to know: topic and background of the research; purpose of the observation; knowledge of the group / people to be studied; level and extent of involvement; environment or conditions in which the observation has to be made; and knowledge of tools and techniques used for data collection.Types of Observations There are many different ways to design an observation study, depending on the objective of your study, the type of data you are trying to collect, and the resources you have available for your study. 1. Participant —Non Participant Observation The role of the observer / investigator is necessary to be defined. In participant observation, the investigator becomes a part of the group or phenomenon. Then the investigator become participant or member of the group and also investigates / observes the situation. He participates in all the activities and functions of the group and simultaneously observes the behaviour of the group. The investigator has to play twin roles such as observer and participant. @ non-participant observation, the observer, gets detached with the group and oes not participate or intervene in their activities.”2. Structured —Unstructured Observation = » Structured observation is organized and planned which employs formal procedure. The units to be observed have to be carefully defined. It is also necessary to define the information to be recorded, selection of data and standardization of conditions of observation; the observer is supposed to be knowing the situation and therefore need to prepare specific plan for collection and recording the data. It is subjected to high levels of control and differentiation. > The unstructured observation is contrasting to the above situation. The participant observation could be of this type as the observer may have to observe many things for longer time and may not be able to structure his program.———< When subjects do not know they are being observed, this is called a disguised or Covert observation. > When subjects know they are being observed, this is called a non-disguised or Overt observation.TTF Document Analysis Method >Documents are records which describe a process of personal/group development, or the occurrence of an event. >Documents contain text (words) and images that have been recorded without a researcher’s intervention. >The content of the document records are reviewed in terms of the research problem before they are actually used by the researcher. » The researcher reviews the information and extract the relevant information for the study.TE When to use Document Analyzes? . When the information is already existing in truth worth records. eg: Official org. reports, official histories, Govern. Documents, etc. When the concept under investigation is sensitive to other methods of data collection. To study the behaviour in retrospect: without disturbing the behaviour, the behaviour has already occur.The Advantages of Document Analysis There are many reasons why researchers choose to use document analysis. > Document analysis is an efficient and effective way of gathering data because documents are manageable and practical resources. > Obtaining and analyzing documents is often far more cost efficient and time efficient than conducting your own research or experiments. >» Documents are stable, “non-reactive” data sources, meaning that they can be read and reviewed multiple times and remain unchanged by the researcher’s influence or research process > Documents provide access to data that would be difficult or very time consuming to gather via first-hand research methods, such as interviewing or observation.Thank You