Chapter 13

Data Collection in Quantitative Research

Presented by:
SAHAR BAYAHYA
FATIMAH ASIRI

Under supervisor: Dr. Essmat Mansour

 DATACOLLECTION
(The Heart of Research)

Q. How important it is?

 How Important it is?
Data collection is an extremely important part of any research because the
conclusions of a study are based on what the data reveal, there are several
ways of collecting data . The choice of procedures usually depends on the
objectives and design of the study and the availability of time, money and
personnel.
 Data Collection Plan

• A data collection plan helps to ensure that data collected during an

analysis or improvement project is useful and appropriately collected.
• The data collection plan is typically used during the current state analysis
portion of a process analysis or improvement project.
 Early Steps in Data Collection Plan

o Identification prioritization of data needs

➢ Testing hypotheses
➢ Describing the sample
➢ Controlling confounding variables(For example, for analysis of covariance, variables that are statistically controlled must be
measured)
➢ Analyzing potential biases(Data that can help to identify potential biases should be collected. For example, researchers
should gather information that would help them understand selection or attrition biases.
➢ Understanding subgroup effects(answer research questions for key subgroups of participants. For example, we may wish
to know if a special intervention for pregnant women is equally effective for primiparas and multiparas)
➢ Interpreting results
➢ Assessing treatment fidelity
➢ Assessing costs.
➢ Obtaining administrative information
 oMeasures of variables
After data needs have been identified, the next step is to select a data collection method (e.g. self-
report, records) for each variable. It is not unusual to combine self-reports, observations, physiologic,
or records data in a single study.
o Selecting and Developing Instruments
Researchers should first consider whether there are instruments available for measuring study
variables, Another important criterion is whether the instrument will yield high-quality data.

1) Resources
2) Availability and familiarity
3) Population appropriateness
4) Reputation
5) Administration issues
6) Norms and comparisons
 On the side of the road
If existing instruments are not suitable for some variables, you may be faced with either
adapting an instrument or developing a new one.
If you identifying a suitable instrument, your next step likely will be to obtain the authors’
permission to use it.

o Pretesting the Data Collection Package

Pretests can serve many other purposes, including the following:
1) Identifying parts of the instrument package that are hard for participants to read or understand .
2) Identifying questions that participants find objectionable or offensive.
3) Assessing whether the sequencing of questions or instruments is sensible.
4) Evaluating training needs for data collectors .
5) Evaluating whether the measures yield data with sufficient variability.
 Structured Self-Report Instruments

The most widely used data collection method by nurse researchers.

• Interview schedules
When question are asked orally in face to face or by telephone.
• Questionnaires(self administered questionnaire)
When respondents complete the instrument them selves.

Types of Structured Questions

❑ Open-ended questions:
allow people to respond in their own word.
❑ Closed-ended questions(or fixed-alternative):
response options, from which respondents choose the one that most closely matches the appropriate answer.
 Strengths And Weaknesses IN Closed-end Questions

1) Good closed-ended items are often difficult to construct but easy to administer and, especially, to analyze.
2) Researchers need only tabulate the number of responses to each alternative to gain descriptive
information.
3) More efficient than open-ended questions, that is, respondents can answer more closed- than open-ended
questions in a given amount of time.
4) preferred if respondents are unable to express themselves well verbally, some questions are less
objectionable.
5) Risk of failing to include key responses, Such omissions can lead to inadequate understanding of the
issues or to outright bias if respondents choose an alternative that misrepresents their position.
6) Items is that they tend to be superficial.
 Strengths And Weaknesses IN Open-end Questions

1) Allow for a richer and fuller perspective on a topic, if respondents are verbally expressive and
cooperative.
2) The analysis of open-ended items is more difficult and time consuming to fill by respondents.
3) Richness may be lost when researchers tabulate answers they have categorized.
4) Give freedom to respondents.

Mix Open And Closed End Questions

1) sensitivity of the questions.
2) respondents’ verbal ability.
3) amount of time available.
 Specific Types Of Closed-Ended Questions Specific
• Dichotomous: such as YES or NO
• Multiple choice questions
• Rank-order questions
• Forced choice questions
• Rating scale questions
• Checklists
• Visual analog scales: used to measure subjective experiences, such as pain, fatigue, and
dyspnea.
 Composite Scales and Other Structured Self-Reports
Scale: used to discriminate quantitatively among people with different attitudes, symptoms, conditions, and needs.
❖ The most important are composite social psychological scales that are often included in questionnaire or interview..
1-Likert scale: Respondents are asked to indicate the degree to which they agree or disagree with the opinion
expressed by the statement.
2-Semantic differential (SD) scales: measuring attitudes, (e.g., dieting, exercise) on a series of bipolar adjectives,
such as good/bad, effective/ineffective, important/unimportant.
3-Q sorts: Participants are asked to sort the cards along a specified dimension, such as most helpful/least helpful,
never true/always true.
4-Vignettes: brief descriptions of events or situations (fictitious or actual) to which respondents are asked to react.
Ecologic momentary assessments (EMA)
 Likert Scale
• Summated rating scale
• Series of statements about a phenomenon
• Indicate degree of agreement or disagreement
• Total score is computed by summing item scores, each of which is scored for the
intensity and direction of favorability.
 Semantic Differentials

• Bipolar rating scales

• Indicate reactions toward a phenomenon
• Measure:
• Evaluative
• Activity
• Potency
 Q Sort

• Set of card statements into piles

• Specified criteria
• Measure:
• Attitudes
• Personality
• Psychological trait
 Vignettes

• Brief descriptions of event

• Asked to react to events
• Assess respondents:
• Perceptions
• Hypothetical behaviors
• Decisions
 Questionnaires versus Interviews

• Questionnaires versus Interviews In developing

their data collection plans, researchers need to
decide whether to collect self-report data through
interviews or questionnaires.
 Questionnaires
• Advantages of Questionnaires
• Less costly= Distributing questionnaires to groups (e.g., nursing home residents) is inexpensive
• Less time-consuming
• Anonymity= A guarantee of anonymity can be crucial in obtaining candid responses if questions are
sensitive.
• No risk of interviewer bias= The absence of an interviewer ensures that there will be no interviewer bias.
• Group administration is the most economical way to distribute questionnaires.
• Mail:
• Web-based survey
• Both types of questionnaires, especially those distributed over the Internet, tend to have low response rates
 Interviews
• Higher response rate People are less likely to refuse to talk to an interviewer who
solicits their cooperation than to ignore a mailed questionnaire or an e-mail.
• suitable for a wider variety of people, and yield richer data than questionnaires.
• Data quality in interviews depends on interviewers’ interpersonal skills. Interviewers
must put respondents at ease and build rapport, and need to probe skillfully for
additional information when respondents give incomplete responses
 Structured Self-Reports
• Response set biases=when respondents answer untruthfully deliberately or
not
• Common responses
• Social desirability responding= tendency to give answer that make self look
good[faking good]
• Extreme response=tendency to use ends of scals
• Acquiescence=tendency to agree to items [yes.agree.true of me]
 Methods of structured observation
• impose constraints on observers to enhance the accuracy and objectivity of
observations and to obtain an adequate representation of phenomena of interest. •
• Checklists are used in observations to recording the occurrence or frequency of
designated behaviors, events, or characteristics.
• Checklists are based on category systems for encoding observed phenomena into
discrete categories. When using
• rating scales, observers rate phenomena along a dimension that is typically bipolar
(e.g., passive/aggressive).
 sampling
• Time sampling involves the specification of the duration and frequency of
observational periods and intersession intervals.
• Event sampling selects integral behaviors or events of a special type for
observation.
 observational bias
types of observational bias are particularly common
Enhancement of contrast effect= observers distort observations in the direction of dividing content
into clearcut entities
• Central tendency bias= occurs when extreme events are distorted toward a middle ground
• Halo effect= is the tendency of observers to be influenced by one characteristic in judging other,
unrelated characteristics.
• Assimilatory biases= , observers distort observations in the direction of identity with previous
inputs
• Errors of leniency= is the tendency for observers to rate everything positively,
• Errors of severity is the contrasting tendency to rate too harshly.
 Biophysiologic Measures
• Biophysiologic measures comprise in
• vivo measurements (those performed within or on living organisms, such as blood pressure
measurement) and in
• vitro measurements (those performed outside the organism’s body, such as blood tests)
• . • Biophysiologic measures are objective, accurate, and precise, but care must be taken in
using such measures with regard to practical, technical, and ethical considerations. •
• When researchers cannot collect the data without assistance, they should carefully select
data collection staff and formally train them.