YEAR 3

(DIPLOMA (LEVEL6) IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)

Feasibility Studies Lesson 2

Data Collections
How Facts Are Gathered:

• Facts are collected through data collections

Data Collection: is a process of collecting information from all the relevant sources to find
answers to the research problem.

Categories of Data Collection: Primary and Secondary data Collection

Secondary data Collection: Secondary data implies second-hand information which is

already collected and recorded by any person other than the user for a purpose, not relating
to the current research problemIt is the readily available form of data collected from various
sources like censuses, government publications, internal records of the organisation,
reports, books, journal articles, websites and so on.

Primary data collections:A primary data source is an original data source, that is, one in
which the data are collected firsthand by the researcher for a specific research purpose or
project. Primary data collection is quite expensive and time consuming compared to
secondary data collection. Notwithstanding, primary data collection may be the only
suitable method for some types of research.
Difference between Primary and secondary data collection:

The most important difference is that primary data is factual and original whereas
secondary data is just the analysis and interpretation of the primary data.

BASIS FOR
PRIMARY DATA SECONDARY DATA
COMPARISON

Meaning Primary data refers to the first Secondary data means data
hand data gathered by the collected by someone else earlier.
researcher himself.

Data Real time data Past data

Process Very involved Quick and easy

Source Surveys, observations, Government publications,

experiments, questionnaire, websites, books, journal articles,
personal interview, etc. internal records etc.

Cost effectiveness Expensive Economical

Collection time Long Short

Specific Always specific to the researcher's May or may not be specific to the
needs. researcher's need.

Accuracy and More Relatively less

Reliability
Primary data collection methods can be divided into two groups: quantitative and
qualitative.

• Quantitative data is information about quantities; that is, information that can be
measured and written down with numbers.

Methodological:

• Qualitative - measured by the quality of something rather than its quantity.

Methodological:

TYPES OF DATA COLLECTIONS:

• Interviews.

• Questionnaires

• Surveys.

• Observations.

• Focus Groups.
Interviews:

• Interviews can be conducted in person or over the telephone

• Interviews can be done formally (structured), semi-structured, or informally

• Questions should be focused, clear, and encourage open-ended responses

• Interviews are mainly qualitative in nature

• One-on-one conversation with parent of at-risk youth who can help you understand
the issue

Questionnaires:

• is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions for the purpose of

gathering information from respondents.

• Consist of open-ended questions and close-ended questions

• Closed-ended questions are those which can be answered by a simple "yes" or "no,"
while open-ended questions are those which require more thought and more than a
simple one-word answer

Surveys

• resultant data that is collected from a sample of respondents that took a survey.
This data is comprehensive information gathered from a target audience about a
particular topic of interest to conduct research on the basis of this collected data.

• There are main survey data collection methods – Telephonic Surveys, Face-to-face
Surveys and Online Surveys.

Observation:

• Allows for the study of the dynamics of a situation, frequency counts of target
behaviors, or other behaviours as indicated by needs of the evaluation

• Example: Site visits to an after-school program to document the interaction between

youth and staff within the program
Focus Groups:

• A facilitated group interview with individuals that have something in common

• Gathers information about combined perspectives and opinions

• Example:A group of parents of teenagers in an after-school program are invited to

informally discuss programs that might benefit and help their children succeed