Data Collection Tools

or Techniques

Assoc. prof. Monta Farneste

Outline of the class

• Informed consent (read the file Informed consent in the estudies)

• Types of data collection tools
• Questionnaire
• Interview
• Observation
• Tests (basics)
• Population, sample
• Validity, reliability
• Triangulation

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Informed consent – research ethics
• Permission (see templates in the estudies doc)
• What to inform about.
• Children under 16.

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Questionnaire
• Questionnaires are not tests
• Purpose
• Benefits and drawbacks
• Types of questions and sequencing them

4
Graphical design
100

• bar charts:
90
80
70
60 East

• vertical
50 West
40 North
30
20
10
0
1st 2nd 3rd 4th

• horizontal Qtr Qtr Qtr Qtr 4th Qtr

3rd Qtr
North

• three-dimensional West
2nd East
Qtr

4th Qtr

1st Qtr

3rd Qtr

North
0 50 100
West
East
2nd Qtr

1st Qtr

0 50 100

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Graphical design
1st Qtr
2nd Qtr

• pie chart 3rd Qtr

4th Qtr

• three-dimensional pie chart

1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
3rd Qtr

• line chart 100

4th Qtr

90
80
70
60 East
50 West
40 North
30
20
10
0

Remember that in all charts 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

information about the values, types of

data, etc. must be provided.

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Interview
• A survey: interview
• Preparation

• Permission
• Benefits and drawbacks

• Types

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Observation
• The notion of observation in research
• Coding of data
• Types of observation

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Tests
• The purpose of giving the test
• Type of the tests
• The objectives of the test
• The content of the test
• The construction of the test
• The format of the test
• The validity and reliability of the test

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Participants: population v. sample
• Population
• Sample/subjects

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Reliability and validity in research
• Reliability

• Validity
• Basic validity types

• Generalisability

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Triangulation
• Triangulation as a multimethod approach

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Bibliography
• Barzun, J. and Graff, H. E. (1977) The Modern Researcher, 3rd edit. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
• Bell, J. (2003) Doing Your Research Project, 3rd ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
• Burns, R. B. (2000) Introduction to Research Methods. London: SAGE.
• Cohen, L. Manion, L. and Morrison, K. (2001/ 2018 ) Research Methods in Education, 5th -8th ed. London: Routledge.
• Dӧrnyei, Z. (2003) Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration, and Processing. Mahway, N.J. and
London: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Dӧrnyei, Z. (2007) Research Methods in Applied Linguistics. Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed Methodologies. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
• Dörnyei, Z, and Taguchi, T (2009) Questionnaires in Second Language Research : construction, administration, and processing,
Taylor & Francis Group, Florence. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central.
• Ellis, R. and Barkhuizen, G. (2006; 2007) Analysing Learner Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Flick, U. (2018) The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Collection. (See in Sage databasis)
• Gass, S. and Mackey, A. (2007) Data Elicitation for Second Language and Foreign Language Research. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence
Erlbaum
• Given, L. M. (2008) The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods. Vol 2. (See in Sage databasis)
• Nunan, D. (1995) Research Methods in Language Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Paltridge, B. and Phakiti , A. (2015) Research Methods in Applied Linguistics: A Practical Resource. London: Bloomsbury. (partly
in Google Scholar)

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Journals to use for the analysis of data collection tools

• Applied Linguistics
• English for Specific Purposes
• English for Academic Purposes
• Studies in Second Language Acquisition
• The Modern Language Journal
• And many other journals

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