Procedures and Data

Collection Methods

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Procedures (Methodology)
 Probably more attention has been given
to this part of research than to any
other. It includes experimental design,
measurement, statistical analysis and
computer programming. It is often the
chief section looked at in order to judge
whether to fund a proposal. It should
contain the following:
Procedures (Methodology)
 An outline of the overall research design
accounting for each objective – variables to be
considered, conditions to be controlled and
conditions to be eliminated
 Operationalization of the variables, conditions,etc.
if this has not already been done.. Usually
variables are operationalized in terms of the
instruments which are used to measure them. If
you are going to use a particular instrument,
specify it. If you are going to develop an
instrument, state how and give sample items.
Procedures (Methodology)
 You must state how you are going to protect
human subjects. Letters you are going to send for
approval, statements you will have subjects sign,
etc. must be shown. Include how you will obtain
informed consent and how anonymity will be
preserved.
 Describe data analysis methods. If possible show
how your data tables will be set up. If you are
using statistics, be sure to specify your level of
significance (Usually p< .05), This must be done
before the data are collected.
Procedures (Methodology)
 Briefly discuss internal and external validity
of the design
 State any special conditions in the design
that will affect the conclusions or
generalizations
 Be sure to state what samples are
involved, what are the sources of the data,
what processes will be used to gather the
data and analyze it, what conditions will be
controlled
Procedures (Methodology)
 Pilot studies should be conducted:
 If the technique is unfamiliar to the researcher
 If the instrument is newly constructed
 If the instrument has not been used with this
population
 To see if the subjects can handle the instrument
 To give the staff experience in administration and
analysis
 As a trial run for the data collection technique
 To provide some data on which to test analysis
techniques
Data Collection Methods
 Physiological and Physical Measures
 Five sources
 Physical
 Chemical
 Microbiological
 Anatomical
 Observation through the senses
 Data sources
 In vivo
 In vitro
 Instrument systems
 Subject, stimulator, sensor, signal, display, record
Data Collection Methods
 Use
 Physical outcomes – as criteria against which nursing
actions can be assessed
 Exploration of ways in which nursing actions, including
measuring and recording physiological functioning, can
be improved
 Advantages
 objectivity, precision, sensitivity
 Disadvantages
 device may change measurement
 high energy concentration
Data Collection Methods
 Types
 Circulatory
 Respiratory

 Neurological

 Muscular-skeletal

 GI function

 GU function

 Glandular function
Data Collection Methods
 Observational Methods
 Phenomena amenable to observations
 Characteristics and conditions of individuals
 Verbal communication behaviors

 Non-verbal communication behaviors

 Activities

 Skill attainment and performance

 Environmental characteristics
Data Collection Methods
 Units of analysis – decide what a unit is
 Molar approach – observe large units of
behavior and treat as a whole
 Molecular approach– observe smaller and
highly specific behaviors as units
 Observer/observed relationship
 Concealment/no intervention
 No concealment/no intervention

 No concealment/intervention

 Concealment/intervention
Data Collection Methods
 Observational methods
 Unstructured observation
 Participant observation – observer lives in the
situation and tries not to interject his views and
meanings – takes field notes on
 Subjects, setting, behaviors, frequency and

duration of events
 Use of anecdotes in an illustrative fashion
 Advantages – deeper understanding
 Disadvantages –observer bias and influence
Data Collection Methods
observations – look at absence,
 Structured
presence or frequency of a phenomenon
 Categories
 Careful, explicit definitions of behavior or
characteristics to be observed
 No overlapping categories – mutually exclusive
 Observer interference – no. and skill of observers
 Checklists
 Talley behaviors (watching called sign analysis)
 Categorize at regular intervals
Data Collection Methods
 Rating scales
 Observer rates some phenomenon in terms of
points along a descriptive continuum
 May be used at intervals or to summarize an entire
event
 Observational sampling
 Time sampling – select a time period during which
observation will take place
 Event sampling – select an event to sample,
especially if it is infrequent
Data Collection Methods
 Training observers – even when researcher does
most of the research him/herself
 Need a dry run to familiarize with nature of the things to
be observed and the tools to be used
 Results from observers recordings should be compared
for inter-rater reliability
 Advantages
 Captures and directly records behaviors
 Disadvantages
 Ethical problems, human perceptual errors, demanding
of time and emotions, anticipation, hasty decisions
Data Collection Methods
 Interview schedules and questionnaires
 Their format can be anything from
rigid standardization to structure absence
 Form of questions
 Open ended – the subject responds in his/her
own words – less bias but hard to analyze
 Close ended – the researcher provides fixed
alternatives
Data Collection Methods
 Close ended questions cont.
 Dichotomous – two alternatives
 Multiple choice – three to five alternatives
 Cafeteria question – choose responses that most
adequately state your view
 Rank order questions – rank your responses on a
continuum from most to least
 Graphic rating scales – bipolar – specify two
opposite ends of a continuum. Respondents give a
judgment of something along this ordered dimension
Data Collection Methods
 Question content
 Facts about the respondent
 Facts about persons known to the respondent

 Facts about events and conditions known

 Beliefs about what the facts are: risk of Ca

 Attitudes, feelings and opinions

 Reasons for or influences on attitudes, etc.

 Level of knowledge about policies, practices,

conditions or situations
 Intentions or statements about future actions
Data Collection Methods
 How to develop questions
 Draw up a table of specifications – types of
information you are interested in
 Weigh how much emphasis to give each area –
this gives you an idea of the number of
questions you need to cover the variables
Data Collection Methods
 Question wording
 Clarity – clarify in your own mind, avoid double-barreled
questions, state in lay rather than technical terms if
respondents are lay, state in the affirmative
 Ability of the respondent to reply or give information
 Use language of the least educated
 Don’t assume a level of information a person “ought to
have”
 Define technical words
 Use filter questions – if answer is no, skip to question—
 Don’t take for granted that a person remembers something
even though he/she was present when it happened
Data Collection Methods
 Bias - a serious problem on self-report
instruments
 Assume that the respondent is honest and
minimize the bias introduced by the researcher.
Don’t suggest answers. Don’t identify a
position or attitude with a prestigious group.
Avoid emotionally-loaded words. Try to
counterbalance the “slant” of questions
 Response sets – things that bias responses
such as social desirability, extreme responses
Data Collection Methods
 Sensitive or personal information
 Try to develop more objective wording or offer a
close ended question with a range of
alternatives
 If dealing with unacceptable behavior – try to
create an atmosphere of non-judgment – use
alternatives – they are easier to check off than
to respond to in an open-ended manner
 Use impersonal wording – not I’m pleased

 Be polite – “Please respond” ask whole

sentences – “What is your sex?”
Data Collection Methods
 Response alternatives
 Cover all significant alternatives and
usually have an “other – please specify”
 Don’t have overlapping alternatives – 1-2,
3-5, 5 or more.
 Place alternatives in some kind of rational
order or, if no order, place alphabetically
 Don’t make alternatives too long
Data Collection Methods
 Question sequence
 Should be psychologically meaningful
 Put open-ended questions first so that

respondents give their own opinions before

seeing the wording of other questions
 Put demographic information at the end
Data Collection Methods
 Format
 Introduction and instructions
 What is the purpose the researcher is trying to
accomplish
 How did the researcher get the name of the
respondent
 What will be done with the information –
confidentiality, anonymity, copies of results
 Deadline for returning – how to return
 Researcher’s name and how to reach
 Answering implies consent
Data Collection Methods
 Format cont.
 Don’t put too many questions in too small a
space
 Set off the alternatives from the stem of the
question and align them vertically – ask the
respondent to circle, check, or use a separate
answer sheet
 Set off the subsets of a filter question so they
are not confusing
Data Collection Methods
 Steps in construction
 Make preliminary decisions as to form and the
type of information needed. Set up mock
tables to see how to analyze
 Draft the questionnaire – monitor the words,
look at existing questionnaires, decide on the
order of the questions
 Pre-testing and revising – discuss the draft with
someone knowledgeable, pre-test to determine
clarity
Data Collection Methods
 Administration of the instrument
 Questionnaire
 Distribution – the best way is to give it to the whole
group at one time, then collect it. Next best is to
personally deliver it and/or pick it up. The last resort
is to mail it – if the response rate is above 50%, the
return is probably sufficient. A return envelope helps.
 Follow-up reminders – 2-3 weeks after the first
mailing send a letter with a second copy of the
questionnaire, or a telephone call is made. Kep a log
of incoming receipt of mail on a daily basis
Data Collection Methods
 The interview
 Put the respondent at ease so he expresses hones
opinions – be neat, punctual, courteous, friendly,
unbiased and permissive
 Accept all opinions as natural
 Don’t read the instrument schedule, but follow the
wording precisely
 If there are many alternatives, hand the respondent a
card with them on
 Don’t paraphrase or summarize the respondent’s reply
 If he gives only partial answers or “beats around the
bush” probe, but do so neutrally – “Explain?” “Anything
else?”
Data Collection Methods
 Advantages of questionnaires
 Less costly than interviews
 More anonymity and no interviewer bias
 Advantages of interviews
 Have a high response rate
 Get people who cannot fill out questionnaires
 Less ambiguous, deeper
 Fewer “I don’t knows”
 Control over the order of presentation
 Additional non-verbal data can be gathered
Data Collection Methods
 Scales and psychological measures
 Likert scale –several declarative statements
expressing a viewpoint on a topic are generated.
There should be an equal number of favorable
and unfavorable statements - which need to be
identified. One concept should have 10-20 items.
 Originally there were 5 categories of agreement-
disagreement, but many people use seven:
 SA – A – SlA - ? – SlD – D – SD . Depending on
agreement with the concept being studied, the
scoring can be 1 thru 7 or 7 thru 1. No responses
are treated as ? or given a value of 4.
Data Collection Methods
 Semantic Differential
 A technique to measure the psychological meaning of
concepts or objects to an individual.
 The subject rates a concept on a series of seven point
bipolar scales such as fair-unfair, good-bad, important-
unimportant, strong-weak, beautiful-ugly, worthless-
valuable, pleasant-unpleasant, cold-warm, responsible-
irresponsible, successful-unsuccessful. Adjectives should
apply to the concept. Should have some that are
evaluative, some related to potency, some related to
activity. The pairs should be randomly reversed
Data Collection Methods
 Other scales
 Existing psychological scales – attitude
scales, personality measures
 Intelligence, aptitude and achievement
tests
 Value scales

 Interest scales
Data Collection Methods
 Content analysis
 Anobjective, quantitative description of a
communication or a document
 Select variables to be recorded
 Select the unit of content – words, themes,
entire items, space/time measure
 Develop a category system for classifying units

of content: yes/no or present/absent

 Train coders
Data Collection Methods
 Projective techniques
 Pictoral methods – Themic Apperception Test,
Rorschach Inkblot Test,
 Verbal methods
 Ambiguous verbal stimulus – person is asked to respond
with first thing that comes to mind (word association)
 Sentence completion – elicit attitudes
 Expressive methods
 Play technique –drawing, painting, role playing
 Psychodrama – subjects play themselves
 Sociodrama – subjects play the part of others
 Among the most controversial techniques
Data Collection Methods
 Indirect measures
 Lettersto the editor, to the Right to Life
Association, to the Music Association, etc.
 Responses to vignettes – who is the main
character – male/female
 Records and available data
Data Collection Methods
 Q-sort methodology
 Sort a deck of 60-100 cards according to specified
criteria – most like me/least like me or
approve/disapprove
 9-11 stacks of cards are placed on a table with the
number of cards to be in each stack determined
by the researcher. The subject is forced to choose
where to place the cards. Items put in one place
force or influence where others are placed – called
a forced choice or ipsative measure (A Likert scale
is a normative measure – each item is
independent
Data Collection Methods
 least approved of most approved of
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
category

2 4 7 10 14 10 7 4 2
number of cards
Data Collection Methods
 Sociometry
 Informationis gained about social choice
and interaction patterns of individuals in
groups
 Who do you like, which three people would you
like to work with
 Sociograms
Data Collection Methods
 Delphi Technique
 Several rounds of questionnaires are sent out.
After the first round, the respondents answers,
comments, opinions arguments etc. are
summarized and analyzed and sent to the group
along with a redesigned questionnaire. The
respondents re-rate, re-vote or re-rank items or
make other responses, comments etc. The idea is
to obtain consensus and the rounds keep going
until it is reached

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