Chapter 7

Methods of
Data Collection & Analysis

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 Points of Focus
• Introduction
• Types of Data
• Data Collection Methods
• Selection of Appropriate Method for Data
Collection
• Data Analysis Techniques
– Qualitative Data Analysis
– Quantitative Data Analysis
• Summary
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 Introduction
• The task of data collection begins after a
research problem has been defined and
research design formulated.
• While deciding about the method of data
collection to be used for the study, the
researcher should keep in mind two types of
data viz., primary and secondary.

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 Introduction…Cont’d
• The researcher would have to decide which
sort of data he would be using for his study
and accordingly he will have to select one or
the other method of data collection.
• The methods of collecting primary and
secondary data differ

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 Introduction…Cont’d
• One of the aspects of data collection is
consideration of the data that is going to be
analyzed.
• How accurate is it?
• How complete is it?
• How representative is it?
• These are some of the questions that should
be asked about any set of data, preferably
before starting to try the analysis of data.
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• Types of Data

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 Types of Data
There are two types of data namely primary and secondary data
The secondary data:
• The secondary data are those which have already been gathered
by someone else and which have already been passed through
the statistical process
• These include:
– Historical studies based on the actual data,
– Statistical research based on census or sample data
– Newspaper reports of an event
– Company records
– Government publications (published & unpublished)
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 Types of Data….Cont’d
• Secondary Data – Limitations
• When was it collected? For how long?
– May be out of date for what you want to analyze.
– May not have been collected long enough for
detecting trends.
– The objective of data collection could be different
– There may be missing information on some
observations. Unless such missing information is
caught and corrected, analysis will be biased.
– The result would not be dependable
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 Types of Data….Cont’d
• Limitations…..Cont’d
• Are there confounding problems?
– Sample selection bias?
– Source choice bias?
– In time series, did some observations drop
out over time?
• Are the data consistent/reliable?
– Did variables drop out over time?
– Did variables change in definition over time?
 Types of Data….Cont’d
• Secondary Data – Limitations …..Cont’d
• Is the information exactly what you need?
• In some cases, the researcher may have to use
“proxy variables” variables that may
approximate something you really wanted to
measure.
 Types of Data….Cont’d
• Secondary Data – Advantages
• It will save you money.
– Even if you have to pay for access, often it is
cheaper in terms of money than collecting your
own data. (more on this later.)
• It will save you time.
– Primary data collection is very time consuming.
(More on this later, too!)
 Types of Data….Cont’d
• Secondary Data – Advantages…Cont’d
• No need to reinvent the wheel.
– If someone has already found the data, take
advantage of it.
• It may be very accurate.
– When especially a government agency has
collected the data, incredible amounts of time and
money went into it. It’s probably highly accurate.
• It has great exploratory value
– Exploring research questions and formulating
hypothesis to test.
 Types of Data…Cont’d
The primary data:
The primary data are data collected for the
first time and hence they are original

Major sources of primary data:

• Survey or respondents
• Diaries of eyewitness
• Letters and autobiographies, and etc

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 Types of Data…Cont’d
• Primary Data - Limitations
• It is expensive consuming the time and
money for:
– Designing your data collection instrument
– Selecting your population or sample
– Pretesting/piloting the instrument to work
out sources of bias
– Administration of the instrument
– Entry/collation of data
 Types of Data…Cont’d
• Primary Data – Limitations …cont’d
• Researcher error
– Sample bias
– Other confounding factors
• Data Collection Method

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 Data Collection Methods
• Data collection method would depend on
type of data to be collected for the
research under study
• Secondary data can be gathered from the
sources by the researcher or any other else
• Primary data collection requires proper
designing of data collection instruments based
on the problem to be studied

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 Data Collection Methods…Cont’d
• Primary data collection instruments
are:
– Survey Questionnaire
– Interview
– Observation
– Focused group discussion

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Questionnaire
• The questionnaire is usually mailed, administered personally
or electronically
• Preparation of questionnaire can be tedious, involving several
drafts and more than one pretests
Questions can be asked to gather information on:
• Facts: help to get objective information from respondents.
Examples are gender, age, marital status, education, income,
etc.
• Behaviour: behaviour questions help to get information about
what people do. Examples: “Have you ever attended any
public lecture”

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Questionnaire…Cont’d
• Opinions: asking people what they think about
specific issue or event
• Attitudes: help to get information on the underlying
belief of the respondent or the way people look at
things.
• Motives: asking people why people behave in a
particular manner or hold certain opinions or
attitudes.
• Knowledge: It helps to obtain information about the
extent of knowledge an individual has and to what
extent the information is accurate.
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 Questionnaire…Cont’d
Types of Questionnaires
– Closed ended questions allow only answers
which fit into categories that have been
established in advance by the researcher.
– Open-ended unrestricted type of questionnaire,
free response in the respondent's own words;
leave the respondent to decide the wording and
the length of the answer and the kind of matters
to be raised in the answer.

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 Questionnaire…Cont’d
Advantages of closed- ended questions:
The answers are standards, and can be
compared from person to person.
The answers are much easier to code and
analyze
They are easier for a respondent to answer as
he or she merely choose a category,

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 Questionnaire: Closed-ended questions
Disadvantages of closed-ended questions:
•  Guesses or randomly answers if a respondent does
not know the answer or has no opinion
• There is no opportunity for the respondent to clarify
or qualify his or her answer
• Differences in interpretation of what was meant by
the question may go undetected
• Variations in answers among the different respondents
may be eliminated artificially by forced- choice
responses
• A likelihood of a clerical error as the respondent
circles 23
 Questionnaire: Open-ended questions
The advantages of open-ended questions:
• They can be used when not all of the possible answer
categories are known and to see what the respondent
views as appropriate answer categories
• To allow the respondent to answer adequately, in all
detail he or she likes, and to clarify and qualify his or her
answer
• They can be used when there are too many potential
answer categories to list on the questionnaire – you can
not list too many questions in a given questionnaire
• They allow the respondent to have more opportunity for
creativity or self-expression 24
 Questionnaire: open-ended questions
Disadvantages of open-ended questions
• The possibility of collecting worthless and irrelevant
information
• Data are often not standardized from person to person,
making comparison or statistical analysis difficult
• Coding is often very difficult and subjective
• It require a lot of time for analysis
• It may require more of the respondent's time and effort,
and may engender a high refusal rate /reduce
respondents’ willingness to take part in the research.
• possibly discouraging some respondents who do not
wish to answer a lengthy questionnaire.
 Questionnaire: a list of some dos and don’ts
• Make each question brief and the wording
clear and concise with minimal use of jargon
• Keep the length of the questionnaire to a
minimum: a maximum of around 20
questions is probably a good guide for most
surveys.
• Make all definitions, assumptions, and
qualifiers clearly understood
• Avoid making significant memory demands
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 Questionnaire: a list of some dos and don’ts
make the questions simple to answer
Keep it interesting – don’t make it monotonous,
do have a logical sequence to the question
Avoid biased, loaded, leading, or sensitive
questions.
◦ Example: ‘are you a heavy smoker?’ Instead use
ranges:. Please indicate your smoking habit: less
than 10 cigarettes a day, between 10 and 20, over 20
◦ Leading: what are your views on the level of VAT in
Ethiopia? Is better than ‘ do you agree that the level
of VAT in Ethiopia is too high?
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 Questionnaire: a list of some dos and don’ts

start with simple questions such as gender, leaving more

complicated questions to be answered late in the questionnaire.
avoid asking personal questions
avoid asking the same questions in a different fashion
◦ Abortion should be legalized - agree / disagree) at one point and
Abortion should not be legalized (agree/disagree)
Don’t ask two questions in one/ double barrelled questions- with
two purposes or interpretations/
◦ Example: Is your job interesting and well paid? Is unlikely to be answered
with a simple yes or no
Don’t ask hypothetical question such as winning the National
Lottery).

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 Questionnaire: Important points to note
I. Introductory statement of a Questionnaire
state the purpose of the study and its significance;
explain who the data collector is, the basis of its authority/the
sponsor-under whose auspices is the research being undertaken?,
and why it is conducting the study;
tell how and why the respondents were selected;
explain why their answers are important;
tell how to complete the format and list the person to call if help is
needed to complete the form;
provide assurance of confidentiality and anonymity when
appropriate;
explain how the data will be used;
explain who will have access to the information; and
present the response efforts as a favor and thank the respondents
for their cooperation.
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 Questionnaire: Important…
II. Format of the questionnaire
Cleanly format your questionnaire: margins,
spacing, font, etc.
Proofread your questionnaire carefully for
grammar and spelling errors
conduct a pilot survey on a small sample so that to
test the reliability and validity of your measure.
Schedule vs questionnaire method
  Schedule is a device consisting of a set of questions,
which are asked and filled in by the enumerators who are
specially trained for the purpose
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Interview

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 Interview
Interview can be conducted: face-to-face/in-
person interview; or telephone call, through
internet/online
Types of Interview:
Structured
Unstructured and
Semi-structured

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 Interview…Cont’d
Structured interview
Set of predetermined questions and of highly
standardized recording technique (audio or
digital recorders)
The same types of questions are presented in the
same order to each interviewee
The interviewer has no freedom to rephrase or
change the order of questions to be presented
quite often used in the case of descriptive
studies
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 Interview ……Cont’d
Unstructured interview
• The interviewer has a general plan of inquiry but not a specific
set of questions that must be asked in particular words and in a
particular order
•  characterized by flexibility
• The interviewer is largely free to arrange, rephrase, modify,
and add some new questions
• Very important for exploratory research studies
Semi-structured interview
• Shares the nature of both structured and unstructured interview

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 Interview: Techniques of Interviewing
 Prepare for interview, self-presentation: objective
of the study, its background, how the respondent
was selected, the confidential nature of the
interview, the beneficial values of the research
findings
Conduct the interview – use your communication
skills here (attentive, non-judgmental), ask the
questions properly, probe meaningfully
Recording of the interview; record the responses
accurately, record response as they occur; use some
shorthand system (abbreviating words, key words)
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 Interview…
Advantages of Interview:
 More and in-depth information can be
obtained
There is greater flexibility
Personal information can be obtained easily
high response rate
The language of the interview can be adapted
to the ability the person interviewed

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 Interview…
Disadvantages
 Expensive including Cost of selecting, training and
supervising the field-staff
Bias of interviewer and the respondent - presence
of the interviewer on the spot may over-stimulate
the respondent - may give imaginary information
Important officials or executives may not be easily
approachable
More-time-consuming, when calling the
respondents
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Observation Methods

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 Observation Methods
Observing what is occurring in some real - life
situation , without asking questions of
respondents
It is valuable instrument in a wide range of
research studies.
◦ Examples: Cultural study, traffic counts,
direction of traffic flows

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 Observation Methods….
Types of observation
• Direct versus Indirect observation
• Participant Vs non-participant observation
• Structured Vs. unstructured observation

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 Observation Methods….
Direct vs. Indirect observation
Direct observation
The observer is physically present and
personally monitors what takes place
Very flexible - the observer can react to events
The observer is free to shift places, change the
focus of observation, or concentrate on
unexpected events

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 Observation Methods….
Weakness
the observers' perception may become
overloaded as events move quickly; they must
later try to reconstruct what they are not be able
to record
Observer fatigue, boredom, and distracting events
can reduce the accuracy and completeness.

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 Observation
Indirect observation
  The recording is done by mechanical/adjusted
instruments
◦ Example: a special camera that takes one frame
every second is mounted in a department of a large
store to study customer and employee movement
 Less flexible but much less biasing, less unpredictable
or erratic in accuracy
 The permanent record can be analyzed to include
any different aspects of an event

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 Observation…
Participant Vs non-participant observation
 Participant observation: The observer
becomes one of the groups under observation

Non-participant observation: Observer takes

position where his presence is not disturbing
the group.

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 Observation…
Structured Vs. unstructured observation
Structured observation is systematic and has a high
level of predetermined steps
Objective: To quantify behavior (your focus is to
determine how often things happen rather than why
they happen. Ex: Time and motion study
Unstructured observation: The observer has no
definite ideas of the particular aspects that need focus.
Observing events that are happening may also be a
part of the plan as in many qualitative studies.

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• Focus group discussion

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 Focus group discussion
A special type of interview that offers
opportunity to interview a number of people at
the same time.
Made by a panel of 8 to 12 respondents led by
a trained moderator
The moderator uses group dynamics principles
to focus or guide the group in an exchange of
ideas, feelings, and experiences on a clearly
understood topic
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 Focus group discussion….. Cont’d
Good for exploratory research
Qualities of a moderator: (Kindness with
firmness, Tolerance, Involvement,
understanding, Encouragement, Flexibility,
Sensitivity / emotional response)
Benefits of FGD : (Synergism , Snowballing,
Stimulation, Security, Spontaneity—/natural
behavior/Serendipity/discovery of something
fortunate, Specialization, Scientific Scrutiny,
Structure, Speed)
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• Secondary Data Collection

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 Secondary Data Collection

• Secondary data means data that are already

available and analyzed by someone else.

• When the researcher utilizes secondary data,

then you have to look into various sources
from where you can obtain them.

• Secondary data may either be published

data or unpublished data
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 Secondary Data Collection….Cont’d
• The researcher must see that the secondary data
should possess following characteristics:
• 1. Reliability of data: The reliability can be tested
by finding out such things about the said data:
• (a) Who collected the data?
• (b) What were the sources of data?
• (c) Were they collected by using proper methods
(d) At what time were they collected?
• (e) Was there any bias of the compiler?
• (t) What level of accuracy was desired?
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 Secondary Data Collection….Cont’d
• 2. Suitability of data
• The data that are suitable for one enquiry may
not necessarily be found suitable in another
enquiry.

• Hence, if the available data are found to be

unsuitable, they should not be used by the
researcher.

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 Secondary Data Collection….Cont’d
• 3. Adequacy of data: If the level of
accuracy achieved in data is found inadequate
for the purpose of the present enquiry, they
will be considered as inadequate and should
not be used by the researcher.
• The data will also be considered inadequate, if
they are related to an area which may be
either narrower or wider than the area of the
present enquiry.

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• Selection of Appropriate Method for
Data Collection

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 Selection of Method for Data Collection
• There are various methods of data collection.
As such the researcher must judiciously select
the method/methods for his own study,
keeping in view the following factors:
• 1. Nature, scope and objective of enquiry:
This constitutes the most important factor
affecting the choice of a particular method.
• The method selected should be such that it
suits the type of enquiry that is to be
conducted by the researcher.
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 Selection of Method …..Cont’d
• 2. Availability of funds: Availability of funds
for the research project determines to a large
extent the method to be used for the
collection of data.
• When funds at the disposal of the researcher
are very limited, he will have to select a
comparatively cheaper method which may not
be as efficient and effective as some other
costly method.

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 Selection of Method …..Cont’d
• 3. Time factor: Availability of time has also
to be taken into account in deciding a
particular method of data collection.
• Some methods take relatively more time,
whereas with others the data can be collected
in a comparatively shorter duration.
• 4. Precision required: Precision required is
yet another important factor to be considered
at the time of selecting the method of
collection of data.
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• Data Analysis Techniques

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 Qualitative Analysis
• Best for issues not well analyzed through statistical
techniques
• Analysis of data is summarizing of data obtained
from respondents
• Qualitative data analysis starts by reading and
memoing of data and then giving code to the
collected data
• The code will help to create temporary categories
• Categories might help to the development of themes

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 Qualitative Analysis … Cont’d
• Qualitative analysis is to make sense of massive
amounts of data, reduce the volume of information,
identify significant patterns and construct a
framework for communicating the essence of what
the data reveal
• working with data, organizing it, breaking it into
manageable units, synthesizing it, searching for
patterns, discovering what is important and what is
to be learned, and deciding what you will tell others

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 Common stages of qualitative analysis
• Familiarization with the data through review,
reading, listening etc.
• Transcription of tape recorded material.
• Organization and indexing of data for easy
retrieval and identification.
• Anonymsing of sensitive data.
• Coding (or indexing).
• Identification of themes.
• Re-coding.

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 Common stages of qualitative ……
• Development of provisional categories.
• Exploration of relationships between
categories.
• Refinement of themes and categories.
• Development of theory and
incorporation of pre-existing knowledge.
• Report writing, including excerpts from
original data if appropriate

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 Tools for qualitative data analysis
Computer Software
• Atlas-ti: large datasets, unstructured coding,
mimic paper code & sort.
• NUDIST: large datasets, structured coding,
mimic quant analysis.
• NVivo: less data, unstructured coding, find
patterns/relationships in codes.
• Folio Views: huge datasets, focused coding,
search & sort.

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Quantitative Data Analysis by tools
• Data must lend themselves for quantitative
analysis
• Designing instruments bearing in mind
quantitative analysis is helpful
• Data entry must be handled cautiously
• Good knowledge of the software to be used is
helpful

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 Quantitative Data Analysis, Cont’d
• Quantitative data analysis is making sense
of the numbers to permit meaningful
interpretation
It involves:
1. Organizing the data
2. Doing the calculations
3. Interpreting the information
4. Explaining limitations
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 Quantitative Data Analysis, Cont’d
• There are many software for the quantitative
data analysis depending upon the type of
quantitative data
• SPSS
• Eview
• Stata
• Many others

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 Summary
• The result or findings of any research
depend on the quality of data and appropriate
analysis technique
• The appropriate data can be determined by
the research questions on hand
• Designing data collection instrument needs
understanding of the type of data required for
the research
• Here, you can read the book with you on data
collection and analysis
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 Summary….Cont’d
• Introduction
• Types of Data
• Data Collection Methods
• Selection of Appropriate Method for Data
Collection
• Data Analysis Techniques
– Qualitative Data Analysis
– Quantitative Data Analysis

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• “The End of Chapter 7”

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