UNIT-2

METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

 Meaning of data collection
• Data collection is defined as the procedure of collecting, measuring and
analysing accurate insights for research using standard validated techniques. A
researcher can evaluate their hypothesis on the basis of collected data. In most
cases, data collection is the primary and most important step for research,
irrespective of the field of research. The approach of data collection is different
for different fields of study, depending on the required information.
• The most critical objective of data collection is ensuring that information-rich
and reliable data is collected for statistical analysis so that data-driven decisions
can be made for research.  
 SURVEY ADMINISTRATION
Definition

The act or process of systematic data gathering from a sample of entities for
the purpose of constructing quantitative descriptors of the attributes of a
larger population of which the entities are members.
 Description
• A survey, also known as a questionnaire, is used to collect data about
respondent’s opinions, attitudes, preferences, behaviour, demographics, or
other aspects of his or her life. The data are then used to construct
quantitative descriptors of the attributes of a larger population of which
the respondents (sample) are members.
 How to Conduct a Survey

• There are a variety of ways through which a survey can be conducted.

Each method of conducting surveys present their own advantages and
disadvantages which are to be considered and weighed carefully
before the actual execution of administering the survey. In addition to
the method of administration, there are other factors that may
influence the response rates and results of the survey.
 Methods of Administering Survey
• 1. Personal Approach
• A. Face-to-Face Structured Interview
• Pros: Questions on the survey that are asked directly to the respondent by the researcher usually produces good response rates
 if visual materials are required during the survey. This also provides a great opportunity for the researcher to observe the
participants.
• Cons: There’s a higher chance of bias due to the interaction between the respondent and the interviewer. The principle of 
anonymity is also lost. It is neither ideal if the participants are located in different geographical areas.
• B. Telephone Survey
• Pros: This method can be used for asking consequential questions. It provides anonymity better than face-to-face interviews.
• Cons: Telephone surveys are not ideal for data gathering which requires the participants to see a visual material. In addition,
telephone calls for survey purposes are not appropriate if long questions are to be asked.
 2. Self-Administered Approach
• A. Paper-and-Pencil Survey
• Pros: A traditional survey administration method, the paper-and-pencil
survey is ideal for respondents who are not computer literate or do not
have an access to the Internet.
• Cons: The paper-and-pencil self-administered technique usually requires
the researcher to be present during the administration, and also
necessitates doing the expensive reproduction of survey questionnaires
and the tiring manual distribution of the questionnaires to the respondents.
• B Online Survey
• Pros: The online survey technique is ideal for a survey requiring a huge sample
size and/or a sample whose members live in wide geographical areas. This is
also less expensive compared to sending survey through mail. Also, many
survey companies can help you conduct the survey online with decent precision.
• Cons: The members of the sample must be computer literate in order to answer
the survey questions online. This method may also require giving an incentive
to the participants.
• C. Mail Survey
• Pros: This method facilitates easy administering of the survey. The visual
quality of the instrument is also controlled by reviewing the mails before
they are sent. Anonymity can also be easily achieved through this
technique.
• Cons: Mail surveys are not as popular as they were years ago because
there were increasingly lower response rates from the participants.
 Increasing Response Rates
• Compensate the participants’ effort by means of providing an incentive. The usual incentive given by researchers is
money, ranging from as little as $1 to as much as $50 per completed survey. However, some give donations or small
gifts after completing the survey.
• Maintain a professional-looking survey questionnaire. Double-check the instructions, spacing, layout, and printed
look of the survey before administering them.
• Follow the KISS principle. “KISS" stands for “Keep It Short and Simple". Higher response and completion rates
are associated with concise, simple, and easy-to-answer survey questionnaires.
• Ensure confidentiality (and anonymity, if it applies). Assure the participants that all their answers will be kept
confidential and will only be used for the purpose of the survey.
• Look professional, courteous and polite. Participants are more likely to cooperate if the researcher practices
professionalism whether in appearance or behavior. Saying “please", and “thank you" as well as guiding the
respondent politely are also helpful in motivating the participant to finish the survey.
 Field work plan / field research
• What is Field Research?
• Field research is defined as a qualitative method of data collection that aims to
observe, interact and understand people while they are in a natural
environment. For example, nature conservationists observe behaviour of
animals in their natural surroundings and the way they react to certain
scenarios. In the same way, social scientists conducting field research may
conduct interviews or observe people from a distance to understand how they
behave in a social environment and how they react to situations around them.
• Field research encompasses a diverse range of social research methods including direct
observation, limited participation, analysis of documents and other information, informal
interviews, surveys etc. Although field research is generally characterized as qualitative
research, it often involves multiple aspects of quantitative research in it.
• Field research typically begins in a specific setting although the end objective of the study is
to observe and analyze the specific behaviour of a subject in that setting. The cause and effect
of a certain behaviour, though, is tough to analyze due to presence of multiple variables in a
natural environment. Most of the data collection is based not entirely on cause and effect but
mostly on correlation. While field research looks for correlation, the small sample size makes
it difficult to establish a causal relationship between two or more variables.
 Testing field investigations / Methods
• Field research is typically conducted in 5 distinctive methods. They are:
• Direct Observation
• In this method, the data is collected via an observational method or subjects in a
natural environment. In this method, the behavior or outcome of situation is not
interfered in any way by the researcher. The advantage of direct observation is
that it offers contextual data on people, situations, interactions and the
surroundings. This method of field research is widely used in a public setting or
environment but not in a private environment as it raises an ethical dilemma.
• Participant Observation
• In this method of field research, the researcher is deeply involved in the
research process, not just purely as an observer, but also as a participant.
This method too is conducted in a natural environment but the only
difference is the researcher gets involved in the discussions and can mould
the direction of the discussions. In this method, researchers live in a
comfortable environment with the participants of the research, to make
them comfortable and open up to in-depth discussions.
• Ethnography
• Ethnography is an expanded observation of social research and social
perspective and the cultural values of an  entire social setting. In
ethnography, entire communities are observed objectively. For example,
 if a researcher would like to understand how an Amazon tribe lives their
life and operates, he/she may chose to observe them or live amongst them
and silently observe their day-to-day behavior.
• Qualitative Interviews
• Qualitative interviews are close-ended questions that are asked directly to
the research subjects. The qualitative interviews could be either informal
and conversational, semi-structured, standardized and open-ended or a
mix of all the above three. This provides a wealth of data to the researcher
that they can sort through. This also helps collect relational data. This
method of field research can use a mix of one-on-one interviews, focus
groups and text analysis
• Case Study
• A case study research is an in-depth analysis of a person, situation or
event. This method may look difficult to operate, however, it is one of the
simplest ways of conducting research as it involves a deep dive and
thorough understanding the data collection methods and inferring the data.
 Steps in Conducting Field Research
• Build the right team
• Recruiting People for the Study
• Data Collection Methodology
• Site Visit
• Data Analysis
• Communicating Results
• Build the Right Team: To be able to conduct field research, having the
right team is important. The role of the researcher and any ancillary team
members is very important and defining the tasks they have to carry out
with defined relevant milestones is important. It is important that the
upper management too is vested in the field research for its success.
• Recruiting People for the Study: The success of the field research
depends on the people that the study is being conducted on. Using 
sampling methods, it is important to derive the people that will be a part
of the study.
• Data Collection Methodology: As spoken in length about above, data collection
methods for field research are varied. They could be a mix of surveys, interviews, case
studies and observation. All these methods have to be chalked out and the milestones for
each method too have to be chalked out at the outset. For example, in the case of a
survey, the survey design is important that it is created and tested even before the
research begins.
• Site Visit: A site visit is important to the success of the field research and it is always
conducted outside of traditional locations and in the actual natural environment of the
respondent/s. Hence, planning a site visit alongwith the methods of data collection is
important.
• Data Analysis: Analysis of the data that is collected is important to
validate the premise of the field research and  decide the outcome of the
field research.
• Communicating Results: Once the data is analyzed, it is important to
communicate the results to the stakeholders of the research so that it could
be actioned upon.
 SAMPLING METHODS
• When you conduct research about a group of people, it’s rarely possible to
collect data from every person in that group. Instead, you select a sample. The
sample is the group of individuals who will actually participate in the research.
• The main goal of any marketing or statistical research is to provide quality
results that are a reliable basis for decision-making. That is why the
different types of sampling methods and techniques have a crucial role in
research methodology and statistics.
 What is sampling?
sampling is a statistical process whereby researchers choose the type of the
sample. The crucial point here is to choose a good sample.
 Population vs sample
• The population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions
about
• The sample is the specific group of individuals that you will collect data
from.
• What is a population?
• In sampling meaning, a population is a set of units that we are interested in studying. These
units should have at least one common characteristic. The units could be people, cases
(organizations, institutions), and pieces of data (for example – customer transactions).
• What is a sample?
• A sample is a part of the population that is subject to research and used to represent the
entire population as a whole. What is crucial here is to study a sample that provides a true
picture of the whole group. Often, it’s not possible to contact every member of the
population. So, only a sample is studied when conducting statistical or marketing research.
Process of sampling
• 1. Identify the Target population (Population of interest)
• Target population refers to the group of individuals or objects to which researchers
are interested in generalizing their findings. The target population is the group of
individuals or objects, from which the sample might be taken. A well - defined
population reduces the probability of including the participants who all are not
suitable for the research objective.
• For example, researcher wants to study the behaviour of toddlers in playgroup. He
has to select a particular area (e.g., all playgroups in his city) for his study because it
is impossible to study the whole world toddlers.
•
2. Select a sampling frame
• While selecting sample units from the population, it is sometimes desirable to choose a list of the population from which the researcher select
units. Sampling frame is the group of individuals or objects (e.g., list of all playgroups in researcher’s city) from which researcher will draw
his/her sample. It is the list of all units in a study population from which the sample is taken.
• For example, researcher takes 3 playgroups near to his house in his sampling frame to conduct his study.

• 3. Specify the sampling technique

• Sampling can be done through probability (random selection) or non-probability (non-random) technique. Now, if the sampling frame is
approximately the same as the target population, random selection may be used to select sample. On the other hand, if the sampling frame does
not really represent the target population, the researcher may choose non-random selection which can give at least an idea about the population in
his nearby area.
• 4. Determine the sample size

The sample size is simply the number of units in the sample. Sample size determination depends on many factors
such as time, cost, facility. In general, larger samples are better, but they also require more resources.

5. Execute the sampling plan

Once population, sampling frame, sampling technique and sample size are identified, researcher can use all that
information to choose his/her sample.
 types of sampling methods
• Probability / Random sampling
• Non Probability/ Non random sampling
probability sampling involves random selection, allowing you to make
strong
statistical inferences about the whole group.
Non probability sampling involves non random selection based on the
criteria
 Probability/ Random Sampling
In simple words, probability sampling (also known as random sampling or
chance sampling) utilizes random sampling techniques and principles to
create a sample. This type of sampling method gives all the members of a
population equal chances of being selected.
For example, if we have a population of 100 people, each one of the persons
has a chance of 1 out of 100 of being chosen for the sample
 Types of Probability / Randomsampling
• 1 Simple random sampling
• 2 systematic random sampling
• 3 stratified random sampling
• 4 cluster sampling
 Simple random sampling
This is the purest and the clearest probability sampling design
and strategy. It is also the most popular way of a selecting a
sample because it creates samples that are very highly
representative of the population.

Simple random is a fully random technique of selecting

subjects. All you need to do as a researcher is ensure that all the
individuals of the population are on the list and after that
randomly select the needed number of subjects.
This process provides very reasonable judgment as you exclude
the units coming consecutively. Simple random sampling avoids
the issue of consecutive data to occur simultaneously
 Systematic Sampling
• This method is appropriate if we have a complete list of
sampling subjects arranged in some systematic order such as
geographical and alphabetical order.
• The process of systematic sampling design generally includes first
selecting a starting point in the population and then performing
subsequent observations by using a constant interval between samples
taken.
• This interval, known as the sampling interval, is calculated by dividing the
entire population size by the desired sample size.
• For example, if you as a researcher want to create a systematic sample of
1000 workers at a corporation with a population of 10000, you would
choose every 10th individual from the list of all workers.
 Stratified sampling
• involves dividing the population into subpopulations that may differ in important
ways. It allows you draw more precise conclusions by ensuring that every
subgroup is properly represented in the sample.
• To use this sampling method, you divide the population into subgroups (called
strata) based on the relevant characteristic (e.g. gender, age range, income bracket,
job role).
• Based on the overall proportions of the population, you calculate how many people
should be sampled from each subgroup. Then you use random or systematic
sampling to select a sample from each subgroup.
 Cluster sampling
• also involves dividing the population into subgroups, but each subgroup should have similar
characteristics to the whole sample. Instead of sampling individuals from each subgroup, you randomly
select entire subgroups.
• If it is practically possible, you might include every individual from each sampled cluster. If the clusters
themselves are large, you can also sample individuals from within each cluster using one of the
techniques above.
• This method is good for dealing with large and dispersed populations, but there is more risk of error in
the sample, as there could be substantial differences between clusters. It’s difficult to guarantee that the
sampled clusters are really representative of the whole population.
• Example
• The company has offices in 10 cities across the country (all with roughly
the same number of employees in similar roles). You don’t have the
capacity to travel to every office to collect your data, so you use random
sampling to select 3 offices – these are your clusters.
• Advantages of probability sampling:
• A comparatively easier method of sampling
• Lesser degree of judgment
• High level of reliability of research findings
• High accuracy of sampling error estimation
• Can be done even by non-technical individuals
• The absence of both systematic and sampling bias.
• Disadvantages:
• Monotonous work
• Chances of selecting specific class of samples only
• Higher complexity
• Can be more expensive and time-consuming.
 Convenience sampling
• A convenience sample simply includes the individuals who happen to be
most accessible to the researcher.
• This is an easy and inexpensive way to gather initial data, but there is no
way to tell if the sample is representative of the population, so it can’t
produce generalizable results
 NON PROBABILITY/NON RANDOM
SAMPLING
• 1. Convenience sampling
• 2. voluntary Response sampling
• 3. purposive sampling
• 4. Snowball sampling
Example
You are researching opinions about student support services in your
university, so after each of your classes, you ask your fellow students to
complete a survey on the topic. This is a convenient way to gather data, but as
you only surveyed students taking the same classes as you at the same level,
the sample is not representative of all the students at your university.
 Voluntary response sampling
• Similar to a convenience sample, a voluntary response sample is mainly
based on ease of access. Instead of the researcher choosing participants
and directly contacting them, people volunteer themselves (e.g. by
responding to a public online survey).
• Voluntary response samples are always at least somewhat biased, as some
people will inherently be more likely to volunteer than others.
You want to know more about the
opinions and experiences of disabled
students at your university, so you
purposefully select a number of students
with different support needs in order to
gather a varied range of data on their
experiences with student services.
 Snowball sampling
• If the population is hard to access, snowball sampling can be used to
recruit participants via other participants. The number of people you have
access to “snowballs” as you get in contact with more people.
• You are researching experiences of homelessness in your city. Since there
is no list of all homeless people in the city, probability sampling isn’t
possible. You meet one person who agrees to participate in the research,
and she puts you in contact with other homeless people that she knows in
the area.
 QUESTION BANK
• SECTION –A
1. What is census ?
2. Mention any two principles of sampling.
3. Mention any two use of sampling.
4. What do you mean by a questionnaire ?
5. What do you understand by field research?
• 6. What is non probability sampling ?
• 7. Give the meaning of snowball sampling .
• 8. Mention different methods of data collection.
 SECTION-B

• 1 What are the merits and demerits of face to face interview ? ( asked
twice )
• 2. Explain probability sampling techniques with examples
• 3. Explain different methods of data collection in detail.
• 4. Briefly explain the steps in sampling. (asked twice )
• 5. Difference between survey & case study.
• 6.
 Section -c
• 1. Explain the different types of sampling methods.
• 2. Explain factors to be considered while designing of questionnaire.
• 3.