lec # 8
Data Collection Methods
Define Research Problem
Review Concepts & Theories
Literature Review Review previous research finding
Formulate Hypothesis
Research Design (Including sample design)
Data Collection
(Using Data collection Tools)
(Observation, Interview,
Questionnaire)
Data Analysis
Interpret and Report
Research Process in Flow Chart
Data Collection
The successful completion of a sampling procedure connects the
research with the respondents and specifies the kind and number of
respondents who will be involved. The investigator knows at this stage not only
what will be studied, but also who to approach for the required information.
The information will be available, provided that the right connection between
the researcher and the respondents is made.
This connection is made through the methods of data collection. While
deciding about the method of data collection to be used for the study,
researcher should keep in mind two types of data viz., Primary data and
Secondary data.
Data Collection Method
Primary Data Secondary Data
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Questionnaire Interview Observation
The primary data are those which are collected afresh and for the first
time, and thus happen to be original in character. Secondary data on the other
Data Collection Tool
The various method of data gathering
involve the use of appropriate
recording forms. These are called
tools or instruments of data
collection, they consists of
observation schedule or interview
guide, interview schedule,
questionnaire, rating scale, check list
etc.,
Interview
It may be defined as a two way
systematic conversation between
an investigator and an informant,
initiated for obtaining information
relevant to a specific study
Characteristics of Interview
1. The participants - the interviewer and
the respondent - are strangers.
Hence, the investigator has to get
himself introduced to the respondent
in an appropriate manner
2. The relationship between the
participants and the interviewer is a
transitory one. It has a fixed
beginning and termination points.
3. Interview is not a mere casual
conversational exchange, but a
conversation with a specific purpose,
viz., obtaining information relevant to
a study.
4. Interview is a mode of obtaining verbal
answers to questions put verbally.
5. The interaction between the interviewer
and the respondent need not necessarily
be on a face-to-face basis, because
interview can be conducted over the
telephone also.
6.Although interview is usually a
conversation between two persons, it need
not be limited to a single respondent. It
can also be conducted with a group of
persons
7. Interviewing is a flexible psychological
Advantages of Interview
1. In this data tool the depth and detail of information can be
secured.
2. The interviewer can do more to improve the percentage of
responses and the quality of information received than other
method
3. The interviewer can gather other supplemental
information like economic level, living conditions etc.
4. The accuracy and dependability of the answers given
by the respondent can be checked by observation and
probing.
5. Interview is flexible and adaptable to individual
situations. Even more control can be exercised over the
interview situation.
Disadvantage of Interview
1. The interview results are often adversely affected
by interviewer's mode of asking questions and
interactions
2. Certain types of personal and financial information
may be refused in face-to-face interview
3. Interview poses the problem of recording
information obtained from the respondents
4. Lack of training for the person who conduct
interview.
5. Interview is costly both in terms of money and
time.
Requirement for Successful
Interview
1. Data availability: The needed- information
should be available with the respondent.
2. Role perception: The respondent should
understand his role and know what is
required of him.
3. Role of Interviewer: The interviewer should
also know his role. He should establish a
permissive atmosphere and encourage frank
and free conversation.
4. Respondent's motivation: The respondent
should be willing to respond and give
accurate answer. This depends partly on the
interviewer's approach and skill
Types of Interview
1. Structured or directive interview
2. Unstructured or non-directive interview
3. Focused interview
4. Clinical interview
5. Depth interview
Structured or Directive Interview
This is an interview made with a
detailed standardized schedule.
The same questions are put to all
the respondents and in the same
order. Each question is asked in
the same way in each interviews.
This type of interview is used for
large-scale formalized surveys.
Unstructured or Non-directive Interview
The interviewer encourages the
respondent to talk freely about a given
topic with a minimum of prompting or
guidance. In this type of interview, a
detailed pre-planned schedule is not
used. Only a broad interview guide is
used. The interviewer avoids channeling
the interview directions. This interviewing
is more useful in case studies rather than
in surveys.
Focused interview
This is a semi-structured interview where
the investigator attempts to focus the
discussion on the actual effects of a
given experience to which the
respondents have been exposed. The
interview is focused on the subjective
experiences of the respondent, i.e., his
attitudes, and emotional responses
regarding the situation under study.
Clinical interview
This is similar to the focused interview but
with a subtle difference. While the focused
interview is concerned with the effects of a
specific experience, clinical interview is
concerned with broad underlying feelings or
motivations or with the course of the
individual's life experiences.
Depth interview
This is an intensive and searching interview
aiming at studying the respondent's opinion,
emotions or convictions on the basis of an
interview guide. This is generally a lengthy
procedure designed to encourage free
expression of his/her feeling, emotion, his
knowledge about particular area of study.
Interviewing in the computer age
The development of computers has affected many aspects of life of every Individual and
consequently the researcher, the interviewer and the interviewee. The following are some examples of
computer packages that are relevant to interviewing.
Computer-aided personal interview (CAPI)
This program allows interviews to be carried out through the assistance of
computers, whereby to a certain extent the computer takes the place of the
interviewer. Questioning and control of the responses is done through the computer.
Computer-driven self – completion interview (CODSCI)
The interview is carried out in a computer session in which the respondent
reads the questions from the computer screen in direct communication with the
computer.
After completion of the interview, the responses are saved automatically in
the memory and further added to previous interview data.
Computer-aided telephone interview (CATI)
Here the computer is used by the interviewer, who reads the questions to the
interviewee through the telephone as it appears on the screen and records the
response in the computer.
It can draw the sample, choose the telephone number, dial the respondent
through a self-dial system and connect the interviewer with the interviewee.
Interview Process
1. Preparation – The first step in interviewing
process is preparation and preplanning. The
interviewer should keep the copies of interview
schedule/guide (as the case may be) ready for
use. He should also have the list of names and
addresses of respondents
2. Introduction - The investigator is a stranger to
the respondents. Therefore he should be
properly introduced to each of the respondents.
3. Developing rapport - Before starting the research
interview, the interviewer should establish a friendly
relationship with the respondent. This is described as
"rapport“. It means establishing a relationship of
confidence and understanding between the interviewer and
the respondent
4. Carrying the interview forward: After establishing
rapport, the technical task of asking questions from the
interview schedule starts.
5. Recording the interview: It is essential to record responses
as they take place in the interview.
6. Closing the interview: After the interview is over, take
leave off the respondent, thanking him with a friendly
smile.
Interview Problems
1. Inadequate response – in the
interview the respondent gives a
relevant but incomplete answer. when
the respondent remains silent or refuses
to answer the question, irrelevant
response, in which the repondent’s
answer is not relevant to the question
asked etc.,
2.Interviewer's bias: The interviewer is an important cause
of response bias. He may resort to cheating by 'cooking up'
data without actually interviewing. The interviewers can
influence the responses by inappropriate suggestions, word
emphasis, tone of voice and question rephrasing.
3.Non-response Non-response refers to failure to obtain
responses from some sample respondents. There are many
sources of non-response; non-availability, refusal,
incapacity, inaccessibility.
4. Non-availability: Some respondents may not be available
at home at the time of call. This depends upon the nature
of the respondent and the time of calls. For example
employed persons may at be available during working
hours. Farmers may not be available at home during
cultivation season.
5. Refusal: Some persons may refuse to furnish
information because they are approached at the
wrong hour and so on.
6. Incapacity or inability may refer to illness which
prevents a response during the entire survey
period. This may also arise on account of language
barrier.
Questionnaire
List of a research or survey questions asked to
respondents, and designed to extract specific
information from the respondents is called as
Questionnaire. It serves four basic purposes:
• Collect the appropriate data
• Make data comparable and amenable to analysis
• Minimize bias in formulating and asking
question.
• To make questions engaging and varied.
Steps in Questionnaire Construction
1. Preparation
2. Constructing the first draft
3. Self-evaluation
4. External evaluation
5. Revision
6. Pre-test or Pilot study
7. Revision
8. Second Pre-test if necessary
9. Preparing final Copy
Advantages of Questionnaire
1. Allows a wider range and distribution of the sample than the interview
method
2. Provides greater access to more educated respondents and to persons in
higher income brackets
3. Provides an opportunity for respondents to give frank. Anonymous answers
4. Allows greater economy of effort (i.e.. a single instrument. duplicated and
distributed to numerous respondents. can produce a large amount of data)
5. Can be constructed so that quantitative data are relatively easy to collect and
analyze
6. Can be designed to gather background information about respondents as
well as original hard-to-obtain data
7. facilitates the collection of large amount of data in a short period of time
8. Allows the corrections in exploratory studies, of
insightful information about a relatively unexplored
problem area or subject.
9. Can be completed at the leisure of respondents-within
time limits set by the surveyor-without imposing on
research subjects
10. Because of its fixed format, helps to eliminate
variation in the questioning process
Disadvantages of the
Questionnaire
1.Precludes personal contact with respondents, perhaps causing the
investigator to gain insufficient knowledge about participants in a study.
2. Does not allow respondents to qualify ambiguous questions
3. If the prepared instrument does not arouse respondent emotions (i.e.,
when the questionnaire is too impersonal) valid responses might not be
elicited.
4. Poorly worded or direct questions might arouse antagonism or
inhibitions on the part of respondents
5. Difficulty in obtaining responses from a representative cross section of
the target population
6. Because opinionated respondents might be more likely than other
subjects to complete and return it, use of a questionnaire might lead
to non response bias
Types of Question
1.Factual questions normally pertain to respondents ages,
education, library experience, memberships in professional
organizations, or any other pertinent personal data needed in
the study.
2. Opinion and Attitude Question - When the purpose of a
survey is to obtain information about respondents beliefs.
feelings, values, and related concepts, opinion and attitude
questions can be used
3. Information question - In some types of survey research,
investigators might attempt to determine how respondents
know about a given topic and how or when their research
subjects gained certain knowledge
4. Self – perception question – These questions is
about the self-perceptions of respondents in a given
topic or area.
5. Standard of action question - In some types of
surveys, investigators might attempt to determine
how respondents will act in certain circumstances or
how subjects feel about a new development or
forthcoming event.
6. Projective questions - At times, questions are used
that allow respondents to answer inquiries in an
indirect manner by imposing their personal feelings,
attitudes, or beliefs on another person or group of
persons.
Unstructured and Structured Questions
Questions can also be classified, on the basis of
form and method of response, into two major
categories: Unstructured and structured.
Unstructured Question - allow respondents to
reply freely without having to select one of several
provided responses
Structured Question – It specifies the
respondents answer in a several provided options
in a question.
Ways of Administering a Questionnaire
1. Collective Administration - One of the best way of
administering a questionnaire is to obtain a captive
audience such as students in classroom, people
attending a function
2. Administration in a public places - Sometimes you
can administer a questionnaire in a public place such
as a shopping Center, health center, hospital, school or
pub, it is dependent upon the type of study population
3. The mailed questionnaire - The most common
approach to collecting information is to send the
questionnaire to prospective respondents by mail
Observation
Direct observation in the field
Structuring frameworks
Degree of participation (insider or outsider)
Ethnography
Direct observation in controlled environments
Indirect observation: tracking users’ activities
Diaries
Interaction logging
Structuring frameworks to
guide observation
- The person. Who?
- The place. Where?
- The thing. What?
The Goetz and LeCompte (1984) framework:
- Who is present?
- What is their role?
- What is happening?
- When does the activity occur?
- Where is it happening?
- Why is it happening?
- How is the activity organized?
Observation schedule
This is a form on which observations of an object or
a phenomenon are recorded. The items to be
observed are determined with reference to the
nature and objectives of the study. They are
grouped into appropriate categories and listed in
the schedule in the order in which the observer
would observe them.
The schedule must be as devised as to provide the
required verifiable and quantifiable data and to
avoid selective bias and misinterpretation of
observed items. The units of observation must be
simple, and meticulously worded so as to facilitate
precise and uniform recording.
