BAC 326 BUSINESS RESEARCH

___________________________________________________________________________ 1

Topic 4
Collection of Data

Definition of Data
- Data, plural for “datum”.
- Collection of numbers, quantities, facts, or records, used as bases for drawing conclusions or making inferences.

Classification of Data According to Source

1. Primary data – are those gathered from primary sources.
 Individual persons
 Organized groups or organizations
 Established practices
 Documents in their original forms
 Living organisms
 Man-made material things
 Natural objects and phenomena.
2. Secondary data – are those data gathered from secondary sources.
 Books
 Articles published
 Unpublished Mater’s theses and dissertations and other studies
 Monographs, manuscripts etc.

Categories of data gathered from respondents

1. Facts. These are recollections, observations, and perceptions of respondents about themselves and of other
people.
2. Attitudes and feelings. These are the respondent’s ideas and thoughts about the research topic, and his
personal feeling about the worth of the item being investigated.
3. Judgments. The data include the respondent’s ideas or opinion about, or his actual behavior, in a given
situation.
4. Psychomotor. These data refer to the manipulative skills of the individual and his activities that involve five
senses.
5. Results of tests and experiments. The results of tests and experiments are very important data especially in
psychology and in the physical, chemical and biological sciences.

Selecting the method of collecting data

1. The questionnaire method
2. The interview method
3. The empirical method
4. The registration method
5. The testing method
6. The experimental method
7. The library method

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Michelle B. Granado-Mandap
References:
Methods of Research and Thesis Writing by Jose F. Calderon, Ed.D.
Business Research Methods by Ronald Cooper and S. Schindler
Research Methods: Principles and Applications by Dr. Estela G. Andaza
 BAC 326 BUSINESS RESEARCH
___________________________________________________________________________ 2

Characteristics of good research instruments

1. The instrument must be valid and reliable.
2. It must base upon the conceptual framework or what the researcher wants to find out.
3. It must gather data suitable for and relevant to research topic.
4. It must gather data that would test the hypotheses or answer the questions under investigation.
5. It should be free for any kind of bias.
6. It must contain only questions or items that are unequivocal.
7. It must contain clear and definite directions to accomplish it.
8. If the instrument is a mechanical device, it must be of the best or latest model.
9. It must be accompanied by a good cover letter.

Topic 5
The Questionnaire, Interview and Sampling

Definition of questionnaire
- As a list of planned, written questions related to a particular topic, with space provided for indicating the
responses to each question, intended for submission to a number of persons for reply; commonly used in
normative survey studies and in the measurement of attitudes and opinions. (Good).

Advantages of a questionnaire
 The questionnaire is easy to construct
 Distribution is easy and inexpensive
 Responses are easy to tabulate
 The respondent’s replies are free
 Confidential information may be given freely
 The respondent can fill out the questionnaire at will
 The respondent can give more accurate replies.

Disadvantages of a questionnaire
 The questionnaire cannot be used with those who cannot read and write well.
 If many respondents may not return the filled up copies of the questionnaire purposely or forgetfully,
considerable follow-ups are necessary.
 If the respondent gives wrong information, it cannot be corrected at once
 A respondent may leave some or many questions unanswered because nobody urges him to do so.
 Some questions may be vague and so the respondent may not answer them.
 The number of choices may be so limited that the respondent may be forced to select responses that is not
actual choices.

Construction of a Questionnaire
1. Doing library research
2. Talking to knowledgeable people
3. Mastering the guidelines
4. Writing the questionnaire
5. Editing the questionnaire

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Michelle B. Granado-Mandap
References:
Methods of Research and Thesis Writing by Jose F. Calderon, Ed.D.
Business Research Methods by Ronald Cooper and S. Schindler
Research Methods: Principles and Applications by Dr. Estela G. Andaza
 BAC 326 BUSINESS RESEARCH
___________________________________________________________________________ 3

6. Rewriting the questionnaire

7. Pretesting the questionnaire
8. Writing the questionnaire in its final form
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Definition of interview
- It is the one of the major techniques in gathering data or information.
- It defined as a purposeful face to face relationship between two persons, one of whom called the interviewer
who asks questions to gather information and other called the interviewee or respondent who supplies the
information asked for.

Purposes and Uses of the interview

1. The researcher may approach and interview knowledgeable people to enable him to gain insight into his
problem.
2. The researcher may also interview knowledgeable people about the proper construction and validation of a
questionnaire.
3. The researcher may also use the interview as the principal tool in gathering data for his study or just to
supplement data collected by other techniques.

Advantages of the interview

 It yields a more complete and valid information.
 The interview can be used with all kinds of people.
 The interviewer can always clarify points or questions.
 Only the interviewee respondent can make replies to questions of the interview.
 The interviewer can observe the nonverbal reactions or behavior of the respondent which may reveal rich
pertinent information.
 Greater complex questions can be asked with the interviewer around to explain things greater complex
data.
 There is flexibility.

Disadvantages of the interview

 Sometimes, selected respondents are hard to contact or cannot be contacted at all.
 It is expensive if many interviewers have to be employed to meet a target date.
 The responses maybe inaccurate if the interviewee has no time to consult his records.
 It is time consuming if only the researcher conducts the interviews
 It is inconvenient for both the interviewer and interviewee in terms of time and place.
 There is no anonymity and so the interviewee may withhold some confidential but vital information.
 There is a tendency of interviewers to introduce bias because they may influence their interviewees to give
replies that would favor their research-employers.
 If the interviewer modifies question, the standardized construction of the questions is lessened.

Steps in the Interviews

1. Planning steps (Preparatory step)
2. Selecting the place for interview
3. Establishing rapport
4. Carrying out the interview
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Michelle B. Granado-Mandap
References:
Methods of Research and Thesis Writing by Jose F. Calderon, Ed.D.
Business Research Methods by Ronald Cooper and S. Schindler
Research Methods: Principles and Applications by Dr. Estela G. Andaza
 BAC 326 BUSINESS RESEARCH
___________________________________________________________________________ 4

5. Recording the interview

6. Closing the interview.

What to avoid in Interviews

1. Avoid exerting undue pressure upon a respondent to make him participate in an interview.
2. Avoid disagreeing or arguing with or contradicting the respondent
3. Avoid unduly pressing the respondent to make a reply
4. Avoid using a language well over and above the ability of the respondent to understand.
5. Avoid about talking irrelevant matters
6. Avoid placing the interviewee to embarrassing situations
7. Avoid appearing too high above the respondent in education, knowledge and social status.
8. Avoid interviewing the respondent in an unholy hour.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Definition of Sampling
- Defined as measuring a small portion of something and then making a general statement about the whole thing.
- As the method of getting a representative portion of a population.

Advantages of the Sampling

 It saves time, money, and effort
 It is more effective
 It is faster and cheaper
 It is more accurate
 It gives more comprehensive information.

Steps in computing the Size of a Sample

1. Determine the size of the study population.
2. Decide on the margin of error. As much as possible the margin of error should not be higher than 5%. Probably,
3% is an ideal one.
3. Use the formula: n = N/1 + Ne2 (Pagoso, et al.,)
where:
n = the size of the sample size
N = the size of the population
E = margin of error
4. If the population stratified, compute the sample proportion (percent) by dividing the result in step 3 by the
population.
5. Multiply the number of sampling units in each final sampling stratum by the rate (percent) to find the sample
from each sampling stratum
6. Add the sample from all the final sampling strata to find the total sample.

General Type of Sampling

Probability Sampling
 Types of probability Sampling
1. Pure random sampling – one in which everyone in the population of the inquiry has an equal chance of
being selected to be included in the sample. This is also called the lottery or raffle type of sampling.
Example:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Michelle B. Granado-Mandap
References:
Methods of Research and Thesis Writing by Jose F. Calderon, Ed.D.
Business Research Methods by Ronald Cooper and S. Schindler
Research Methods: Principles and Applications by Dr. Estela G. Andaza
 BAC 326 BUSINESS RESEARCH
___________________________________________________________________________ 5

2. Systematic sampling – this is a technique of sampling in which every nth name in a list may be selected
to be included in a sample.
3. Stratified sampling – is the process of selecting randomly, sample from different strata of the population
used in the study.
4. Purposive sampling – determining the target population, those to be involved in the study.
5. Cluster sampling – is used when the population is bigger or the geographical area of the research is so
large.
Non-Probability Sampling
 Types of probability Sampling
1. Accidental sampling – there is no system of selection but only whom researcher or interviewer meet by
chance are included in the sample.
2. Quota sampling – specified numbers of persons of certain types are included in the sample.
3. Convenience sampling is a process of picking out people in the most convenient and fastest way to
immediately get their reactions to a certain hot and controversial issue.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Michelle B. Granado-Mandap
References:
Methods of Research and Thesis Writing by Jose F. Calderon, Ed.D.
Business Research Methods by Ronald Cooper and S. Schindler
Research Methods: Principles and Applications by Dr. Estela G. Andaza