LESSON 4.

DATA COLLECTION

Data collection is an important aspect of any type of research study.

Inaccurate data collection can impact the results of a study and ultimately
lead to invalid results.

QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION

Qualitative data is descriptive rather than numerical, and it looks for

context — it’s about people’s perceptions. You gather it to understand the
reasons and motivations that drive certain behavior. For example, qualitative
data can reveal people’s feelings and opinions about your organization, and
you can use it to determine why customers buy your products (or don’t).

Qualitative data is descriptive, rather than numeric. It is less concrete

and less easily measurable than quantitative data. This data may contain
descriptive phrases and opinions. Examples include an online review a
customer writes about a product, an answer to an open-ended survey
question about what type of videos a customer likes to watch online and the
conversation a customer had with a customer service representative.

Qualitative data helps explain the “why” behind the information

quantitative data reveals. For this reason, it is useful for supplementing
quantitative data, which will form the foundation of your data strategy. The
qualitative data is textual or non-numerical. It covers mostly the images,
videos, texts, and written or spoken words by the people.

Qualitative data collection methods serve the primary purpose of

collecting textual data for research and analysis. The collected research data
is used to examine

1. knowledge around a specific issue or a program, experience of people,

2. meaning and relationships
3. social norms and contextual or cultural practices

Qualitative data collection methods are exploratory, and they are

usually more focused on gaining insights and understanding the underlying
reasons by digging deeper.

Common methods used for qualitative data collection:

Individual interview

It is one of the most trusted, widely used, and most familiar qualitative
data collection methods primarily because of its approach. An individual or a
face-to-face interview is a direct conversation between two people with a
specific structure and purpose.
 At times, depending on the interviewer’s approach, the conversation
can be unstructured or informal but focused on understanding the individual’s
beliefs, values, understandings, feelings, experiences, and perspectives of an
issue. More often, the interviewer chooses to ask open-ended questions in
individual interviews.

The individual interview is an ideal qualitative data collection method,

particularly when the researchers want highly personalized information from
the participants. The individual interview is a notable method if the interviewer
decides to probe further and ask follow-up questions to gain more insights.

Qualitative surveys

Many researchers use qualitative surveys for data collection or to collect

a piece of detailed information about an issue. If you want to create
questionnaires for collecting textual or qualitative data, then ask more open-
ended questions. To answer such questions, the respondent has to write his/her
opinion or perspective concerning a specific topic or issue.

Open-ended surveys and questionnaires

Open-ended surveys and questionnaires allow participants to answer

freely at length, rather than choosing from a set number of responses. For
example, you might ask an open-ended question like “Why don’t you eat ABC
brand pizza?” You would then provide space for people to answer narratively,
rather than simply giving them a specific selection of responses to choose from
— like “I’m a vegan,” “It’s too expensive,” or “I don’t like pizza.”

Paper surveys

The paper questionnaires are frequently used for qualitative data

collection from the participants. The survey consists of short text questions,
which are often open-ended. These questions’ motive is to collect as much
detailed information as possible in the respondents’ own words. More often,
the survey questionnaires are designed to collect standardized data hence
used to collect responses from a larger population or large sample size.

Online surveys

An online survey or a web survey is prepared using a prominent online

survey software and either uploaded in a website or emailed to the selected
sample size with a motive to collect reliable online data. Instead of writing
down responses, the respondents use computers and keyboards to type their
answers. With an online survey questionnaire, it becomes easier and smoother
to collect qualitative data.
 In addition to that, online surveys have a wider reach, and the
respondent is not pressurized to answer each question under the interviewer’s
supervision. One of the significant benefits that online surveys offer is that they
allow the respondents to take the survey on any device, be it a desktop, tablet,
or mobile.

Focus group discussions:

Focus groups are similar to interviews, except that you conduct them in
a group format. You might use a focus group when one-on-one interviews are
too difficult or time-consuming to schedule.

Focus group discussions can also be considered a type of interview, but

it is conducted in a group discussion setting. Usually, the focus group consists
of 8 – 10 people (the size may vary depending on the researcher’s
requirement). The participants are allowed to either agree or disagree with
each other’s comments.

With a focused group discussion, researchers know how a particular

group of participants perceives the topic. Researchers analyze what
participants think of an issue, the range of opinions expressed, and the ideas
discussed. The data is collected by noting down the variations or
inconsistencies (if any exists) in the participants, especially in terms of belief,
experiences, and practice.

The participants of focused group discussions are selected based on the

topic or issues for which the researcher wants actionable insights. For example,
is the research is about the recovery of college students from drug addiction,
the participants have to be a college student, studying and recovering from
the drug addiction.

Observations

Observation is a method in which a data collector observes subjects in

the course of their regular routines, takes detailed field notes, and/or records
subjects via video or audio.

Observation is one of the traditional qualitative data collection methods

used by researchers to gather descriptive text data by observing people and
their behavior at events or in their natural settings. In this method, the
researcher is completely immersed in watching or seeing people by taking a
participatory stance to take down notes. Aside from taking notes, different
techniques such as videos, photographs, and audio recordings are also being
used.
There are two main types of observation:

Covert: In this method, the observer is concealed without letting anyone

know that they are being observed. For example, a researcher studying
the rituals of a wedding in nomadic tribes must join them as a guest and
quietly see everything that goes around him.

Overt: In this method, everyone is aware that they are being watched.
For example, a researcher or an observer wants to study the wedding
rituals of a nomadic tribe. To proceed with the research, the observer or
researcher can reveal why he is attending the marriage and even use a
video camera to shoot everything around him.

Observation is a useful qualitative data collection method, especially

when you want to study the ongoing process, situation, or reactions on a
specific issue related to the people being observed.

Qualitative data collection methods play an important role in impact

evaluation by providing information useful to understand the processes behind
observed results and assess changes in people’s perceptions of their well-
being. Furthermore, qualitative methods can be used to improve the quality of
survey-based quantitative evaluations by helping generate evaluation
hypothesis; strengthening the design of survey questionnaires and expanding
or clarifying quantitative evaluation findings. These methods are characterized
by the following attributes:

 they tend to be open-ended and have less structured protocols

 they rely more heavily on interactive interviews; respondents may be
interviewed several times to follow up on a particular issue, clarify
concepts or check the reliability of data
 they use triangulation to increase the credibility of their findings (i.e.,
researchers rely on multiple data collection methods to check the
authenticity of their results)

Regardless of the kinds of data involved, data collection in a qualitative

study takes a great deal of time. The researcher needs to record any
potentially useful data thoroughly, accurately, and systematically, using field
notes, sketches, audiotapes, photographs and other suitable means. The data
collection methods must observe the ethical principles of research.

QUANTITATIVE DATA COLLECTION

Quantitative data comes in the form of numbers, quantities and values.

It describes things in concrete and easily measurable terms. Examples include
the number of customers who bought a given product, the rating a customer
gave a product out of five stars and the amount of time a visitor spent on your
website. Quantitative data can tell you about your market share, the
demographics of your customers, and how often they buy your products or
use your services.

Quantitative data is numerical data that can be ranked, categorized,

and measured. This kind of data answers closed-ended questions, such as
“how many” or “how much,” and you can collect it through surveys, polls, and
questionnaires. Because quantitative data is numeric and measurable, it lends
itself well to analytics. Because this kind of data deals with numbers, it is very
objective and has a reputation for reliability. In quantitative research (survey
research), interviews are more structured than in qualitative research.

Quantitative research is concerned with testing hypotheses derived

from theory. Depending on the research question, participants may be
randomly assigned to different treatments. If the intent is to generalize from
the research participants to a larger population, the researcher will employ
probability sampling to select participants.

When should you use qualitative vs quantitative data-collection methods?

The truth is, to get the best results, you need to rely on both quantitative
and qualitative data-collection methods. You get deeper insights when you
use a combination of the two.

That said, qualitative data research can take a lot of time to collect and
analyze, and it can sometimes result in biased conclusions. That’s why you
should pair it with quantitative data collection to get the best, most accurate
information.

Steps in Data Collection

1. Determine What Information You Want to Collect

The first thing you need to do is choose what details you want to collect.
You’ll need to decide what topics the information will cover, who you want to
collect it from and how much data you need. Your goals — what you hope to
accomplish using your data — will determine your answers to these questions.
As an example, you may decide to collect data about which type of articles
are most popular on your website among visitors who are between the ages
of 18 and 34. You might also choose to gather information about the average
age of all of the customers who bought a product from your company within
the last month.

2. Set a Timeframe for Data Collection

Next, you can start formulating your plan for how you’ll collect your data.
In the early stages of your planning process, you should establish a timeframe
for your data collection. You may want to gather some types of data
continuously. If you’re tracking data for a specific campaign, however, you’ll
track it over a defined period. In these instances, you’ll have a schedule for
when you’ll start and end your data collection.

3. Determine Your Data Collection Method

At this step, you will choose the data collection method that will make
up the core of your data-gathering strategy. To select the right collection
method, you’ll need to consider the type of information you want to collect,
the timeframe over which you’ll obtain it and the other aspects you
determined.

4. Collect the Data

Once you have finalized your plan, you can implement your data
collection strategy and start collecting data. You can store and organize your
data. Be sure to stick to your plan and check on its progress regularly. It may
be useful to create a schedule for when you will check in with how your data
collection is proceeding, especially if you are collecting data continuously.
You may want to make updates to your plan as conditions change and you
get new information.

5. Analyze the Data and Implement Your Findings

Once you’ve collected all of your data, it’s time to analyze it and
organize your findings. The analysis phase is crucial because it turns raw data
into valuable insights that you can use to enhance your marketing strategies,
products and business decisions.

Quantitative and Qualitative Data collection methods

 Face -to -face interviews have a distinct advantage of enabling the

researcher to establish rapport with potential participants and therefore
gain their cooperation. These interviews yield highest response rates in
survey research. They also allow the researcher to clarify ambiguous
answers and when appropriate, seek follow-up information.
Disadvantages include impractical when large samples are involved,
time consuming and expensive.

 Telephone interviews are less time consuming and less expensive and
the researcher has ready access to anyone on the planet who has a
telephone. The sample may be biased to the extent that people without
phones are part of the population about whom the researcher wants to
draw inferences.
 Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing: is a form of personal
interviewing, but instead of completing a questionnaire, the interviewer
brings along a laptop or hand-held computer to enter the information
directly into the database. This method saves time involved in processing
the data, as well as saving the interviewer from carrying around
hundreds of questionnaires.

 Paper-pencil-questionnaires can be sent to a large number of people

and saves the researcher time and money. People are more truthful
while responding to the questionnaires regarding controversial issues in
particular due to the fact that their responses are anonymous. But they
also have drawbacks.

 Web based questionnaires: A new and inevitably growing methodology

is the use of Internet based research. This type of research is often quicker
and less detailed. Some disadvantages of this method include the
exclusion of people who do not have a computer or are unable to
access a computer. Also the validity of such surveys are in question as
people might be in a hurry to complete it and so might not give
accurate responses. Questionnaires often make use of checklist and
rating scales. These devices help simplify and quantify people's
behaviors and attitudes. A checklist is a list of behaviors, characteristics,
or other entities that the researcher is looking for. Either the researcher or
survey participant simply checks whether each item on the list is
observed, present or true or vice versa. A rating scale is more useful
when a behavior needs to be evaluated on a continuum. They are also
known as Likert scales.