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Research Tools and Techniques

Data collection involves systematically gathering information to answer research questions. There are many methodologies, primarily interviews, surveys, focus groups, observation, and document analysis. Data collection can be primary, involving directly gathering raw data, or secondary, using already collected data. Primary data collection is further divided into qualitative methods like open-ended questionnaires, and quantitative methods using mathematical analysis like closed-ended questionnaires. Secondary data involves data previously collected by others from sources like publications. Common tools include interviews, questionnaires, observations, and focus group discussions.

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78 views4 pages

Research Tools and Techniques

Data collection involves systematically gathering information to answer research questions. There are many methodologies, primarily interviews, surveys, focus groups, observation, and document analysis. Data collection can be primary, involving directly gathering raw data, or secondary, using already collected data. Primary data collection is further divided into qualitative methods like open-ended questionnaires, and quantitative methods using mathematical analysis like closed-ended questionnaires. Secondary data involves data previously collected by others from sources like publications. Common tools include interviews, questionnaires, observations, and focus group discussions.

Uploaded by

Adan Sajjad
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Data Collection Tools

Data collection is the process of gathering and measuring


information on variables of interest, in an established
systematic fashion that enables one to answer stated
research questions, test hypotheses, and evaluate
outcomes.
Many different methodologies can be used to collect
data and analyze them. Surprisingly, most of them are
developed around a core set of basic data collection
methods. Moreover, these include interviews, document
analysis, focus group discussions, observation,
photography, video, surveys, questionnaires, case studies
etc.
Types of Data Collection
Now depending on the problem statement, the data
collection method is broadly classified into two
categories-

Primary Data Collection


Secondary Data Collection
Primary Data Collection
Above all, primary data collection is the process of
gathering raw data by researchers directly from main
sources through surveys, interviews, or experiments.
Now, it can be further classified into two categories-

Quantitative Data Collection Methods


Qualitative Data Collection Methods
Qualitative Data Collection Methods: Qualitative
research methods usually work based on non-
quantifiable elements such as the feeling or emotions of
the researcher. In addition, it doesn’t require any
mathematical calculation to collect any numerical data.
For instance, an example of this method can be an open-
ended questionnaire.
Quantitative Data Collection Methods: Quantitative
methods use mathematical calculations to deduce useful
data and present them in numbers. For instance, you can
take the questionnaire with close-ended questions. It
produces figures after mathematical calculation. Also,
methods of correlation and regression, mean, mode and
median.
Secondary Data Collection
Secondary data is the type of data that has already been
collected by another person or organization for a
different purpose, e.g. reporting or research. You can
collect these data from magazines, newspapers, books,
blogs, journals, etc.

In the Secondary Data collection process, you have all the


data available that someone analyses before. Compare
to primary data collection this is much less expensive and
easier to collect. It may be either published data or
unpublished data.
Some of the data collection tools are discussed here:
INTERVIEW
An interview is a face-to-face conversation between two
individuals with the sole purpose of collecting relevant
information to satisfy a research purpose. Interviews are
of different types namely; Structured, Semi-structured,
and unstructured with each having a slight variation from
the other.
QUESTIONNAIRES
This is the process of collecting data through an
instrument consisting of a series of questions and
prompts to receive a response from individuals it is
administered to.
OBSERVATIONS
This is a data collection method by which information on
a phenomenon is gathered through observation. The
nature of the observation could be accomplished either
as a complete observer, an observer as a participant, a
participant as an observer, or as a complete participant.
FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS
The opposite of quantitative research which involves
numerical-based data, this data collection method
focuses more on qualitative research. It falls under the
primary category for data based on the feelings and
opinions of the respondents. This research involves
asking open-ended questions to a group of individuals
usually ranging from 6-10 people, to provide feedback.

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