Data: The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables.

Data (plural of "datum") are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. PROCESS OR METHOD OF COLLECTION DATA:

SOURCES OF DATA : The sources of data may be classified into (a) primary sources and (b) secondary sources.

Process of Primary data collection:

1.Observation method: Observation may be defined as a systematic viewing of a specific phenomenon in its proper setting or the specific purpose of gathering data for a particular study. Observation as a method includes both 'seeing' and 'hearing.' Types of Observation: In terms of mode of observation, it may be classified into ----(a) direct observation, and (b) indirect observation. With reference to the investigator s role, it may be classified into---(a) participant observation, and (b) non-participant observation 2.Interview methods: Interviewing is one of the major methods of data collection. It may be defined as two-way systematic conversation between an investigator and an informant, initiated for obtaining information relevant to as a specific study.

Types of Interviews : The interviews may be classified into: (a) structured or directive interview, (b) unstructured or non-directive interview, (c) focused inter-view, and (d) clinical interview and (e) depth interview.

3. Experimentation /case study methods: Experimentation is a research process used to study the causal relationships between variables. It aims at studying the effect of an inde-pendent variable on a dependent variable, by keeping the other inde-pendent variables constant through some type of control. Applications The applications of experimental method are Laboratory Experiment, and Field Experiment.

4. Projective techniques: Method of exposing an individual to a situation in which the person is giving information tends unconsciously to project a part of his personality and in the process reveal the inner mind. The basic assumption of projective techniques is that a person projects his own thoughts, ideas and attributes when he perceives and responds to ambiguous or unstructured stimulus materials.

Forms:
y y y y y y y Word association test. Sentence completion test. Story completion test. Error choice & information test. Pictorial technique. Role play technique. Thematic appreciation test

5. Simulation: Simulation is one of the forms of observational methods. It is a process of conducting experiments on a symbolic model representing a phenomenon. Abelson defines simulation as the exercise of a flexible imitation of processes and outcomes for the purpose of clarifying or explaining the underlying mechanisms involved. Simulation is thus a technique of performing sampling experiments on the model of the systems. The experiments are done on the model instead of on the real system, because the latter would be too inconvenient and expensive. 6. Sociometry : Sociometry is a method for discovering, describing and evaluating social status, structure, and development through measuring the extent of acceptance or rejection between individuals in groups. Franz defines sociometry as a method used for the discovery and manipulation of social configurations by measuring the attractions and repulsions between individuals in a group.

Sociometry Test The basic technique in sociometry is the sociometric test. This is a test under which each member of a group is asked to choose from all other members those with whom he prefers to associate in a specific situation. The situation must be a real one to the group under study, e.g., 'group study', 'play', 'class room seating' for students of a public school. Process of secondary Data collection :       Publication of central, state or local Government publication of international organizations & foreign government journals, magazine & books reports & publications reports of research scholars ,universities, research institutes & organization public records, statistics & historical documents

 personal collection from individual . Frequency Distribution: frequency distribution is a statistical table which shows the set of all distinct values of the variables arranged in order of magnitude either individually or in groups with their corresponding frequency side by side. example: no of company staff(frequency) A (30-40) 7 B (40-50) 8 C(50-60) 9 D(60-654) 10
Frequency Polygon: In a Frequency Polygon, a line graph is drawn by joining all the midpoints of the top of the bars of a histogram.

Example of Frequency Polygon :

The frequency polygon shown above represents the number of vehicles that passes through a particular route in different hours. To draw the above diagram first a histogram is drawn and then a line graph is drawn through the midpoints of the top of the bars.

Histogram:
A histogram is a display of statistical information that uses rectangles to show the frequency of data items in successive numerical intervals of equal size. In the most common form of histogram, the independent variable is plotted along the horizontal axis and the dependent variable is plotted along the vertical axis.

Bar diagram:
A method of presenting data in which frequencies are displayed along one axis and categories of the variable along the other, the frequencies being represented by the bar lengths.

Pie Chart: A pie chart is a circular chart divided into sectors, each sector shows the relative size of
each value.

Mean :The "mean" is the "average" you're used to, where you add up all the numbers and then divide by the number of numbers. Median: The "median" is the "middle" value in the list of numbers. To find the median, your numbers have to be listed in numerical order, so you may have to rewrite your list first. Mode: The "mode" is the value that occurs most often. If no number is repeated, then there is no mode for the list. y Example: Find the mean, median, mode, for the following list of values:

13, 18, 13, 14, 13, 16, 14, 21, 13

The mean is the usual average, so:

(13 + 18 + 13 + 14 + 13 + 16 + 14 + 21 + 13) 9 = 15
The median is the middle value, so I'll have to rewrite the list in order:

13, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 16, 18, 21

There are nine numbers in the list, so the middle one will be the (9 + 1) 2 = 10 2 = 5th number:

13, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 16, 18, 21

So the median is 14.

The mode is the number that is repeated more often than any other, so 13 is the mode.

Weighted Mean:
Weighted mean is nothing but the same as that of arithmetic mean, where as each of the data given is contributed equally to the weighed value. Weighted mean basically behaves like a similar fashion to the arithmetic mean. The term weighted mean can also be called as weighted arithmetic mean. weighted mean = sum of weighted term/total number of term