PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS

AND STATISTICS
UNIT -2 Method of data collection
B.A. final year
 Topic to be covered
• Sampling: the representativeness of sample
,random,stratified,incidental and purposive sampling.
• Observation: simple, uncontrolled, participant and non-participant
observation.
• Questionnaire: construction of the questionnaire and schedule,pilot
study and pre- test, problem of validity ,mailed- questionnaire.
• Interview: interviewing as social process, rapport, carrying out the
interview forward, the probing ,recording.
SAMPLING
• Sample refers to the subgroup of a larger group called a population.
In this step you will not ask all the applicants of variables, like for
example in school. You will not be asking all the students in a school
rather you will just ask few students who are qualified on your
research design.
• Definition of Sampling
Sampling refers to a portion of the population selected to represent
the entire group, in all its characteristics.
the representativeness of sample
• A representative sample is a subset of a population that seeks to
accurately reflect the characteristics of the larger group. For example,
a classroom of 30 students with 15 males and 15 females could
generate a representative sample that might include six students:
three males and three females. Samples are useful in statistical
analysis when population sizes are large because they contain
smaller, manageable versions of the larger group.
How to build a representative sample
Researchers use two methods to build representative samples – Probability
sampling and non-probability sampling
1. Probability sampling: Probability sampling is a technique in which a
researcher chooses a sample from a larger population using a method
based on the probability theory. For a participant to be considered a
probability sample, he/she must be selected using a random selection.
2. Non-probability sampling: Non-probability sampling is a sampling
technique in which the researcher selects samples based on the
researcher’s subjective judgment rather than random selection. In
non-probability sampling, not all population members have a chance of
participating in the study, unlike probability sampling, where each
member of the population has a known chance of being selected.
Probability sampling
Probability sampling
• Simple Random Sampling– This strategy is the best way to get a
sample in a big population. In this technique, samples are selected
through:
a. Putting all the names in a clash card and picking randomly through
this samples are selected via pure chance selection
b. The first thing you will do here is to get a list of students. Then,
Assign a number to every student and by using tables and pick
numbers randomly.
• Stratified Sampling – This is the best strategy if you want to divide
the group for further analysis. Samples are chosen through capability
of qualifying for future analysis
Probability sampling
• Systematic sampling
Systematic sampling is similar to simple random sampling, but it is
usually slightly easier to conduct. Every member of the population is
listed with a number, but instead of randomly generating numbers,
individuals are chosen at regular intervals.
• Cluster sampling
Cluster sampling also involves dividing the population into subgroups,
but each subgroup should have similar characteristics to the whole
sample. Instead of sampling individuals from each subgroup, you
randomly select entire subgroups.
Non-probability sampling
Non-probability sampling
• Convenience sampling
A convenience sample simply includes the individuals who happen to
be most accessible to the researcher.
• Snowball sampling
If the population is hard to access, snowball sampling can be used to
recruit participants via other participants. The number of people you
have access to “snowballs” as you get in contact with more people.
Non-probability sampling
• purposive sampling :In this type of sampling, subjects are chosen to
be part of the sample with a specific purpose in mind. With
judgmental sampling, the researcher believes that some subjects are
fit for the research compared to other individuals. This is the reason
why they are purposively chosen as subjects.
• Accidental or incidental is that type of sampling in which a researcher
pick up data or information’s from those who fall into hand or
present at the time of research. It continues the process till the
completion of the sample size. It is accidental because it is selected
accidentally from all type of people comes to face like, teacher,
students, house wife, tailors, workers, etc
Observation:
Observation is a very powerful tool of psychological enquiry. It is an
effective method of describing behaviour. In our daily life, we remain
busy with observing numerous things throughout the day. Many times,
we do not take notice of what we are seeing or what we have seen. We
see but we do not observe. We remain aware of only a few things that
we see daily. Have you experienced such a thing? You may also have
experienced that if you carefully observe a person or event for some
time, you come to know many interesting things about the person or
the event. A scientific observation differs from day-to-day observation
in many respects. These are :selection ,recording and data analysis.
Observation:
• (a) Selection : Psychologists do not observe all the behaviour that
they encounter. Rather, they select a particular behaviour for
observation.
• (b) Recording : While observing, a researcher records the selected
behavior using different means, such as marking tallies for the
already identified behavior whenever they occur, taking notes
describing each activity in greater detail using short hand or symbols,
photographs, video recording, etc.
• (c) Analysis of Data : After the observations have been made,
psychologists analyze whatever they have recorded with a view to
derive some meaning out of it.
Types of Observation
• Naturalistic vs Controlled Observation : When observations are done
in a natural or real life settings (in the above example, it was a school
in which observation was made), it is called naturalistic observation.
In this case the observer makes no effort to control or manipulate the
situation for making an observation. This type of observation is
conducted in hospitals, homes, schools, day care centers, etc.
However, many a times you might need to control certain factors that
determine behavior as they are not the focus of your study. For this
reason, many of the studies in psychology are conducted in the
laboratory. For example, This type of observation, called Controlled
Laboratory Observation, actually, this is obtained in laboratory
experiments.
Non-Participant vs Participant Observation
• Non-Participant vs Participant Observation : Observation can be done in
two ways. One, you may decide to observe the person or event from a
distance. Two, the observer may become part of the group being observed.
In the first case, the person being observed may not be aware that s/he is
being observed. For example, you want to observe the pattern of
interaction between teachers and students in a particular class. There are
many ways of achieving this goal. You can install a video camera to record
the classroom activities, which you can see later and analyze. Alternatively,
you may decide to sit in a corner of the class without interfering or
participating in their everyday activities. This type of observation is called
non-participant observation. In participant observation, the observer
becomes a part of the school or the group of people being observed. In
participant observation, the observer takes some time to establish a
rapport with the group so that they start accepting her/him as one of the
group members.
Questionnaire
• A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of
questions for the purpose of gathering information from
respondents. Questionnaires can be thought of as a kind of written
interview. They can be carried out face to face, by telephone,
computer or post.
• Schvaneveltd (1985) defined questionnaire as “a data-gathering
device that elicits from a respondent the answers or reactions to
printed (pre-arranged) questions presented in a specific order.”
QUESTIONNAIRE CONSTRUCTION
• Steps to be followed in questionnaire construction and writing the report:
1) Determining the scope of the questionnaire.
2) Deciding the type of questions (close ended or open ended) to be asked.
3) Preparing the draft questionnaire.
4) Pretesting the questionnaire with a sample population.
5) Revising the questionnaire according to the suggestions received.
6) Distributing of the questionnaire to the actual sample.
7) Sending reminders to the population under study.
8) Receiving the responses.
9) Analyzing and interpreting of the data received.
10) Writing the report.
Schedule
• The schedule is also one of the methods of data collection. It will have
a set of statements, questions and space given to note down the
answers. The Schedule method of data collection can be utilised
irrespective of the respondent’s literacy. It can be used when the
respondents are literate and can be used even when the respondents
are illiterate.
• The main difference between questionnaire and schedule is that
questionnaires consist of a set of open-ended or close-ended
questions, whereas schedules contain a set of structured questions
that are directly asked by the interviewer.
Pilot study
• A pilot study is a mini-survey where the researcher sends out a
questionnaire to a smaller sample size compared to the actual target
audience. By collecting information from a convenience sample, you
can predict the response patterns of participants and make any required
changes to your research.
• The main objective of a pilot survey is to test the research
tools including the questions, survey structure, and distribution
channels. If done in the right way, it helps you to discover challenges
that can affect the main data collection process.
PRETESTING OF QUESTIONNAIRE
• Survey research questionnaire act as an instrument for gathering
data. It should be pre tested before putting it to actual use. Pre
testing helps in further improving the questionnaire and works like a
measuring yardstick, seeking perfection. Once the final questionnaire
is printed then there is no room for corrections and improvement. If
the researcher tries to make corrections it will be expensive as well as
difficult. To pre test the questionnaire it has to be circulated to the
sample population to receive useful comments and the researcher
can revise accordingly. Pre test also includes verbal communication
with sample population about confusing questions, difficult
questions, over lapping categories, etc.
Validity of problem
• Validity test of a survey questionnaire is a process of analysing the survey
questions for their dependability. Since there are many complex factors
which can influence the dependability of a question in a questionnaire,
validating a survey is a complex process. Validity of a questionnaire is
determined by knowing what it is intended to measure. Validity explains
how well the collected data cover the actual area of investigation . Further,
validation decides the validity of the inferences and conclusions made
based on the results of the questionnaire. The major types of validation
tests commonly used while validating a questionnaire are (1) face
validation, (2) content validation, (3) construct validation, and (4) criterion
validation. There are six steps commonly used in the validation method of
many empirical research methodologies.
• Mail Questionnaire: These are starting to be obsolete but are still
being used in some market research studies. This method involves a
researcher sending a physical data collection questionnaire request to
a respondent that can be filled in and sent back. The advantage of
this method is that respondents can complete this on their own time
to answer truthfully and entirely. The disadvantage is that this
method is expensive and time-consuming. There is also a high risk of
not collecting enough responses to make actionable insights from the
data.
Conduct a Pretest

The success of the interview does not just depend on planning, but also
in conducting trials and pretest to outline and correct some flaws in the
formation of questions, coding system and other aspects of the
interview that you have done.
Through pretesting you can predict the effects of your planning and
can help you determine the extent revisions that you will be making in
your questions before face-to-face confrontation.
Interviewing as social process
• Interviews are different from questionnaires as they involve social
interaction.
• From the social scientific perspective, interviews are a method of
data collection that involves two or more people exchanging
information through a series of questions and answers. The questions
are designed by a researcher to elicit information from interview
participant(s) on a specific topic or set of topics.
• Typically interviews involve an in-person meeting between two
people, an interviewer and an interviewee. But as you’ll discover in
this chapter, interviews need not be limited to two people, nor must
they occur in person.
• An interview ids a meeting between two people, they are either
structured (where set answers are given to gain a particular response)
or urn - structured (open ended.)
• It can be said that a social interaction; such as a positive roper, is
vital for the interview to be successful. However the extent to which
the social bond is made must not affect the answers and thus, the
validity of the interview.
• Researchers can ask different types of questions which in turn
generate different types of data. For example, closed questions
provide people with a fixed set of responses, whereas open questions
allow people to express what they think in their own words.
Rapport
• The ability to establish rapport is often considered to be one of the most
important skills for effective interviewing. However, there is little consensus
on how rapport should be defined in a survey context, or how rapport affects
survey responses (Foucault et al. 2008). Capella (1990) describes rapport as a
feeling of connection, mutual comfort, and conversational ease. Gremler and
Gwinner (2000) describe rapport between interviewer and respondent in
terms of ‘chemistry’ and being ‘in tune’. Rapport can be established through a
range of interviewer behaviours, including highly attentive behaviour,
common grounding behaviour (identifying mutual interests, finding
similarities), courteous behaviour (honesty, civility, empathy), connecting
behaviour (using humour, pleasant conversation, friendly interaction), and
information sharing behaviour (giving advice, sharing knowledge, asking
questions) (Gremler and Gwinner 2008). The extent of rapport has been
measured in a variety of ways including asking interviewers and respondents
whether they felt comfortable during the interview (e.g. Goudy and Potter
1975) and assessing respondent cooperation and interest Davis et al. (2010).
Carrying out the interview forward
• Plan: In this stage the researcher plans the whole interview process,
which includes the training of interviewer, time to be taken in the
interview and the venue of the interview. It also takes into account
the cost factor, travel time and wait around time.
• Preparation of Interview Schedule: Interview schedule is a list of
printed questions, set in some order or sequence, and the
interviewer records the answers on the printed schedule during the
interview session. Interview schedule is prepared in advance. People
(researcher, interviewer, or simply the enumerator) who are going to
take this assignment need practical training to conduct the interview
smoothly.
• Pilot Test of the Schedule: Before the actual interview process starts it is
advisable to pre test the interview questions. A group of interviews should be
selected for pilot study. This group should not be included in the proper study.
Interviewer should request the selected respondents to give their
suggestions/observations to improve the interview schedule. After getting the
responses from the pilot study group the researcher should modify it accordingly.
• Conducting the Interview: The researcher/interviewer has to manage multiple
tasks at one time. For example he/she is putting questions to the respondent,
listening to the Interview Method answers carefully, giving clarification,
sometimes explanations, directions to clear the doubts of the respondents and
recording the answers manually, or with the help of any electronic device (i.e.,
tape recorder). The interviewer is also keeping tap on time, the questions to be
covered in the session, etc. It is a skilled job. The interviewer should be trained to
undertake such job.
Guidelines for Conducting Interviews
• Interviewer should plan in an advance the venue, time, etc. of the
interview session.
• He/She should have the friendly approach so that a proper
understanding/rapport can be established between the interviewer and
interviewee.
• He/She should have the ability to mobilise the respondent to answer freely
and frankly on the subject.
• Questions should be well framed. Complex questions should be avoided.
Such questions should be added which will elicit the desired answers.
• He/She should be properly trained to have proper control of the interview
session. He/She should be responsible for creating a friendly atmosphere of
mutual trust and confidence.
• He/She should not show any surprise or disapproval to the answers of the
respondent but at the same time he/she should be supportive of the
respondent answers.
• He/She should have friendly, courteous, unbiased approach.
• He/She should be non judgemental and should not try to change or
influence the reactions or opinions of the respondents.
• The interviewer should not indulge in any argument, even though he/she
may know that respondent’s replies are not accurate.
• At the end of the interview session the interviewer must show gratitude
for their cooperation. The respondent should get the feeling that they are
actively participating in the research process and their views are valuable
and important to research.
Probing
Not all questions are the same. Some questions seek simple answers
while other questions lead to discussions or even more questions.
These are called probing questions. These inquiries require more than
simple, factual answers. Probing questions are open-ended and begin
with words like "what", "why", or "how". The probing questions
definition is a question designed to elicit a well-thought-out, profound
answer.
Recording
• After the interview guide is constructed, the interviewer is not yet
ready to begin conducting interviews. Next, the researcher must
decide how to collect and maintain the information that is provided
by participants. Researchers keep field notes or written recordings
produced by the researcher during the data collection process,
including before, during, and after interviews. Field notes help
researchers to document their observations and they form the first
draft of data analysis. Field notes may contain many things, including
but not limited to observations of body language or environment,
reflections on whether interview questions are working well, and
connections between ideas that participants share.
References
• https://www.simplypsychology.org/interviews.html
• https://discover.hubpages.com/business/6-Important-Steps-in-Condu
cting-an-Interview-for-a-Research-Paper
• http://studylecturenotes.com/definition-types-of-non-probability-sa
mpling/
• https://ccsuniversity.ac.in/bridge-library/pdf/Research-Methodology-
CR-Kothari.pdf
• https://www.questionpro.com/blog/representative-sample/
• https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/sampling-methods/
• https://udrc.lkouniv.ac.in/Content/DepartmentContent/SM_f95734c
e-ce90-4975-8403-a638c2f1131d_17.pdf
• https://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/11229/1/Unit-1
2.pdf