UNIT 2

DATA GATHERING AND PRESENTATION

Objective:
The aim of this chapter is to introduce different methods used by researchers for collection
of data and presentation.

Introduction:
Data collection or gathering is the heart of any research design irrespective of the field of
study. Any research begins with certain questions which need to be answered. Data
collection therefore is the process of gathering the desirable information carefully with least
possible distortion, so that the analysis may provide answers that are credible and stand to
logic1.

What are Data?

Data are information especially facts or numbers, collected to be examined, considered and
used to help decision-making. There are two types of data: Primary and Secondary Data.

Primary Data:
These are first hand data gathered by researchers. These data are collected on purpose
because no previous records of the data exist to be accessed by the public. Sources of
Primary data are as follows:
 Experiments,
 Surveys,
 Questionnaire,
 Interviews,
 Observations and
 Focus groups
Data from these sources are considered to be highly reliable.

Secondary Data:
These are data that have been collected and compiled by someone and are accessible to the
public. Sources of Secondary Data are as follows:
 Books
 Records
 Biographies
 Newspapers
 Published censuses or other statistical data
 Data archives
 Internet articles
 Research articles by other researchers (journals)

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  Databases, etc.

DATA CLASSIFICATION
There are two classes or categories of data. They are qualitative and quantitative data.

Quantitative Data
They are data that can be quantified and expressed as a number. For example, height of students of
a class, marks obtained in a test, number of new stories published on a topic, number of times a
particular word has been used in publications, etc.

Typical quantitative data gathering strategies include -

 Experiments/clinical trials.
 Observing and recording well-defined events. This entails the systematic description of
events, behaviours, and artefacts in the social setting chosen for study (Marshall & Rossman,
1989). For example, counting the number of patients waiting in emergency at specified
times of the day).
 Obtaining relevant data from management information systems.
 Administering surveys with closed-ended questions (e.g., face-to face and telephone
interviews, questionnaires etc).
 In quantitative research (survey research), interviews are more structured than in
Qualitative research. In a structured interview, the researcher asks a standard set of
questions and nothing more. Face -to -face interviews have a distinct advantage of enabling
the researcher to establish rapport with potential participants and therefore gain their
cooperation.
 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.

Qualitative Data
These are data that cannot be expressed in the form of a number. The data are collected in the form
of words and sentences. They answer the question why and how. They are open-ended and have
less structured protocols. They rely heavily on interactive interviews and they use triangulation to
increase the credibility of their findings.

The qualitative methods most commonly used in evaluation can be classified in three broad
categories -
 In-depth interview
 Observation methods
 Document review.

Mixed Methods:
Mixed methods approach as design, combining both qualitative and quantitative research data,
techniques and methods within a single research framework.

Some of the common areas in which mixed-method approaches may be used include:–
 Initiating, designing, developing and expanding interventions (strategies designed to produce
behavioural changes or improve health status);

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  Evaluation;
 Improving research design; and
 Corroborating findings, data triangulation (using multiple methods to collect data) or
convergence.

Some of the challenges of using a mixed methods approach include –

 Delineating complementary qualitative and quantitative research questions;
 Time-intensive data collection and analysis; and
 Decisions regarding which research methods to combine.

Continuous
(Height, Length, Weight)
Quantitative
(Number)
Discreet
(Exact Value)

Data Nominal
(No Order)
Attribute
Qualitative Ordinal
(Categorical) (Order)
Open

METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

Techniques for Data Collection include:
1. Interview - An interview is meant to record and analyse people’s opinions, experiences,
beliefs and ideas on relevant topics. The respondents are required to present more detailed
information. This gives a deeper insight into the social phenomena, as compared to the
quantitative methods such as surveys and questionnaires.
Research interviews can be classified into three categories:
i. Structured approach: This means each interviewer is required to answer the same
questions in the same sequence.
ii. Semi-structured approach: The researcher proceeds with ageneral outline of
themes, which can be further expanded when needed. The questions can be asked
to different participants in different ways, keeping in view the desired context.
iii. Unstructured approach: The researcher does not follow a designated set of
questions. These are more informal, free flowing and spontaneous, in comparison to
a structured interview.

2. Focus Groups - refers to a group of people who have been purposefully assembled at a place
to take part in a discussion on a topic of relevance. It is a method of collecting information

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 by studying people’s collective views, opinions, experiences and reactions, and also to
understand the meanings implied by them (Morgan, 1998).

3. Questionnaire and Schedule - These are devices used to collect data through a series of
questions and other similar prompts from a group of respondents.

4. Field Observation - Through the mode of observation, the researcher gets to describe
situations as they exist, by making use of five senses, thus presenting a sketch of a situation
under study (Erlandson, Harris, Skipper, & Allen, 1993).

5. Case Study - It is an in-depth investigation about a person, group, situation or occurrence. It

involves collection of data from various sources employing a mix of different methods,
whichever appropriate. Case studies are used in researches where a deep probe and
understanding of the issue is required.

6. Ethnography - It is the study of societies and cultures in a systematic way. It observes,

records and analyses people belonging to a society in their natural ‘environment’ settings or
‘fields’. The data is gathered by methods aimed to capture their regular activities and social
meanings related to them.

7. Oral History – It is the method of recording, preserving and interpreting historical

information obtained from first-hand from people, from their past experiences and
memories. People are interviewed and their accounts are documented, which are then
preserved as an aural record for future.

8. Projective Techniques – These are methods of eliciting someone’s internal ideas, values,
attitudes, needs and opinions by responding to stimuli using external objects.

DATA PRESENTATION
Once data has been collected, it has to be classified and organised in such a way that it becomes
easily readable and interpretable that is, converted to information. Data can be presented in one of
the three ways:
i. As text
ii. In tabular form
iii. In graphical form

Methods of presentation must be determined according to the data format, the method of analysis
to be used, and the information to be emphasized. Inappropriately presented data fail to clearly
convey information to readers and reviewers.

If one wishes to compare or introduce two values at a certain time point, it is appropriate to use text
or the written language. However, a table is the most appropriate when all information requires
equal attention, and it allows readers to selectively look at information of their own interest. Graphs
allow readers to understand the overall trend in data, and intuitively understand the comparison
results between two groups. One thing to always bear in mind regardless of what method is used,
however, is the simplicity of presentation.

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Text presentation
Text is the main method of conveying information as it is used to explain results and trends, and
provide contextual information. Data are fundamentally presented in paragraphs or sentences. Text
can be used to provide interpretation or emphasize certain data. If quantitative information to be
conveyed consists of one or two numbers, it is more appropriate to use written language than tables
or graphs.

Table presentation
Tables are the most appropriate for presenting individual information, and can present both
quantitative and qualitative information.
The strength of tables is that they can accurately present information that cannot be presented with
a graph. A number such as “132.145852” can be accurately expressed in a table. Another strength is
that information with different units can be presented together. For instance, blood pressure, heart
rate, number of drugs administered, and anesthesia time can be presented together in one table.
Finally, tables are useful for summarizing and comparing quantitative information of different
variables.

Graph presentation
Graphs are effective for presenting large amounts of data, they can be used in place of tables to
present small sets of data. A graph format that best presents information must be chosen so that
readers and reviewers can easily understand the information.

Types of Graphs
1. Scatter plot
Scatter plots present data on the x- and y-axes and are used to investigate an association between
two variables. A point represents each individual or object, and an association between two
variables can be studied by analyzing patterns across multiple points.

2. Bar Charts
A bar graph is used to indicate and compare values in a discrete category or group, and the
frequency or other measurement parameters (i.e. mean). Depending on the number of categories,
and the size or complexity of each category, bars may be created vertically or horizontally. The
height (or length) of a bar represents the amount of information in a category.
Examples include: multiple bar charts, stacked bar charts and single bar chart or graph.

3. Histogram
A histogram is a set of vertical bars whose areas are proportional to the frequencies of the classes
that they represent.

4. Ogive
An ogive is the typical shape of a cumulative frequency curve or polygon. It is generated when
cumulative frequencies are plotted against real limits of classes in a distribution. There are two types
of ogives: ‘less than’ and ‘more than’. Before differentiating between these two, let us start by
defining cumulative frequency.

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5. Pie chart
A pie chart, which is used to represent nominal data (in other words, data classified in different
categories), visually represents a distribution of categories. It is generally the most appropriate
format for representing information grouped into a small number of categories. It is also used for
data that have no other way of being represented aside from a table.

6. Line plot with whiskers

A line plot is useful for representing time-series data such as monthly precipitation and yearly
unemployment rates; in other words, it is used to study variables that are observed over time. If
data are collected at a regular interval, values in between the measurements can be estimated. In a
line graph, the x-axis represents the continuous variable, while the y-axis represents the scale and
measurement values. It is also useful to represent multiple data sets on a single line graph to
compare and analyze patterns across different data sets.

7. Three-dimensional effects
Most of the recently introduced statistical packages and graphics software have the three-
dimensional (3D) effect feature. The 3D effects can add depth and perspective to a graph. However,
since they may make reading and interpreting data more difficult, they must only be used after
careful consideration.

8. Stem and leaf diagrams

Stem and leaf diagrams or stemplots, are used to represent raw data, that is, individual
observations, without loss of information.
9. Advance Charts.
These include Box and Whiskers diagrams, Lorentz curve, time series histogram and Z charts.

REFERENCES FOR UNIT 2

1. Ahuja, R. (2015). Research methods. New Delhi: Rawat Publications.

2. Erlandson, D. A., Harris, E. L., Skipper, B. L., & Allen, S. D. (1993). Doing naturalistic
inquiry: a guide to methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
3. Morgan, D. L. (1998).The focus group guide book. London: Sage Publications.
4. Sapsford, R., & Jupp, V. (2006). Data Collection and Analysis; Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications.
5. Parveen H. & Showkat, “Data Collection”. https://www.researchgate.net/publication
6. Kabir S. M (2016) “Methods of Data Collection”,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325846997
7. http://pages.intnet.mu/cueboy/education/notes/statistics/presentationofdata.pdf&
ved=2ahUKEwiqzZbo_ZzlAhWSQ0EAHWtHCSQQFjABegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw38BC4
hGH6X9_J-Gak0m8g0
8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5453888/

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