LESSON

Obtaining Data
At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:

1. Enumerate the different data collection methods;

2. Construct graphs of the data gathered;
3. Identify factors that affects data collection
 OBTAINING DATA
A. Methods of Obtaining Data
Information you gather can come from a range of sources. Likewise, there are a variety
of techniques to use when gathering primary data. Listed below are some of the most common
data collection techniques.

 Interviews
 Questionnaires and Surveys
 Observations
 Focus Groups
 Ethnographies, Oral History, and Case Studies
 Documents and Records
Interviews

Interviews can be conducted in person or over the telephone.Interviews can be done

formally (structured), semi-structured, or informally. Questions should be focused, clear, and
encourage open-ended responses. Interviews are mainly qualitative in nature.

Questionnaires and Surveys

Responses can be analyzed with quantitative methods by assigning numerical values to

Likert-type scales. Results are generally easier (than qualitative techniques) to analyze.
Pretest/Posttest can be compared and analyzed.

Observations

Allows for the study of the dynamics of a situation, frequency counts of target behaviors,
or other behaviors as indicated by needs of the evaluation. Good source for providing additional
information about a particular group, can use video to provide documentation. Can produce
qualitative (e.g., narrative data) and quantitative data (e.g., frequency counts, mean length of
interactions, and instructional time).

Focus Groups

A facilitated group interview with individuals that have something in common. Gathers
information about combined perspectives and opinions. Responses are often coded into
categories and analyzed thematically

Ethnographies, Oral History, and Case Studies

Involves studying a single phenomenon. Examines people in their natural settings. Uses
a combination of techniques such as observation, interviews, and surveys. Ethnography is a
more holistic approach to evaluation. Researcher can become a confounding variable.

Documents and Records

Consists of examining existing data in the form of databases, meeting minutes, reports,
attendance logs, financial records, newsletters, etc. This can be an inexpensive way to gather
information but may be an incomplete data source.
 In the engineering environment, the data is almost always a sample that has been
selected from some population. Three basic methods of collecting data are:

 A retrospective study using historical data

 An observational study
 A designed experiment
An effective data collection procedure can greatly simplify the analysis and lead to
improved understanding of the population or process that is being studied. We now consider
some examples of these data collection methods.

Retrospective Study

Montgomery, Peck, and Vining (2001) describe an acetone-butyl alcohol distillation

column for which concentration of acetone in the distillate or output product stream is an
important variable. Factors that may affect the distillate are the reboil temperature, the
condensate temperature, and the reflux rate. Production personnel obtain and archive the
following records:

 The concentration of acetone in an hourly test sample of output product.

 The reboil temperature log, which is a plot of the reboil temperature over time.
 The condenser temperature controller log.
 The nominal reflux rate each hour.
The reflux rate should be held constant for this process. Consequently, production personnel
change this very infrequently. A retrospective study would use either all or a sample of the
historical process data archived over some period of time. The study objective might be to
discover the relationships among the two temperatures and the reflux rate on the acetone
concentration in the output product stream. However, this type of study presents some
problems:

1. We may not be able to see the relationship between the reflux rate and acetone
concentration, because the reflux rate didn’t change much over the historical period.

2. The archived data on the two temperatures (which are recorded almost
continuously) do not correspond perfectly to the acetone concentration
measurements (which are made hourly). It may not be obvious how to construct an
approximate correspondence.

3. Production maintains the two temperatures as closely as possible to desired targets

or set points. Because the temperatures change so little, it may be difficult to assess their
real impact on acetone concentration.

4. Within the narrow ranges that they do vary, the condensate temperature tends to
increase with the reboil temperature. Consequently, the effects of these two process
variables on acetone concentration may be difficult to separate.

As you can see, a retrospective study may involve a lot of data, but that data may
contain relatively little useful information about the problem. Furthermore, some of the
relevant data may be missing, there may be transcription or recording errors resulting in
outliers (or unusual values), or data on other important factors may not have been collected
and archived. In the distillation column, for example, the specific concentrations of butyl alcohol
and acetone in the input feed stream are a very important factor, but they are not archived
because the concentrations are too hard to obtain on a routine basis. As a result of these types
of issues, statistical analysis of historical data sometimes identify interesting phenomena, but
solid and reliable explanations of these phenomena are often difficult to obtain.

Observational Study

In an observational study, the engineer observes the process or population, disturbing it

as little as possible, and records the quantities of interest. Because these studies are usually
conducted for a relatively short time period, sometimes variables that are not routinely
measured can be included. In the distillation column, the engineer would design a form to record
the two temperatures and the reflux rate when acetone concentration measurements are made.
It may even be possible to measure the input feed stream concentrations so that the impact of
this factor could be studied. Generally, an observational study tends to solve problems 1 and 2
above and goes a long way toward obtaining accurate and reliable data. However,
observational studies may not help resolve problems 3 and 4.

Designed Experiments

In a designed experiment the engineer makes deliberate or purposeful changes in the

controllable variables of the system or process, observes the resulting system output data, and
then makes an inference or decision about which variables are responsible for the observed
changes in output performance. Designed experiments play a very important role in engineering
design and development and in the improvement of manufacturing processes. Generally, when
products and processes are designed and developed with designed experiments, they enjoy
better performance, higher reliability, and lower overall costs. Designed experiments also play a
crucial role in reducing the lead time for engineering design and development activities.

B. Planning and Conducting Surveys

A survey is a way to ask a lot of people a few well-constructed questions. The survey is
a series of unbiased questions that the subject must answer. Some advantages of surveys are
that they are efficient ways of collecting information from a large number of people, they are
relatively easy to administer, a wide variety of information can be collected and they can be
focused (researchers can stick to just the questions that interest them.) Some disadvantages of
surveys arise from the fact that they depend on the subjects’ motivation, honesty, memory and
ability to respond. Moreover, answer choices to survey questions could lead to vague data. For
example, the choice “moderately agree” may mean different things to different people or to
whoever ends up interpreting the data

Conducting a Survey

There are various methods of administering a survey. It can be done as a face-to face
interview or a phone interview where the researcher is questioning the subject. A different
option is to have a self-administered survey where the subject can complete a survey on
paper and mail it back, or complete the survey online. There are advantages and disadvantages
to each of these methods.

Face to Face interview

The advantages of face-to-face interviews include fewer misunderstood

questions, fewer incomplete responses, higher response rates, and greater control
over the environment in which the survey is administered; also, the researcher can
collect additional information if any of the respondents’ answers need clarifying.

The disadvantages of face-to-face interviews are that they can be expensive and
time-consuming and may require a large staff of trained interviewers. In addition,
the response can be biased by the appearance or attitude of the interviewer.

Self-administered survey

The advantages of self-administered surveys are that they are less

expensive than interviews, do not require a large staff of experienced interviewers
and can be administered in large numbers. In addition, anonymity and privacy
encourage more candid and honest responses, and there is less pressure on
respondents.

The disadvantages of self-administered surveys are that responders are

more likely to stop participating mid-way through the survey and respondents cannot
ask them to clarify their answers. In addition, there are lower response rates than in
personal interviews, and often the respondents who bother to return surveys
represent extremes of the population – those people who care about the issue strongly,
whichever way their opinion leans.

Designing a Survey

Surveys can take different forms. They can be used to ask only one question or they can
ask a series of questions. We can use surveys to test out people’s opinions or to test a
hypothesis. When designing a survey, the following steps are useful:

1) Determine the goal of your survey: What question do you want to answer?
2) Identify the sample population: Whom will you interview?
3) Choose an interviewing method: face-to-face interview, phone interview, self-
administered paper survey, or internet survey.
4) Decide what questions you will ask in what order, and how to phrase them. (This is
important if there is more than one piece of information you are looking for.)
5) Conduct the interview and collect the information.
6) Analyze the results by making graphs and drawing conclusions.

Constructing a Survey

Example:
1. Martha wants to construct a survey that shows which sports students at her school like to
play the most.

a) List the goal of the survey.

The goal of the survey is to find the answer to the question: “Which sports do students at
Martha’s school like to play the most?”

b) What population sample should she interview?

A sample of the population would include a random sample of the student population in
Martha’s school. A good strategy would be to randomly select students (using dice or a random
number generator) as they walk into an all-school assembly.

c) How should she administer the survey?

Face-to-face interviews are a good choice in this case. Interviews will be easy to conduct since
the survey consists of only one question which can be quickly answered and recorded, and
asking the question face to face will help eliminate non-response bias.

d) Create a data collection sheet that she can use to record her results.

In order to collect the data to this simple survey Martha can design a data collection sheet such
as the one below:

This is a good, simple data collection sheet because:

 Plenty of space is left for the tally marks.

 Only one question is being asked.
 Many possibilities are included, but space is left at the bottom in case students give
answers that Martha didn’t think of.
 The answer from each interviewee can be quickly collected and then the data collector
can move on to the next person.
 Once the data has been collected, suitable graphs can be made to display the results.

Display, Analyze, and Interpret Statistical Survey Data

In the previous section, a survey was conducted to determine the sport that students like
to play the most. Appropriate ways of displaying data includes using a pie chart, or bar graphs.

Using the example survey from the previous section, Martha interviews 112 students
and obtained these results
 To make a bar graph, we list the sport categories on the x−axis and let the percentage of
students be represented by the y−axis. To find the percentage of students in each category, we
divide the number of students in each category by the total number of students surveyed:

31
baseball= x 100=28 %
112
17
basketball= x 100=15 %
112
14
footbal= x 100=12.5 %
112
28
soccer= x 100=25 %
112
9
volleyball= x 100=8 %
112
8
swimming= x 100=7 %
112
3
gymnastics= x 100=2.5 %
112
2
fencing= x 100=2%
112
With the computed percentages, we can make a graph where the height of each bar
represents the percentage of students in each category. Pie chart can be shown using the data
computed.
 C. Planning and Conducting Experiments: Introduction to Design of Experiments
The practical steps needed for planning and conducting an experiment include:
recognizing the goal of the experiment, choice of factors, choice of response, choice of the
design, analysis and then drawing conclusions. This pretty much covers the steps involved in
the scientific method.

1. Recognition and statement of the problem

2. Choice of factors, levels, and ranges
3. Selection of the response variable(s)
4. Choice of design
5. Conducting the experiment
6. Statistical analysis
7. Drawing conclusions, and making recommendations

FACTORS

We usually talk about "treatment" factors, which are the factors of primary interest to
you. In addition to treatment factors, there are nuisance factors which are not your primary
focus, but you have to deal with them. Sometimes these are called blocking factors, mainly
because we will try to block on these factors to prevent them from influencing the results. There
are other ways that we can categorize factors:

 Experimental vs. Classification Factors

Experimental Factors - these are factors that you can specify (and set the levels) and then
assign at random as the treatment to the experimental units.

Examples would be temperature, level of an additive fertilizer amount per acre, etc.

Classification Factors - can't be changed or assigned, these come as labels on the

experimental units. The age and sex of the participants are classification factors which can't be
changed or randomly assigned. But you can select individuals from these groups randomly.

 Quantitative vs. Qualitative Factors

Quantitative Factors - you can assign any specified level of a quantitative factor.

Examples includes percent or pH level of a chemical.

Qualitative Factors - have categories which are different types.

Examples might be species of a plant or animal, a brand in the marketing field, gender, - these
are not ordered or continuous but are arranged perhaps in sets.

ASSESSMENT TASK NO. 1

I. Cite at least 2 advantages and disadvantages of the following data collection

method.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES
*data may contain relatively little
*simple to conduct useful information about the
*may involve a lot of data problem
*some of the relevant data may be
1. retrospective study missing, there may be transcription
or recording errors resulting in
outliers (or unusual values), or
data on other important factors
may not have been collected and
archived

*more accurate and reliable *high potential for subjective bias

data compared to retrospective or observer subjectivity
2. observational study study

*reducing the lead time for *can produce artificial results

engineering design and *personal bias of researcher may
development activities involve
* lead to improvement of
3. designed experiment manufacturing processes
*more effective in determining
the impact of two or more
factors
*can have control on variables
II. Cite at least 2 advantages and disadvantages of the following data collection
method.

TYPE OF SURVEY METHOD ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES
*fewer misunderstood
questions, fewer
incomplete responses, higher
response rates, and greater control *can be expensive and time-
over the environment in consuming and may require a large
which the survey is administered staff of trained interviewers.

1. Face to face Interview * the researcher can collect *the response can be biased by the
additional information if any of the appearance or attitude of the
respondents’ answers need interviewer.
clarifying.

*more likely to stop

participating mid-way
through the survey and
*less expensive than respondents cannot ask
interviews, do not require a large them to clarify their answers
staff of experienced interviewers
and can be administered * there are lower response
in large numbers rates than in personal
interviews, and often the
2. Self-administered Survey *anonymity and privacy respondents who bother to
encourage more candid return surveys represent
and honest responses, and there is extremes of the population –
less pressure on respondents. those people who care about
the issue strongly,
whichever way their opinion
leans.
 ASSESSMENT TASK NO. 2

I. Construct the bar graph of the following data set using the chart function in
Microsoft Word.
GNP OF European Countries for the Year 1995

COUNTRIES GNP

Belgium 4.8%

France 5.5%

Germany 6.2%

Denmark 2.4%

Italy 4.5%

Netherlands 4.7%

United Kingdom 5.11%

II. Construct a multiple bar graph of the following data using the chart function in
Microsoft Word.
INCOME OF 4 CITIES OF CEBU IN 3 CONSECUTIVE DAYS

Cities Day 1 income (Php) Day 2 income (Php) Day 3 income (Php)

1. Cebu City 1485455 149611 150488

 2. Toledo City 997611 101481 100786

3. Mandaue City 140452 148614 149415

4. Danao City 113488 122464 130782

GRAPH RUBRICS
Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced
RUBRICS total
0 pts 1pts 3 pts 5 pts

There was a title

There was a title included at the There was a title
included, but it top of the included at the top
There was no /5
Graph Title title.
was not at the graph, but it of the graph. The
top of the does not match title matches the
graph. the data on the data on the graph.
graph.

The labels were The labels were

Graph labels There were included in the included in the
There were no labels included, right place, but right place. The /5
labels. but not in the they did not labels match the
right place. match the data data on the graph.
on the graph.

The scale was The scale was

Graph scale There was a
included in the included in the
right place, but right place. The
There was no scale included, /5
it was not scale was
scale. but it was not in
appropriate to appropriate to
the right place.
display the data display the data
collected. collected.

Display of The data

The data was The data displayed
Data displayed
There was no displayed, but matched the data /5
matched the
data displayed. did not match collected. The
data collected,
the data graph was easy to
but was difficult
collected. read.
to read.
 Very well designed,
neat, and
Graph attractive. A ruler
Neat and
Appearance Neat and was used to make
Appears messy relatively
relatively the graph very /5
and poorly attractive. A
attractive. readable. Colors
made. ruler was used
that go well
to make the
together are used
graph very
to make the graph
readable.
attractive.

ASSESSMENT TASK NO. 2

I.

GNP of European Countries for the Year 1995

7.00%

6.00% 6.20%
GNP Percenatge

5.00% 5.50%
5.11%
4.80% 4.70%
4.00% 4.50%

3.00% GNP

2.00% 2.40%

1.00%

0.00%
Belgium France Germany Denmark Italy Netherlands United
Kingdom
COUNTRIES
 II .

1600000 INCOME OF 4 CITIES OF CEBU IN 3 CONSECUTIVE DAYS

1400000

1200000

1000000
INCOME IN Php

800000 Day 1
1485455 Day 2
Day 3
600000

997611
400000

200000 149611 148614

101481 113488 122464
140452
150488 100786 149415 130782
0
Cebu City Toledo City Mandaue City Danao City
CITIES OF CEBU