SOURCES AND COLLECTION

OF DATA

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 Data Collection
 When choosing whether to collect quantitative or qualitative data, the following
factors need to be considered:
 1. The purpose for which the data is required: quantitative data is necessary if one
requires to perform statistical analysis, while qualitative data is useful for providing a
detailed or characteristic concerned.
 2. The subject matter: some kinds of subject matter are relatively easily presented
in numerical form, while others tend to be more appropriately presented in
qualitative form.
 3. The method of data collection: the collection of quantitative data is based on
statistically designed survey procedures, while the collection of qualitative data relies
primarily on detailed observation or interview.
 4. The method of data presentation: qualitative data can often be ‘translated’ into a
quantitative form if it can be ‘scaled’ in some way; for example, information on
attitudes can be grouped into categories (eg strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree,
strongly disagree) which can then be subjected to statistical analysis.

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Types of Data
 Primary data are those which are collected afresh
and for the first time, and thus happen to be original in
character.
 Its advantage is its relevance to the user, but it is also
likely to be expensive in time and money terms to
collect.
 Secondary data are those which have already been
collected by someone else and which have already
been passed through the statistical process.
 It is information extracted from an existing source,
probably published or held on a computer database.
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Collection of Primary Data
 Primary data can be collected through experimentation in
experimental research or through surveys, whether sample
surveys or census surveys.
 An experiment is a special form of research, which sets out
to examine the relationship between two factors by
manipulating one whilst measuring changes in the other.
There are two types of experiments: Field experiments and
laboratory experiments. In fact, experimentation is a
means of obtaining data with relatively high precision in
measurement of the variables.
 Survey refers to the method of securing information
concerning a phenomenon under study from all or a selected
number of respondents of the concerned universe.

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Types of Survey
Cross-sectional: data which is collected from
different individuals or entities at a given point of
time. It has only space dimension.
Times series: data which is collected from specific
individual or entity over a period of time. It has only
time dimension.
Panel or longitudinal: data which is collected from
different individuals or entities over a period of time. It
has both space and time dimensions.

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Other Methods of Survey
1. Observation
 Observation is the most commonly used method of
data collection especially, in behavioral studies.
 This method could be used both for cross checking
information obtained using other methods and for
understanding processes which are difficult to grasp in
an interview context.
 This method is useful when studying subjects who are
not capable of giving verbal reports of their feelings for
one reason or another.
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Types of observation:

 Structured observation: the observer has a clear

definition of the units to be observed, the style of
recording the observed information, the selection of
the pertinent data of observation, etc.
 Non-structured observation: the opposite of what is
mentioned under structured observation

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2. Interview Method

 The interview method of collecting data involves

presentation of oral-verbal stimuli and reply in terms
of oral-verbal responses.
 This method can be used through personal interviews
and, if possible, through telephone interviews.

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 a. Personal interviews:
 This method requires a person (interviewer) asking questions
in a face-to-face contact to the interviewee.
 If the interview is carried out in a structured way, it is called
structured interview. This involves the use of a set of
predetermined questions and highly standardized techniques
of recording. The interviewer in a structured interview follows
a rigid procedure laid down, asking questions in a form and
order prescribed.
 As against it, the unstructured interviews are characterized by
a flexibility of approach to questioning. In unstructured
interview, the interviewer is allowed much greater freedom to
ask, in case of need, supplementary questions or at times he
may omit certain questions if the situation so requires.

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b. Telephone interviews:
 This method of collecting information consists in
contacting respondents on telephone itself.
 It is not a very widely used method, but plays
important part in industrial surveys, particularly in
developed countries.

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Collection of Secondary Data
 Different Central Statistical Authority Publications;
 Different Publications by Regional Governments;
 Various publications by the different Ministries;
 Publications of the National Bank of Ethiopia;
 On-line and Electronic Data Bases;
 Reports and publications of various associations, business
organizations, etc
 Various publications of international, multilateral and non-
governmental Organizations;
 Report of research scholars and consultants;
 Historical documents, archives, maps, photographs, letters,
biographies, autobiographies, diaries, textbooks,
periodicals;
 Popular media (Newspapers, magazines, Radio and television).
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QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

 Questionnaire is a set of questions asked to the target

respondents.
 Both open and close-ended questions can be used in
the design of the questionnaire to collect data.
 In questionnaire design the different types of data
which can be used are; nominal, ordinal, interval
and ratio scales

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Classification of Measurement
scales
1. Nominal Scales:
 recognized as labels only and have no quantitative value
 Examples can be respondents’ marital status, gender, etc.
2. Ordinal Scales:
 a statement of ‘greater than’ or ‘less than’
 It is used to order or rank data
 Example: educational level, satisfaction level, socio-
economic status, e.t.c
 measure of central tendency for ordinal scales is the
median

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 3. Interval Scales:
 concept of equality of interval (the distance between 1 and
2 equals the distance between 2 and 3)
 One where there is order and the difference between two
value is meaningful
 Zero didn’t have true value
 Temperature (Fahrenheit), age, credit score scales are
example of classical interval scales
4. Ratio Scales
 It represents the actual amounts of a variable and there is
true zero( zero means absence)
 Money values, population counts, distances, return rates,
weight, height, and area can be examples for ratio scales.
 Interval scale can represent value below o( e.g temprature
-10) ratio never fall below o

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What are open and close-ended
questions?

 For open ended questions the researcher does not

provide any options to answer. Questions are open to
any descriptive response.
 Close ended questions have definite options and they
are easy to respond

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 Types of question /target/
What is a target question?
 It is the relevant question asked to the chosen
sample.
 The target questions should be based on the
problem defined, the chosen hypothesis and the
objectives of the research.

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 Data analysis
 STATISTICS: refers to a set of mathematical procedures
for organizing, summarizing, and interpreting
information.
 Researcher uses different statistical methods or
procedures.
 procedures can be classified into two general categories.
 The first category, descriptive statistics, the second
general category of statistical technique is called
inferential statistics.

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Descriptive analysis

 discipline of quantitatively describing the main features

of a collection of data, or the quantitative description of
itself.
 used to summarize, organize and simplify data.
 techniques that take raw scores and organize or
summarize them
 scores are organized in a table or a graph

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Descriptive statistics are :-

 Frequency distribution - includes frequency

distribution tables, graph, shapes
 Measures of Central Tendency - includes Mean,
Median and Mode
 Measures of Variability or Dispersion - include
Standard deviation (Variance), the minimum and
maximum values of variables,

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INFERENTIAL STATISTICS:
 consists of techniques that allow us to study samples
and then make generalizations about the population
from which they were selected.
 It is usually not possible to measure everyone in the
population.
 Because population is typically very large, a sample is
selected form population which represents population.
 So by analyzing the results from sample, we hope to
make general statements about population.

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Two topics in Inferential analysis
 Correlation analysis studies the joint variation of
two or more variables for determining the amount of
correlation between two or more variables.
 Causal (regression) analysis is concerned with the
study of how one or more variables affect changes in
another variable.
 It is thus a study of functional relationships existing
between two or more variables.

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inferential statistics methods
 Hypothesis testing
 Correlations and Regression

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parametric tests used for testing of
hypothesis
 (i) z-test
 (ii) t-test

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Procedure for testing of
hypothesis

 State the null hypothesis as well as the alternate

hypothesis
 Establish a level of significance (prior to sampling)
 Choosing a suitable test statistic
 Defining the critical rejection regions and making
calculations for test statistics

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