PRACTICAL RESEARCH 2

LESSON 5.4:

PLANNING FOR DATA

COLLECTION
 After identifying your sample
and after being assured of the
availability and validity of your
data- gathering tools, you are
now ready to gather the data.
 Before doing so, however, it
would be good for you to plan
the “HOWS” of gathering your
data, and eventually how to
analyze your data.
 This lesson is all about
planning or thinking ahead
of the different steps that
you are going to do in the
data gathering.
WARM- UP!!!
 When you are expecting to carry
out a significant event, you would
want it to be successful. Normally,
you would want things to run
smoothly during the event as you
would have wished and planned it
to be.
 READ THE HYPOTHETICAL
SITUATION:

Your parents wanted to give a

party in honor of your brother
who topped the recent board
examination in engineering.
 You were asked to help in
preparing for the party. It was
decided that the party would
be held at home. The event
was scheduled 10 days away.
 In essence, the situation above is all about
making preparations for an upcoming event.
Can you picture out or foresee how the party
would turn out if the steps you did for this
event were well thought- out?
 In essence, the situation above is all about
making preparations for an upcoming event.
Can you picture out or foresee how the party
would turn out if the steps you did for this
event were well thought- out?
STEPS IN GATHERING
DATA
STEP 1:

IDENTIFYING YOUR
SOURCES OF DATA
For your data sources, decide if you are
going to include the whole population in
your study, as there are populations that
are small in size, or just a sample of
population.
Decide on the sampling technique you
are going to use, whether random or
nonrandom. Consider your research
questions and other conditions
surrounding your research.
EXAMPLE:
DESIRED DATA OR POSSIBLE/
INFORMATION APPROPRIATE
DATA SOURCES
Attitudes of SHS SHS students,
students toward their parents,
Mathematics teachers, principal
In our example, the study of one
variable may not necessarily
require all the possible sources
of data.
The appropriate data source will depend
on your research questions, your data
gathering tool, the characteristics of
your sample, and the like which will be
your bases in finalizing data source.
STEP 2:

PLANNING FOR
INSTRUMENTS OR DATA
GATHERING TOOLS
It is assumed that when you arrive at
this point, you already have an idea
of what instruments or data
collection tools to use.
This should be evident as early as when
you were conceptualizing your research
problem. Your research questions also
suggest what instrument to use for the
kind of data you want to collect.
EXAMPLE:
RESEARCH QUESTIONS GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS OF
APPROPRIATE DATA
COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS
1. What are the views, A tool that gathers data on the
thoughts and feelings of views, thoughts, and feelings
mathematically inclined high of mathematically inclined
school students about online high school students about
learning? online learning.
To help you decide what kind
of data- gathering tools use,
keep the following in mind:
a. Know your data sources as
well as their characteristics,
such as gender, age, and
socioeconomic status.
 b. Know if the tool you want
to use is available or not. If it
is not available, you have to
develop your own tool.
STEP 3:

PLANNING FOR THE

INTERVENTION (Independent,
experimental, or treatment
variable)
There are certain research designs,
particularly experimental designs
where the experimental or treatment
variable has to be carefully planned
before implementing.
 Before the data collection, the
researcher should already have a
plan on how to implement the
treatment (independent or
experimental variable).
 For example, the researcher should
already decide how long the treatment
variable or the intervention will be
implemented or how many times per day
should treatment be given.
The researcher should have a plan for
implementing the treatment or the
experimental variable and for looking
into the effects of the treatment
variable.
STEP 4:

PLANNING FOR THE DATA

GATHERING PROPER
 Inform your sample beforehand of the
upcoming study or research where you will
ask them to participate. Whether your
sample consists of adults or children, you
should inform them of the objective/s and
processes of your study.
The following are the suggested ways to
prepare the setting before the data-
gathering proper. The approach to inform
the sample depends largely on the
characteristics of data sources:
a. If your data sources are pupils or
students, ask permission from the
school head to gather data from the
pupils/ students.
 b. If your data sources are very young
children, who are attending school, write a
letter asking permission from the parents, in
addition to asking permission from the
school head to conduct the research.
c. If your data sources are very
young, who are not attending
school, write a letter of
permission from the parents.
d. If your data sources are adults,
you may get their cooperation and
permission directly from them to
conduct your study.
STEP 5:

PLANNING FOR DATA

ANALYSIS AND
HYPOTHESIS TESTING
This means that even before the actual
data collection, you will already know
what your data look like and
consequently, what statistical tools to
apply to help you analyze your data.
 a. In quantitative research, data analysis is
largely done with the use of statistics.
Statistics is not Mathematics, but it is a tool
applied to the data to enable one to interpret
the data. It enables one to derive meaning
from the data.
 b. Examine and analyze your research
questions because they suggest what kind
of data you will gather. The research
questions also guide and suggest the kind of
statistical tools you should apply on your
data.
EXAMPLE:
Is there a relationship between
the length of hours of study and
the performance in a test?
EXAMPLE:
- The research question suggests
that a statistical tool measuring
relationship between variables
should be applied on the data.
 c. Testing the hypothesis involves
gathering and analyzing data to be used
by the researcher in determining if there
is enough evidence or ground to support
the expected results.
 Planning for data
collection gives you the
following advantages:
 i. Ensures that data-
gathering procedures are
carried out as intended
ii. Avoids or minimizes
wastage of time and
resources
iii. Ensures validity of
data
iv. Ensures a good
manner of
implementation
STEP 6:

PRESENTING THE
WRITTEN RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
You should be able to write and
present your methodology in a
way that is understandable to
your readers.
 If you were a student in
research, the written plan would
provide the basis for evaluation
of the research.
 It would also allow mentors to
improve your plans. The following
are the important topics or parts of
the methodology that you should be
able to develop and write.
A. GENERAL METHODOLOGY

- A general description of the

methodology or design of the
research- whether it is experimental
or nonexperimental
B. SAMPLE DESCRIPTION

-Include their demographics.

-You may include other things you
think are important for your
purpose.
 C. DATA- GATHERING TOOLS OR
INSTRUMENTS
-Mention whether the data- gathering
tools are existing and if so, who
developed them.
-Acknowledge other researchers who
developed the tool/s you will use.
D. DATA- GATHERING PROCEDURES

-Describe the tools and processes you

will use to gather your data.
-Describe also the timeliness and the
schedules, and from whom to gather
data.
 E. DATA ANALYSIS

-Describe the process for analyzing data.

-In quantitative research, most often, your
data are expressed in numbers or figures.
You can apply statistical computations.
Statistics has a way of unifying elicit data.