PRACTICAL RESEARCH 2

WEEK 2 Quarter 2
Understanding Data and Ways to Systematically Collect Data
At the end of this module, you should be able to:
1, plan data collection procedure (CS_RS12-IIa-c-5)
2. plan data analysis using statistics and hypothesis testing (if appropriate) (CS_RS12-IIa-c-6); and
3. present written research methodology (CS_RS12-IIa-c-7);

LESSON 1. PLANNING DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

What’s In
You have learned the important factors in developing your research instruments in lesson 3 of this Module. You can now
identify the steps you are going to undertake in your actual gathering of data. In this lesson, three phases in data collection will be
presented so that you can clearly plan your data collection procedure in your current research.

Data Collection refers to the process of gathering information. The data that you will collect should be able to
answer the questions you posed in your statement of the problem
Quantitative Data
Generally, data are any pieces of information or facts that people have known. Once these data answers the
research problem, it becomes helpful to research. When research data appears to be measurable in the numerical form,
it is considered quantitative data. However, some qualitative data can also be useful to quantitative research once it is
given a numerical value. For example, if you study about adjustment experiences of students to distant learning, if it is
categorized and numbered accordingly, then it can be quantified during analysis.
Techniques in Collecting Quantitative Data
The following are the common quantitative data gathering technique. Each technique corresponds to specific
instrument which will be further discussed in Module 5.
Observation. It is gathering information about a certain condition by using senses. The researcher records the
observation as seen and heard. This is done by direct observation or indirect observation by the use of gadgets or
apparatus. An observation checklist aid the researcher in recording the data gathered.
Survey. Data gathering is done through interview or questionnaire. By means of questionnaire you use series
of questions or statements that respondents will have to answer. Basically, respondents write or choose their answer
from given choices. On the other hand, interview is when you ask respondents orally to tell you the responses. Since
you are doing quantitative research, it is expected that responses have numerical value either it is nominal or ordinal in
form.
Experiment. When your study is an experimental design, it was already discussed in the previous lesson that
it would use treatment or intervention. After the chosen subjects, participants, or respondents undergone the
intervention, the effects of such treatment will be measured.
What’s New
Looking at the flowchart of the data gathering procedure, what do you think is the research design of the study?

Be
Before During After
ore
 Seek permission from school * Provide intructions to * Encode the data
principal of students respondents gathered
 Develop research questionnaire * Administer the * Analyze the data
 Determine sample size through questionnaire
stratified random technique

What Is It

Three Phases in Data Collection

In doing research, data collection is a major component of research. Neglecting to clarify the collection
procedure would result in acquiring inaccurate data that will make you research study invalid. Hence, the data
collection procedure is given meticulous attention to gather appropriate data. You are making sure that data you will
gather answers to your research questions.

The data gathering procedure is presented in a paragraph format in your research paper. Basically, the contents are the
steps you are going to follow:
(1) before you will gather the data,
(2) what to do during the actual gathering of data, and
(3) the things to consider after data has been gathered.

The following are the suggested steps but not limited to it, are the procedures in gathering quantitative data.
Before
 Prepare the research instruments
 Identify the authorities that will be involved and need to ask permission
 Determine the samples size and corresponding respondents; per group if applicable.
 Ask consent form (if respondents are 18 years old above) or parent's consent (if minor).
 Pilot test the research instrument if needed.
During
 Clear the instructions provided to the respondents.
 Administer the research instrument or implement the research intervention, if applicable.
 Collect or gather or take note of the responses.
After
 Summarize the data gathered, in a tabular form
Analyze the summarize data corresponding to the research questions

Types of Quantitative Data Collection Procedures

A. Observation. This method of gathering data is usually used in situations where the respondents cannot answer
the researcher’s question to obtain information for a research study. The observation is structured to elicit
information that could be coded to give numerical data. As a researcher, you have to prepare a checklist using
an appropriate rating scales that may categorize the behavior, attitude or attributes that you are observing to
answer the questions posed in your study.

B. Survey. Quantitative data can be collected using (4) main types of survey:
 Sample survey. The researcher collects data from a sample of a population to estimate the attributes or
characteristics of the population. Example: customer satisfaction, health care, politics, market research,
academic or education surveys.
 Administrative data. This is a survey on the organization’s day-to-day operations. This kind of data is
now supported with various ICT tools and software’s making it easy for organizations especially
government, school, industries, NGO, to update their records efficiently and effectively and put up their
own management information system (MIS)
 Census. The researcher collects data from the selected population. It is an official count on survey o a
population with details on demographic, economic and social data such as age, sex, education, marital
status, household size, occupation, religion, employment data, educational qualifications, and housing. The
collected data are usually used by government or private firms for planning purposes and development
strategies. In the Philippines, census of this kind is conducted by the NSO for civil registration system,
BLES, PSA, COMELEC and other national agencies.
 Tracer studies. This is a regular survey with a sample of those surveyed within a specific time or period.
In school settings, tracer studies are used by educational institutions to follow up their graduates.

C. Quantitative Interview. The researcher prepares an interview guide or schedule.

D. Questionnaire. It may be standardized or researcher-made.

 A standardized questionnaire has gone through the process of psychometric validation, has been piloted
and revised.
 A researcher-made questionnaire that has been developed by the researcher, the following should be
discussed:
a. The correction and suggestions made on the draft to improve the instrument
b. The different persons involved in the correction and refinement of the research instrument
c. The pre-testing efforts and subsequent instrument revisions
d. The type of items used in the instrument
e. The reliability of the data and evidence of validity
f. The steps involved in scoring, guidelines for interpretation
The following discussion will guide you in formulating good questions:
 Avoid leading question
 Be specific with what you like to measure.
 Avoid unfamiliar words that the respondent might not be familiar with
 Multiple choice categories should be mutually exclusive to elicit clear choices
 Avoid personal questions, which may intrude into the privacy o the respondent like those question
pertaining o income, family life, belief, like religions or political affiliation
 Make you question short and easy to answer.
Planning the collection of data
 The researcher should clarify whether the type of data to be collected is textual or numerical. The researcher
must also have a timeline in collecting the data from the subjects or respondents for practical purposes. When the
collection of data is planned properly, it will serve as a motivation of the researcher, and will help save money, time,
effort, and energy.

The following should be considered in the data collection:

1. The people. After identifying the characteristics of the subjects/respondents, secure the approval and
endorsement of the proper authorities for the conduct of the study. This is done by submitting a letter seeking
approval which also identifies the person who will collect the data, conduct the interview, or observe the
persons under study.
2. The finances. All research undertakings have financial requirement. The amount varies depending on the type
of study to be conducted.
3. The schedule. A good projection of when to start, how much time to be consumed in going from one
participant to the other, when retrieve questionnaires or the data, when to do follow-ups, and the like are
factors to consider in formulating or finalizing the schedule.
4. Miscellaneous. The researcher must consider the following-what to wear during the data collection, what to
do to ensure that the participants are safe; how to motivate and encourage participants to answer all the items
in the instrument; and what to do to build rapport and gain the trust and cooperation of the participants.

Lesson 2. PLANNING DATA ANALYSIS

What’s In
Prerequisite for taking Practical Research 2 is your Statistics and Probability subject. It is presumed that you already
have a good practice of the learning competencies needed to conduct quantitative research. Your background statistics and
probability background will help you plan and choose your data analysis.
In planning your data analysis in quantitative research, you also need to consider your research problem, type of data,
hypothesis, and scale used in your research instrument. This lesson focuses on designing your data analysis procedure.

Recall
Statistics is the body of knowledge and techniques used in collecting,
organizing, presenting, analyzing and interpreting data. It is a prerequisite in any
research that the researcher has sufficient knowledge of various statistical techniques.
Two branches of statistics
1. Descriptive statistics. It involves tabulating, depicting, and describing the
collected data. The data are summarized to reveal overall data patterns and
make them manageable.
2. Inferential statistics. It involves making generalizing about the population
through a sample drawn from it. It also includes hypothesis testing and
sampling. Similarly, it is concerned with a higher degree of critical judgments
and advanced mathematical modes such as parametric (interval and ratio
scale) and non parametric (nominal and ordinal) statistical tools.
Levels of Measurement of Variables
1. Nominal data. These are attributes that only name variables.
Example: Naming ted at for statistical purposes like “Male – 1” and “Female –
2”.
2. Ordinal data. These are attributes of variables that can be placed a one is
higher than two. They can be used or ranking purposes. Hey are mostly used in
Likert Scaling.
Examples: 1 – Very Good; 2 – Good; 3 – Fair; 4 – Poor
4 – Very Satisfied; 3 – satisfied; 2 – Unsatisfied; 1 – Very Unsatisfied
3. Interval data. These are attributes of variables where the distance from one
number to the other has a meaning.
Examples : cores o the tests; means; weighted means; the difference in the
temperatures between 10 am and 12 p, etc.
4. Ratio data. These are attributes of variables that has a natural zero.
Example : weight, height; age; no. of customers who complained for the month;
absence of money in the pocket, etc.

Data Analysis

Data analysis in research is a process in which gathered information are summarized in such a manner that it
will yield answers to the research questions. During quantitative data analysis gathered information were break down
and ordered into categories in order to draw trends or patterns in a certain condition. In quantitative research, the
numerical data collected is not taken as a whole. In order to understand it better, it is analyze into components based on
the chosen research variables and research questions you are going to answer.
These numerical data are usually subject to statistical treatment depending on the nature of data and the type of
research problem presented. The statistical treatment makes explicit the different statistical methods and formulas
needed to analyze the research data.
Planning your Data Analysis

Before choosing what statistical test is appropriate for your research study it is important to determine what
statistical formation is applicable to your current study. In immersing yourself into planning your data analysis, you
have to decide what basic descriptive statistical technique you are going to use. Although this technique does not give
you the degree of association or effect between variables, this will help you to code and simply tabulate your data.

Descriptive Statistical Technique provides a summary of the ordered or sequenced data from your research
sample. Frequency distribution, measure of central tendencies (mean, median, mode), and standard deviation are the
sets of data from descriptive statistics.

Inferential Statistics is used when the research study focuses on finding predictions; testing hypothesis; and
finding interpretations, generalizations, and conclusions. Since this statistical method is more complex and has more
advanced mathematical computations, you can use computer software to aid your analysis.
You also have to identify types of statistical analysis of variable in your quantitative research. A univariate
analysis means analysis of one variable. Analysis of two variables such as independent and dependent variables refers
to bivariate analysis while the multivariate analysis involves analysis of the multiple relations between multiple
variables.
Furthermore, selecting what test to use is basically done by identifying whether you will use parametric test or
non-parametric test. As these were already discussed in your Statistics and Probability subject, a summary of what to
consider is presented below:

Points to Consider Type of Test

Scale Interval or Ratio Parametric Tests
Ordinal or Nominal Scale Non-parametric Tests
Sample Size 30 or more per group Parametric Tests
Fewer than 30 Non-parametric Tests
Distribution of Data Normal Distribution Parametric Tests
Data deviates from Normal Distribution Non-parametric Tests

In addition, in choosing statistical techniques in quantitative research, the purpose or objective of the research
study should be considered.
Test of Relationship between Two Variables
 Pearson’s r (parametric)
 Phi coefficient (non-parametric for nominal and dichotomous variables)
 Spearman’s rho (non-parametric for ordinal variable)

Test of Difference between Two Data Sets from One Group

 T-test for dependent samples (parametric)
 McNemar change test (non-parametric for nominal and dichotomous variables)
 Wilcoxon signed-rank test (non-parametric for ordinal variable)

Test of Difference between Two Data Sets from Two Different Groups
 T-test for independent samples (parametric)
 Two-way chi-square (non-parametric for nominal variable)
 Mann-Whitney U test (non-parametric for ordinal variable)

Test More than Two Population Means

 Analysis of Variance or ANOVA (parametric)

Test the Strength of Relation or Effect or Impact

 Regression (parametric)

Go to the link below to learn more about statistical techniques for quantitative
research.
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