CHAPTER SIX

Measurement, Measures & DATA

COLLECTION
Introduction
All research involves the collection of data.
Data can be gathered for purpose of analysis, testing of
hypothesis, answering the research questions : Types of Data

Data

Categorical Numerical

Examples:
 Marital Status Discrete Continuous
 Are you registered to
vote?
Examples: Examples:
 Eye Color
(Defined categories or  Number of Children  Weight
groups)  Defects per hour  Voltage
(Counted items) (Measured characteristics)
2
 Introduction
• It is vital to understand how variables are measured.
• Scales are used to measure variables in operational ways: Four types of scale
Nominal scale:
 Is one that allows the researcher to assign subjects to certain
categories or groups EX: the variable of gender as F and M,
Nationality of individuals, occupation, region, religion (biography)
 The category labels ( codification) have no intrinsic value.
 The information that can be generated from nominal scaling is to
calculate the percentage (frequency), mode of the categories.
Example: Tick in the appropriate box:
Your Sex: Male Female

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 Introduction-Cont’d
Ordinal scale
 It categories and also rank-orders the categories in some meaningful way.
 With any variable for which the categories are to be ordered according to
some preferences, the ordinal scale would be used.
 The preferences would be ranked (e.g. from best to worst; first to last)
Example: Rank the following characteristics in a job in terms of how important
they are for you. You should rank the most important items as 1, the next in
importance as 2, and so on, until you have ranked each of them 1, 2, 3,4,5.

Job characteristics Ranking of

importance
The opportunity provided by the job to:
1. Interact with others
2. Use a number of different skills
3. Complete a whole task from beginning
to end
4. Serve others
5. Work independently 4
 Introduction-Cont’d
Ordinal scale
 The ordinal scale goes beyond differentiating the categories to providing
information on how respondents distinguish among them by rank ordering
them.
 However, the ordinal scale does not give any indication of the magnitude of the
difference among them.

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 Introduction-Cont’d
Interval scale
 In addition to order, interval scale measures distance in units of equal intervals
 Although this an equal interval measurement, the zero point is arbitrary.
 The actual distance separating those attributes does have meaning.
 But cannot determine the actual strength of attitudes toward an object.
Example: Indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statements as they relate to your
job, by circling appropriate number against each, using the scale given below:

Strongly Disagree Neither agree nor Agree Strongly agree

disagree 2 disagree 4 5
1 3
The following opportunities offered by the job are very important to me:
1. Interacting with others 1 2 3 4 5
2. Using a number of different skills 1 2 3 4 5
3. Completing a task from beginning to end 1 2 3 4 5
4. Serving others 1 2 3 4 5
5. Working independently 1 2 3 4 5

• Because you cannot determine the distance between values, you cannot argue that an employee
who answers “strongly agree” to all items is five times happier than an employee who answers “
strongly disagree” to all items. 6
 Introduction-Cont’d
Ratio scale
 It has an absolute (in contrast to an arbitrary) zero point which is a
meaningful measurement point.
 It subsumes all the properties of the other three scales.
Examples: Weight, actual age, income, the number of organizations,
individuals
Example1: a person weighting 250 pounds is twice as heavy as one who
weighs 125 pounds.
Ex2 : money/Level of income is measured on a ratio scale, as $ 24 is twice as
much as $ 12 as well as being $12 more.
Ex 3: If Kebele 19 has 100 employees where as Kebele 8 has 50, we can say
that Kebele 19 has 50 more employees than kebele 8.

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 Measurement Levels
Differences between
measurements, true Ratio Data
zero exists
Quantitative Data

Differences between
measurements but no Interval Data
true zero

Ordered Categories
(rankings, order, or Ordinal Data
scaling)
Qualitative Data

Categories (no
ordering or direction) Nominal Data
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 Introduction-Cont’d-Ev
• Data may be numerical, or may consist of words, or may be a
combination of the two. Data may be also pictures—
• Data may be original, in the sense that you have collected
information never before collected; or may be secondary, already
put together by somebody else, but re-used, probability in a
different , by you.
• Data may consist of responses to a questionnaire or interview
transcriptions, notes or other records of observations or
experiments, documents or all of these things.
Data collecting techniques:
 Questionnaires: gathering information through written questions
 Interviews: Questioning or discussing issues with your sample
 Observations: collecting data through watching or engaging in
activities
 Documents: Using written materials as a basis for your research 9
• After investigators6.1.identify
Primary and Secondary
the purpose of a study, Data
research method and
sampling design, they design a data collection strategy.
• The design consists of: (1) a plan for contacting subjects and obtaining data
from them, and (2) a questionnaire or other data collection instrument.
• Data sources can be: Primary or secondary
The primary data:
– are data collected afresh and for the first time and hence original
– Major sources of primary data are diaries of eyewitness, tape-records,
films, letters and autobiographies ….

The secondary data:

• Secondary data are those which have already been gathered by someone else
and which have already been passed through the statistical process
• These include history textbooks or historical studies based on the actual data,
statistical research based on census data, newspaper reports of an event,
company records, government publications
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 6.2. Data Gathering Tools for primary Data

Data collection methods:

 Questionnaires that are either personally administered, sent
through the mail, or electronically administered
 Interviews- face to face interviews, telephone interviews,
computer assisted interviews, through electronic media and
interview schedule
 Observation of individuals and events-participant and non-
participant
 Focus Group discussion (FGD).
 case study method.

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 6.2.1. Questionnaire
• Questionnaire
– Most popular type of data gathering instrument
– Questionnaire consists of many questions ( items)
– The questionnaire is usually mailed (or administered personally)
Types of Questionnaires
• In terms of format (nature) of the items in a questionnaire - open-ended or
closed-ended type
– Closed ended - check responses - fixed-alternatives
 Closed questions structure the answers by allowing only answers which fit
into categories that have been established in advance by the researcher.
– Open-ended - unrestricted type of questionnaire, free response in the
respondent's own words
 Open questions are those that leave the respondent to decide the wording
of the answer, the length of the answer and the kind of matters to be raised
in the answer.
• We can use one of them exclusively or both of them in combination

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 Questionnaire-Cont’d

Advantages of closed- ended questions:

• The answers are standards, and can be compared from person to
person.
• The answers are much easier to code and analyze
• The respondent is often clearer about the meaning of the
question
• Closed- ended questions is often easier for a respondent to
answer as he or she merely has to choose a category, while
formulating an original answer for an open- ended question can
be much more difficult.

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 Questionnaire-Cont’d

Disadvantages of closed-ended questions:

• Easy for a respondent who does not know the answer or has no
opinion try to guess the appropriate answer or even to answer
randomly.
• There is no opportunity for the respondent to clarify or qualify his
or her answer
• Differences in interpretation of what was meant by the question
may go undetected
• Variations in answers among the different respondents may be
eliminated artificially by forced- choice responses
• There is more likelihood of a clerical error as the respondent may
circle a three when he or she meant to circle a two

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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
The advantages of open-ended questions:
• They can be used when not all of the possible answer categories
are known and to see what the respondent views as appropriate
answer categories
• To allow the respondent to answer adequately, in all detail he or
she likes, and to clarify and qualify his or her answer
• They can be used when there are too many potential answer
categories to list on the questionnaire – you can not list too many
questions in a given questionnaire
• They allow more opportunity for creativity or self-expression by
the respondent.

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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Disadvantages of open-ended questions
• They may lead to collection of worthless and irrelevant information beyond
the researcher's expectation
• Data are often not standardized from person to person, making comparison or
statistical analysis such as computation of percentages difficult
• Coding is often very difficult and subjective
 they leave the researcher with data which are quite raw and require a lot of
time consuming analysis before they can be used.
• Open-ended questions require superior writing skills, better ability to express
one's feelings verbally, and generally a higher educational level than do
closed-ended questions
• Open-ended questions can require much more of the respondent's time and
effort, and may engender a high refusal rate /reduce repsondents’ willingness
to take part in the resaerch.
• Open-ended questions require more paper and make the questionnaire look
longer, possibly discouraging some respondents who do not wish to answer a
lengthy questionnaire.
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 Comparison of open and closed ended
Closed - ended questions Open- ended questions
answer categories are separate and Complex questions that requires
relatively few in numbers. more detail and discussion.
Most of them measure variables that are Elicit the respondent's unique
nominal (e.g. gender or skin color), views, philosophy or goals
ordinal ( e.g. educational level), or Preferred where accuracy, detail,
intervally measured questions (e.g. and exhaustiveness are more
income questions collapsed in the form important than time or
$101-$300, $301-500,etc, simplification of coding and data
can be answered quickly, and require processing.
fewer instructions and educational level,
considered more appropriate for mailed- Note: Fixed-alternative questions
out should contain at least one open-ended
question (at the end of the
questionnaire) to determine whether
anything of importance to the
respondent has been omitted.

A great deal of questionnaires contain a mixture of both

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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Response -category format:
• Open-ended questions
– Generally consists of only a blank space
– The researcher can regulate the amount the respondent writes by how much
space is allowed
• Closed-ended questions
– The researcher, in this case, instructs the respondent to answerr by selecting
from a range of two or more options supplied on the questionnaire.
– Most answers are variables having two or more discrete categories.
– Category style depends at least partially upon whether the variable is
• nominal (discrete non-numerical categories such as male or female),
• ordinal (rank-ordered categories such as most favorable, neutral, least
favorable),
• interval (ordered categories for which intervals between all ranks are
equal), and
• ratio (which is merely interval measurement with a fixed zero point, such
as age).
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 Questionnaire-Cont’d--
Nominal scales
• For nominal questions with – the general practice is to:
• providing a blank: e.g. Sex: male ____ ; Female ____
• a box to be checked: e.g. Sex Male  ; Female 
• a number to be circled: e.g. Male 1; Female 2
Note: questions that have only two answers, such as M/f, yes/no are
dichotomous questions
Inventory method
Check all the ways in which you have learned some bit of news or information in
the last week.
____ Television
____ Radio
____ Newspaper
____ Magazine
____ Word of mouth
____Other (please specify) __________________________
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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Grid format - a two-way inventory
• How would you rank the benefits of your degree study for each of the following.
Please tick each item

For Very positive neutral negative Very Not sure

positive negative
You
Your family
Your employer
The country
Your community
Your friends

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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Ordinal/ Likert scales
• Mathematics is essential for all business studies students:
Strongly agree  agree  uncertain  Disagree  strongly
disagree 
Note: It is often desirable, where possible, to construct the same
answer format for a whole series of question
• How do you evaluate the pedagogical skill of your instructor?
– Excellent /good /all right /poor /bad /unable to answer
• How frequently do you visit this organization?
– Often/ sometimes/ almost never
• How important is this course for you?
– Very important/ important/somewhat important/ not
important/ do not know.
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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Semantic differential responses
• In this case, a list of responses as a continuum with labels only at the extremes
can be used.
• With this type of question only two ends of the scale are provided and the
respondent select the point between the two ends that represents hi/her
views:
For Example: The leisure facilities in my town is:

Excellent 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Poor

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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Ranked responses : respondents are asked to rank each option.
• Please rank each category below to indicate how important it is to you as a
source of financing. Rank the most important source "1", the second most
important source "2", etc.
___ Full-and/or part-time work
___ Savings
___ Parental aid
___ Loans
___ Scholarships
___ Grants
• The following are some of the problems faced by citizens of Addis Ababa. Please order
them in terms of importance, from 1(most important) to 5 (least important).
___Smoking
___Traffic
___Unemployment
___Crime
___Drug Addiction
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 Questionnaire-Cont’d-------2-1
Interval scales
• These include the questions of the form:
• What is your age?
–  15-19  20- 24 
• What is your daily income?
– Below 5 Birr  6-10 Birr  11-15 Birr  Over 15 Birr 
Question Order
• Decide how many questions to include and in which order to present them.
 Put sensitive questions and open-ended questions late in the
questionnaire
 Sexual behavior, religion, the respondent may react to them adversely and
refuse to continue
• Ask easy-to- answer questions first - about a fact
• Place questions in logical order

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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Important points for questionnaire design (a list of some dos and don’ts)
• Do make each question brief and the wording clear and concise with minimal use of jargon
• Do keep the length of the questionnaire to a minimum: a maximum of around 20 questions
is probably a good guide for most surveys.
• Make sure it asks only one question
• Keep it readable
• Make all definitions, assumptions, and qualifiers clearly understood
• Avoid making significant memory demands: Example
 How much do you usually spend on textbooks each semester?
• Avoid asking for very precise responses - such as annual salary to the exact dollar, grade
point average to two decimal place
• Avoid asking for broad generalizations about attitudes or opinions
• Do make the questions simple to answer
• Keep it interesting – don’t make it monotonous, do have a logical sequence to the question
• Avoid biased, loaded, leading, or sensitive questions. Example: ‘are you a heavy smoker?’
Instead use ranges:. Please indicate your smoking habit: less than 10 cigarettes a day,
between 10 and 20, over 20
Leading: what are your views on the level of VAT in Ethiopia? Is better than ‘ do you
agree that the level of VAT is in Ethiopia is too high?
Ex2: would you agree that there should be controls on the emissions of carbon dioxide from cars?
 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Important points for questionnaire design (a list of some dos and don’ts)
• Do start with simple questions such as gender, leaving more complicated
questions for latter in the questionnaire.
• Do try and avoid asking personal questions. For example for salary, use ranges for salary
• avoid asking the same questions in a different fashion
» Abortion should be legalized - agree / disagree) at one point and
Abortion should not be legalized (agree/disagree)
• Don’t ask two questions in one/ double barrelled questions- with two purposes
or interpretations/
Example: Is your job interesting and well paid? Is unlikely to be answered with a
simple yes or no
• Don’t ask hypothetical question. Asking someone what he or she would do under
a hypothetical situation ( such as winning the National Lottery) is unlikely to lead
to reliable results.
• It is generally better to use close-ended questions ( for respondents, and data
analysis)
• Do conduct a pilot survey on a small sample so that to test the reliability and
validity of your measure.
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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Cover Letter or Introductory statement of a Questionnaire
• state the purpose of the study and its significance;
• explain who the data collector is, the basis of its authority/the sponsor-under
whose auspices is the research being undertaken?, and why it is conducting
the study;
• tell how and why the respondents were selected;
• explain why their answers are important;
• tell how to complete the format and list the person to call if help is needed to
complete the form;
• provide assurance of confidentiality and anonymity when appropriate;
• explain how the data will be used;
• explain who will have access to the information;
• Provide mail-back instructions (if necessary); and
• present the response efforts as a favor and thank the respondents for their
cooperation.

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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Typographical and other considerations of a questionnaire
• Cleanly format your questionnaire.
• Use plenty of "white space’ - margins and spacing.
• Use a smaller (10 - or 11 - point) font
• Make spaces for check mark with boxes or brackets
• Proofread your questionnaire carefully for grammar and spelling
• Use quality paper
Pre-testing the Questionnaire
• the complete version of the questionnaire is administered to a few
respondents who possess identical characteristics with that of respondents in
the final study
– Question content
– Question wording
– Question format and efficiency of response coding
– Sequencing of questions
– Questionnaire Checklist
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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Limitations of a Questionaire

• The questionnaire cannot be used with children and illiterates.

• The return rate of the mailed questionnaire is often as low.
• No check on a respondent who misinterprets a question or gives incomplete or
indefinite responses
• Sometimes the respondent may modify his earlier original responses to the
questions when he finds that his responses to latter questions are contradicting
the previous ones.

Schedule vs questionnaire method

• Schedule is a device consisting of a set of questions, which are asked and filled
in by the enumerators who are specially trained for the purpose

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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Summary on Questionnaire:
• a questionnaire is a preformulated written set of questions to which respondents record
their answers.
• It is an efficient data collection mechanism when the researcher knows exactly what is
required and how to measure the variables of interest.
• Can be administered personally or mailed to the respondents or electronically distributed.
Some Guidelines for questionnaire design:
 Type of questions: open-ended versus closed questions
 Avoid biases in questions
o double-barreled questions/two questions in one: a question that lends itself to different
possible responses to its subparts. Ex: pleas indicate your degree of agreement with the
following statement: wholesalers and retailers are responsible for the high cost of sugar.
o Leading question: questions should not be phrased in such a way that they lead the
respondents to give the responses that the researcher would like or want them to give: Ex:
do you agree that the level of VAT is in Ethiopia is too high?
 Question sequence/Sequencing of questions:
o Early questions should be simple rather than complex, easy rather than difficult,
o In terms of scope: begin with from questions a general nature (questions of a global nature)
to those that are more specific
 This is funnel approach 30
 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Summary on Questionnaire:----Cont’d
• Classification data, also known as personal information or demographic
questions, consist of such information as age, educational level, marital status,
and income: this could appear in the beginning or at the end of the questionnaire
• It is best not to ask for the name of the respondent
• A good introduction is absolutely necessary (identity of the researcher, the
purpose of the study, assuring confidentiality, thank the respondent for taking the
time to respondent the survey).
• A clear instruction on how to complete the items in each section must be provided
• Concluding the questionnaire
 The questionnaire ends on a courteous note, reminding the respondent to check
that all the items have been completed.
Example: I sincerely appreciate your time and cooperation. Please check to make sure
that you have not skipped any questions.

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 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Sample Questionnaire
Militec
Department of Management

In partial fulfilment of B.A degree in Management, this questionnaire is designed

to study aspects of life at work. The information you will provide is helpful to
better understand the quality of work life. Because you are the one who can give
a correct picture of how you experience your work life, I request you to the
questions frankly and honestly.

Your response will be kept strictly confidential. Only the researcher will have
access to the information you give.

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation.

Your name and address

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 Data processing- Cont’d
Sample questionnaire-Cont’d
Section one: Personal profile/ Demographic question
Please circle the numbers representing the most appropriate responses for you in respect of
the following items.

1. Age (years) 2. Education 3. Job level 4. Sex 5. Work shift 6.

Employment
status
[1] under 25 [1] high school [1] manager [1] M [1] first shift [1] part time
[2] 25-35 [2] Diploma [2] supervisor [2] F [2] second [2] full time
[3] 36-45 [3] Bachelor’s [3] Clerk [3] third
degree
[4] 46-55 [4] Master’s [4] Secretary
degree
[5] over 55 [5] doctoral [5] Technician
degree
[6] Other [6] other
(specify] (specify)

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 Data processing- Cont’d
Section Two: About work life
The questions below ask about how you experience your work life. Beside each of the statements listed
below, please indicate your level of agreement by using a five- likert scale measure [ 1=strongly
disagree, 2= disagree, 3= Neutral, 4= agree, 5= Strongly agree, ]. Think in terms of your everyday
experiences and accomplishments on the job and check or put X mark in the appropriate box.

1 2 3 4 5
6. I do my work best when my job assignments are fairly difficult
7. When I have a choice, I try to work in a group instead of by myself
8. In my work assignments, I try to be my own boss
9. I seek an active role in the leadership of a group
10. I try very hard to improve on my past performance at work
11. I pay a good deal of attention to the feelings of others at work
12. I go my own way at work, regardless of the opinion of others
13.
14.
15.
16.

17. If you have any further comments:

_________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________ 34
 Questionnaire-Cont’d
Group Assignment:
I. President of ‘ABC’ organization suspects that most of
the 500 male and female employees of the organization
are somewhat alienated from work. He is also of the
view that those who are more involved (less alienated)
are also the ones who experience greater satisfaction
with their work lives.
• Required: design a questionnaire that the president use
to test his hypothesis.(Hint: design questionnaire used to
test job involvement-job satisfaction hypothesis by using
a 5 point likert scale)
II. Comment on the design of questionnaires of at least
three theses/Senior Essay.
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 6.2.2. Interview---2-3, 2-1
• Verbally exchange of Information
• Could be conducted: face-to-face/in-person interview; or telephone call, through internet/online
Types of Interview: structured , unstructured and semi-structured
Structured interview
• Procedure to be followed is standardized and is determined in advance of interview - rigid procedure
• Set of predetermined questions and of highly standardized recording technique (audio or digital
recorders)
• The same types of questions are presented in the same order to each interviewee
• The interviewer has no freedom to rephrase or change the order of questions to be presented
 Structured interview is those conducted when it is known at the outset what information is needed.
• we quite often use this technique in the case of descriptive studies
Unstructured interview
• The interviewer has a general plan of inquiry but not a specific set of questions that must be asked in
particular words and in a particular order
• characterized by a flexibility
• There is no predetermined list of questions to work through in this situation, although you need to have
a clear idea about the aspect or aspects that you want to explore.
• The interviewer is largely free to arrange, rephrase, modify, and add some new questions
• Very important for exploratory research studies
Semi-structured interview
• Shares that nature of both structured and unstructured interview

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 Interview-Cont’d
Techniques of Interviewing
• Preparation for interview, self-presentation: objective of the study, its
background, how the respondent was selected, the confidential nature of the
interview, the beneficial values of the research findings
• Conduct for the interview – remember and apply your communication skills here
(attentive, non-judgmental), ask the questions properly, probe meaningfully
 The technique of stimulating respondents to answer more fully and relevantly is
termed probing.
 Examples for probing styles: I see, or yes, a neutral question or comment: how do
you mean?, can you tell me more about you thinking on that? Anything else?
• Recording of the interview; record the responses accurately,
 record response as they occur
 Use some shorthand system (abbreviating words, key words)

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 Interview-Cont’d
Advantages and Disadvantages of Interview studies

Advantages:
• More and in-depth information can be obtained
• Interviewer can overcome the resistance
• There is greater flexibility
• Observation method can be applied
• Personal information can be obtained easily under:
 The missing returns; non-response generally remains very low –
good representation: high response rate
 The language of the interview can be adapted to the ability the
person interviewed and misinterpretations

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 Interview-Cont’d

Disadvantages
• Expensive- large and widely spread geographical sample
• Bias of interviewer and the respondent - presence of the
interviewer on the spot may over-stimulate the respondent - may
give imaginary information
• Important officials or executives … may not be easily approachable
• More-time-consuming, when and recalling the respondents are
necessary
• Cost of selecting, training and supervising the field-staff

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 Different ways of asking sensitive questions

About age:
• ask for year of birth, or the year when they left school, or how
old their first child is, or when they are due to retire

About ethnic group:

• ask them to select from a range of options, or to write it down
for you, or ask them how they would like you to describe their
ethnic group, or make an assessment yourself
About Income:
• Ask them if they could afford to buy a new car or house
• Or whether they would regard their income as above average,
average, or below average
• Or which of a number of income ranges they come in.
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 6.2.3. Observation------EV.
Observation Method
• One or more persons observe what is occurring in some real - life situation , without
asking questions of respondents
• Observation method appears to be very valuable instrument in a wide range of research
studies.
• Examples: Cultural study, traffic counts and direction of traffic flows
• observation needs proper planning, execution, adequate recording and interpretation
a) Planning for observation
Planning for observation includes the following factors:
• An appropriate group of subjects to observe
• Selection and arrangement of any special condition for the group
• Length, interval, and number of periods
• Physical position of the observer and possible effect
• Definition of specific activities or units of behavior to be observed
• Scope – individual, a group

• Training of the observer in terms of expertness

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 Observation-Cont’d
b) Execution of Observation - An expert execution of observation
• Proper arrangement of specific conditions for the subject(s) to be observed
• Assuming the proper role or physical positions for observing
• Focusing attention on the specific activities or units of behavior
• Handling well the recording instruments to be used
• Utilizing the training and experience in observation and recording the facts

 Types of observation on the basis of three perspectives:

1. Whether an observer is physically present or not ( Direct or indirect
observation)
2. Whether the observer’s presence is known or unknown to the subject
• If researcher’s identity is concealed /nor revealed: Disguised/masked
observation
• If researcher's identity is revealed to the subject: Undisguised observation
3. Whether an examiner takes part in activity or not
• If a researcher takes part in activity: participant observation
• If a researcher does not take part in activity: Non-participant observation
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 Observation-Cont’d
Classification of observation methods ( Direct versus Indirect observation,
Disguised/masked Vs undisguised observation, Participant Vs non-
participant observation, Structured Vs unstructured observation)
Direct observation
• the observer is physically present and personally monitors what takes
place
• Very flexible - the observer can react to events and behavior
• The observer is free to shift places, change the focus of observation, or
concentrate on unexpected events
• A weakness - the observers' perception may become overloaded as
events move quickly; they must later try to reconstruct what they are
not be able to record
• Observer fatigue, boredom, and distracting events can reduce the
accuracy and completeness of such observation.

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 Observation-Cont’d
Indirect observation
• The recording is done by mechanical/adjusted instruments
• Photographic or electronic means, - a special camera
Example: a special camera that takes one frame every second is mounted in a department
of a large store to study customer and employee movement
• Less flexible but much less biasing, less unpredictable /less erratic in accuracy
• The permanent record can be analyzed to include any different aspects of an event
Disguised/masked Vs undisguised observation
• The observer-subject relationship could be affected by whether the presence of the
observer is known to the subject
• The role of the observers should be disguised in situations where people behave
differently if they know they were being observed
• Observers use concealment to shield them-selves from the object of their observation
• Often technical means are used such as one-way mirrors, hidden cameras, or
microphones
• Reduce the risk f observer bias but bring up a question of ethics
• Hidden observation is a form of intelligence work
• A modified approach - the presence of the observer is not concealed, but the observer´s
real purpose and subject of interest are hidden
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 Observation-Cont’d
Participant Vs non-participant observation
Participant observation
• The observer becomes one of the groups under observation
• The observer may play any one of several roles in observation
Non-participant observation
• Observer takes position where his presence is not disturbing to the group.
• The researcher may follow in detail the behavior of one individual or may
describe one or two behavior characteristics of a dozen
Structured Vs unstructured observation
• Structured observation is systematic and has a high level of predetermined
structure
 Objective: To quantify behavior (your focus is to determine how often things
happen rather than why they happen. Ex: Time and motion study
• Unstructured observation: The observer has no definite ideas of the particular
aspects that need focus.
 Observing events that are happening may also be a part of the plan as in many
qualitative studies.
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 Observation-Cont’d
C) Recording and interpreting the observation
• In viewing, classifying and recording behavior, the observer must take utmost
care to minimize the influence of his biases, attitudes and values on the
observation report
Advantages and disadvantages of Observation
Advantages:
• Useful in locating data about non-readers, young children, people with mental
disorders, and laboratory animals
• Interaction between the observer and a subject can be initiated and carried on
• It provides a record for future comparisons
• The data obtained through observation of events as they normally occur are
generally more reliable and free from respondent bias.
Disadvantages:
• It is time consuming
• It is costly to collect data.
• The data may reflect observers’ bias
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 6.2.4. Focus group discussion-2-3
Focus Group discussion (FGD): a special type of interview that offers
opportunity to interview a number of people at the same time.
• Made by a panel of 8 to 12 respondents led by a trained
moderator
• The moderator uses group dynamics principles to focus or guide
the group in an exchange of ideas, feelings, and experiences on a
clearly understood topic
• Good for exploratory research
Qualities of a moderator: (Kindness with firmness, Tolerance,
Involvement, complete understanding, Encouragement,
Flexibility, Sensitivity / emotional response)
Benefits of FGD : (Synergism , Snowballing, Stimulation, Security,
Spontaneity—/natural behavior/, Serendipity/discovery of
something fortunate, Specialization, Scientific Scrutiny,
Structure, Speed)
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 6.2.5. Case study
Case study method- This is the approach (like experiment, survey ) rather than data collection
tool
• Concentrates on Special cases
• Complete observation of an institution, a cultural group or even the entire community.
• It is a method of study in depth : is emphasized on a full contextual analysis of fewer events
or conditions and their interrelations
• Places more emphasis on the full analysis of a limited number of events or conditions and
their interrelations
• It deals with processes that take place and their interrelationship.
• Essentially an intensive investigation of the particular unit under consideration
• Efforts are made to study each aspect of the concerning unit in a greater details
• Selecting cases must be done carefully, facts are gathered from various sources by
techniques: key informants, focus group discussion, in-depth interview
• The findings from the case (s) would have learning effects on others.
Characteristics of case study method
• The researcher takes one single social unit or more of such units
• The selected unit is studied intensively that could extends over a long period of time
• Compute study of the social unit covering all facets to understand the complex of factors
• Qualitative but not quantitative
• Behavior pattern of unit is studied directly – researchers involvement : has little control
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 Case study-Cont’d

Advantages and disadvantages of case study method.

Advantages:
• Full understanding of the behavior unit
• Enhance the experience of the researcher

Disadvantages:

• Seldom comparable
• Subjectivity of the researcher
• more time and expenditure

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 6.3. Collection of secondary data
• Studies made by others for their own purposes
Uses of secondary data:
 Fill a need for a specific reference on some point/to test other
findings. Example: from a sample survey, we could estimate the
percentage of the population that has certain age and income
characteristics. Theses estimates could then be checked against
census study.
 Can be a rich source of hypotheses
 May be used as the sole basis for a research study.

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 Collection of secondary data-cont’d
Advantages Disadvantages
• can be found more quickly and cheaply •Information may not meet one’s specific
than primary data needs
• Not Costly and time consuming • definitions will differ, units of measures are
different
Less invasion of privacy • is often out of date
Easy in making comparative analyses : Data may not be available.
Example: The impact of Democracy on The original data may contain errors
corruption May be unsuitable or inadequate

 Types of secondary sources:

Computerized data base: accesses may be through online search or CD-Rom
Periodicals
Books
Government documents
Special collection: University publications: Master’s thesis, doctoral dissertation, and
research records 51
 Collection of secondary data-cont’d

 Secondary data may either be published data or unpublished data

 Usually published data are available in:
 Publications of the central, regional and local governments;
 Publications of foreign governments or of international bodies
 Technical and trade journals
 Books, magazines, and newspapers
 Reports and publications of various organizations
 Reports prepared by research scholars, universities, economists
 Public records and statistics, historical documents
Examples: Government surveys (census of employment, population, family expenditure
survey), Government legislation, historical records, media documents (news papers,
magazines, television and radio), personal documents.

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 Collection of secondary data-cont’d
Reasons for using secondary data
 Because collecting primary data is difficult, time consuming, and
expensive.
 Because you can never have enough data
 Because it makes sense to use it if the data you want already
exists in some form.
 Because it may shed light on, or complement, the primary data
you have collected.
 Because it may confirm, modify or contradict your findings.
 Because it allows you to focus your attention on analysis and
interpretation.
 Because you cannot conduct a research study in isolation from
what has already been done.
 Because more data is collected than is ever used.
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 Collection of secondary data-cont’d

Precautions of using secondary data

• Check for the reliability and suitability of data
• who collected the data?
• What were the sources of data?
• Were they collected by using proper methods?
• At what time were they collected?
• Was there any bias of the compiler?
• What level of accuracy was desired? Was it achieved?
Adequacy of data
• One should use the available data only when they are found to
be adequate

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 Some notes
• data obtained from nominal data, ordinal data, interval data and
ratio data are called quantitative data.
• Qualitative data are collected mainly through interview,
observation and focus group discussion
 Enable to give strong, in-depth and well developed explanation
hence help readers to gain sufficient understanding of the issue
under discussion

• Attitude, belief, and philosophy of the researcher may affect the

reliability the research
• Ethics and frankness of the researcher is very important

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 Selection of data collection methods/instruments

Selection of Appropriate Method for Data collection

 Nature, scope and object of enquiry

 Availability of funds
 Time factor
 Precision required

Note:
• Possible to use one data collection method
exclusively
• The best and most effective way: the use of the
combination of the methods
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 General point: The basis for content of the data collection
method (S)
• Research questions, objectives and/ or hypothesis
 Do the questions contribute significant information toward
answering an in investigative questions?

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