RESEARCH DATA

TYPES AND
METHODOLOGY
GROUP ZEBRA
Research methodology
• Research methodology are the specific procedures or techniques used
to identify, select, process, and analyze information about a topic
Qualitative Research
• Qualitative research involves collecting and analyzing data e.g., text,
video, or audio to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences
• the qualitative research methods allow for in-depth and questioning
of respondents based on their responses.
• This method is not only about what people think but also why they
think so.
When to use qualitative research
Researchers make use of qualitative research techniques when they
need to capture accurate, in-depth insights. E.g.
• Developing a new product or generating an idea.
• Studying your product/brand or service
• To strengthen your marketing strategy.
• Understanding purchase behavior.
• To study the reactions of your audience to marketing campaigns and
other communications.
• Exploring market demographics, segments, and customer groups.
• Gathering perception data of a brand, company, or product.
TYPES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Phenomenological Research
Phenomenological research examines human experiences through the
descriptions provided by the people involved. These experiences are
called lived experiences. This type of research is used to study areas in
which there is little knowledge
Ethnographic research
Ethnographic research involves the collection and analysis of data
about cultural groups. This involves the researcher involving himself
into the daily life and routine of the subjects. Either as an active
participant or an observer, the researcher experiences their customs,
traditions and reactions to situations.
• Grounded Theory
Grounded theory starts with a question or collection of data. Through
systematic data collection and analysis, repetitive ideas or elements
are recorded, and recordes are grouped or categorized. New theories
may be formed based on these categories
• Case study
The case study method is used to gather in-depth and detailed
information about a subject, which could be any organization or event
• E.g For a business, case studies are a useful tool to create strategies,
understanding customers and new marketing methods.
Methods of Qualitative Research
1.Interview:
In depth interview is one of the most common qualitative research
methods. One of the advantages of this method provides a great
opportunity to gather precise data about what people believe and what
their motivations are.
2. Focus groups:
This is done by asking questions and generating discussion among a
group of people. A focus group usually includes a limited number of
respondents (6-10) from within your target market
3. Ethnographic research:
Researchers immerse themselves in groups or organizations to
understand their cultures. Instead of relying on interviews and
discussions, you experience the natural settings first hand.
4. Record keeping:
Record keeping is the collecting existing data in the form of texts,
images, audio or video recordings. This method makes use of the
already existing reliable documents
Advantages of qualitative research
• Flexibility
Someone can easily change the question depending on the
respondent’s reaction
• Natural settings
Data collection occurs in real-world contexts or in naturalistic ways.
• Meaningful review
Detailed descriptions of people’s experiences, feelings and perceptions
can be used in designing, testing or improving systems or products.
• Generation of new ideas
A qualitative research method helps you analyze thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors. This is valuable when it comes to understanding what
motivates consumers

Disadvantages of qualitative research

• Small sample sizes:
The number of people you can actually speak to is limited. hence you won’t
survey as many people as you’d like to.
• You need a skilled qualitative researcher:
There are so many ways to accidentally influence the responses you get
from a qualitative survey. the quality of the responses you get is largely
based on how well the researchers conduct the interviews or focus groups
• Unreliability
The real-world setting often makes qualitative research unreliable
because of uncontrolled factors that affect the data.
• Labor-intensive
Although software can be used to manage and record large amounts of
text, data analysis often has to be checked or performed manually.
• Self-selection bias
This may rise from the person who are conducting the research where
they end up forwarding selectively what goes with their views
• The artificiality of data capture.
The act of bringing together a group may influence the participants in
different ways.
Quantitative research
• Quantitative research involves the process of objectively collecting
and analyzing numerical data to describe, predict, or control variables
of interest.
• It can be used to find patterns and averages, make predictions, test
causal relationships, and generalize results to wider populations.
TYPES OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
• Descriptive research
This is used to understand a phenomenon, a situation, or a population.
Unlike experimental research, descriptive research does not involve the
manipulation of certain variables. Rather, it seeks only to observe and
measure the variables in order to investigate them
• Correlational Research Design
Correlational research is a non-experimental research method used to
identify a relationship between two variables with no influence from
any extraneous variable
Experimental Research Design
• Experimental research, also known as true experimentation, aims to
measure the effect of one or more independent variables on one or
more dependent variables with the use of the scientific method
Advantages of Quantitative
• Collect reliable and accurate data:
As data is collected, analyzed, and presented in numbers, the results
obtained will be extremely reliable. They offer an honest picture of the
conducted research
• Quick data collection:
A survey given to the people and the involvement of statistics,
conducting, and analyzing results is quite straightforward and less time-
consuming.
• Wider scope of data analysis:
Due to the statistics, this research method provides a wide scope of data
collection.
• Eliminate bias:
This research method offers no scope for personal comments or biasing of
results. The results achieved are numerical and are thus, fair in most
cases.
Disadvantages of quantitative research
• Superficiality
Using precise and restrictive operational definitions may inadequately
represent complex concepts. For example, the concept of mood may be
represented with just a number in quantitative research, but explained
with elaboration in qualitative research.
• Narrow focus
Predetermined variables and measurement procedures can mean that
you ignore other relevant observations.
• Structural bias
Missing data, imprecise measurements or inappropriate sampling
methods are biases that can lead to the wrong conclusions.
• Lack of context
Quantitative research often uses unnatural settings like laboratories or
fails to consider historical and cultural contexts that may affect data
collection and results
Primary Research
• Primary research is defined as a methodology used by researchers to
collect data directly, rather than depending on data collected from
previously done research.
Methods used in Primary research
• Interviews (telephonic or face-to-face):
These interviews can be conducted in person (face-to-face) or over the
telephone. Interviews are open-ended method which involves
dialogues or interaction between interviewer (researcher) and
interviewee (respondent)
• Online surveys
Once conducted with pen and paper, surveys have come a long way
since then. Today, most researchers use online surveys to send it to
respondents to gather information from them.
• Focus groups
This method is used to collect data from a small group of people,
usually restricted to 6-10. Focus group brings together people who are
experts in subject matter
• Observations
In this method, there is no direct interaction between researcher and
person/consumer being observed. Researcher observes the reactions
of a subject and makes notes.
Advantages of Primary Research
• Data collected is first hand and is accurate, there is no dilution of
data.
• Primary research focuses mainly on problem in hand, which means
entire attention is directed to find probable solution to a pinpointed
subject matter
• Data collected can be controlled. . It’s up to the discretion of
businesses or organizations who are collecting data how to best make
use of data to get meaningful research insights.
• Primary research is a time-tested method, therefore, one can rely on
the results that are obtained from conducting this type of research.
Disadvantages of Primary Research
• It can be quite expensive to conduct. One may be required to spend a
huge sum of money depending on the research method used.
• This type of research is time-consuming. It is an exhaustive process
and needs investing time and patience for the process to work
• Sometimes just using one primary research method may not be
enough
Secondary Research
• Secondary research or desk research is a research method that
involves using already existing data. Existing data is collected to
increase the overall effectiveness of research.
• This includes research material published in research reports ,
websites, library, already filled surveys and also from government and
non government agencies.
Advantages of Secondary Research
• Most information in this research is readily available. There are many
sources from which relevant data can be collected and used, unlike
primary research, where data needs to collect from scratch.
• This is a less expensive as most of the information is readily freely
available. A minimum expenditure is associated to obtain data.
• It is less time-consuming process as data required is easily available
and can be used easily
• The data gives organizations or businesses an idea about the
effectiveness of primary research hence one can evaluate the cost of
using primary research
Disadvantages of secondary research
• Quality of Researcher
When relying on secondary data as an important component in
decision-making ,one must take extra steps to evaluate the validility of
the information by critically evaluating how the information was
gathered, analyzed, and presented.
• Not Specific to Researcher’s Needs
Secondary data is often not presented in a form that exactly meets the
marketer’s needs. Because of this difference the results may not be
useful.
• Incomplete Information
A researcher can find that research that appears promising is in fact a
sample released by the research supplier. And the big rest needs to be
paid for hence half analysis.
• Not Updated
Secondary data that may have been collected in the past can be
outdated information hence may offer little value especially for
companies competing in fast changing markets.