DATA COLLECTION METHODS

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 Data collection methods
• Data collection is a way of gathering information for
use in various studies or decision making situations.
Depending on the required outcome or information
needed methods of data collection can vary and
even be combined to achieve needed results.
• When different methods are combined in one study
we refer to this as triangulation of data collection
methods

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 Data collection methods
• Each method of data collection has its uses,
advantages and disadvantages. Most often
using more than one method of data
collection will gain better results.

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 Data collection methods
• Data collection methods include:
• questionnaires,
• interviews,
• observations,
• focus group discussions,
• and documentary reviews

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 Questionnaires
• A data collection tool in which written
questions are presented to be answered by
the respondents in written form
• A questionnaire may also be defined as a
form consisting of interrelated questions
prepared by the researcher about the
research problem under investigation, based
on the objectives of the study

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 Different ways questionnaires may be
administered
• Sending questionnaires by mail with clear
instructions on how to answer the questions
& asking for mailed responses;
• Gathering all or part of the respondents in
one place at one time, giving oral or written
instructions, & letting the respondents fill out
the questionnaires; or
• Hand-delivering questionnaires to
respondents & collecting them later.

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 Questionnaire
• To use questionnaires for data collection,
three things are assumed;
– That the respondent can read and
understand the questions or items
– That the respondent possesses the
information to answer the questions
– That the respondents are willing to honestly
answer the questions

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 Questionnaires
• Questionnaires may be classified by the
questions used
• structured or close ended,
• unstructured or open ended
• Questionnaires can also be classified by the
way they are administered.
• Personally administered
• Mailed questionnaires
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 Structured or closed-ended questionnaires

• These contain questions that are accompanied

by a list of all possible alternatives from which
respondents select the answer that best
describes their situation. For example, An
example: what is your educational level
a) primary, b) secondary, c) university

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 Using closed ended questions
• Responses are forced into fixed categories
• Potentially very demanding on side of
researcher.
• Major complaint…not all relevant options are
stated.

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Unstructured or open ended questions
• This refers to questions that give the
respondent complete freedom of response.
The respondent is free to use his/her own
words
• Example: suggest strategies management
should put in place to boost motivation of
workers in this firm

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 Using Open-Ended Questions
 Common when the researcher cannot
anticipate people’s responses or
 If listing all possible major responses is
impractical.
 Effective for stimulating thought, probing
for complex questions

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 Unstructured questionnaire

• Quite valuable in exploratory research.

• Very demanding for respondents.
• Responses to such question can be
difficult to classify and code.

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 Rules for constructing questionnaires

• Each item must relate to a certain

objective.
• Establish how information from each
questionnaire will be analyzed.
• The questions should be clear. vague
questions produce vague answers.
• Short questions are preferred to long
ones.
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 Rules for constructing questionnaires
• Avoid double barreled questions
• Avoid leading/biased questions for example,
“Don’t you think we should support our Gov’t
on oil exploration?”
• Avoid very personal/sensitive questions

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 Ordering the items in a questionnaire
• Begin with interesting questions
• Important questions should come first
• Items that illicit similar response should be
grouped together
• Introduce each section with a short statement
concerning its content and purpose

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Presentation of the questionnaires
• Make the questionnaire attractive. This will
increase the response rate
• Organize and lay out the questions so that the
questionnaire is easy to complete
• Number each page for easy following
• Give brief and clear instructions
• Make your questionnaire short to encourage
respondents to answer questions
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 Strengths of questionnaires
• Less expensive tool for data collection
• Self administered questionnaires give quick
results
• Offer greater assurance of anonymity
• Cover a wider geographical area as
researchers approach respondents more easily

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 Weaknesses of questionnaires
• Questionnaires may not allow probing,
prompting and clarification hence reducing the
validity of the result
• Low rate of returned questionnaires.
• The researcher may not be certain whether the
right people in the sample filled the
questionnaire or not
• Due to lack of supervision, items in the
questionnaire are at times partially filled
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 Qualitative data collection methods

• Interviews
• Observations
• Focus group Discussions

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 Interviews
• An interview is an oral administration of a
questionnaire or an interview schedule
• Interviews are face to face encounters
• To obtain accurate information, the researcher
needs to obtain maximum co-operation from
respondents by establishing a friendly
relationship

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 Interview schedule
• An interview schedule is a set of questions that
the interviewer asks when interviewing.
• Interview schedules are used to standardize the
interview situation so that interviewers can ask
the same questions in the same manner
• The interview schedule may be
–Structure or
–unstructured

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 Structured interview schedule
• Structured questions usually have categories
with responses and the interviewer simply
checks the respondents responses
• Answers are not followed up to obtain greater
depth of information
•

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 Unstructured interview
• Sometimes these are called interview guides
• The interviewer asks questions or makes
comments intended to lead the respondent
towards giving data to meet the study
objectives
• Probing is used to get in-depth information
• This kind of interview is time consuming and
very subjective

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 Strengths of interviews
• They provide in-depth data
• The interviewer is in position to clarify questions
that may be found confusing
• More information can be got by using probing
questions
• Yield higher response rates
• More flexible than questionnaires
• Most appropriate method for studying
attitudes, values, beliefs and motives
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 Weaknesses of interviews
• More expensive as researchers have to travel to
meet respondents
• Require high level of skill
(interpersonal/communication skills)
• Interviewers need to be trained to avoid bias
• Affected by the response effect. The
respondent may be eager to please the
interviewer
• Generally involve a smaller sample
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 Rules for interviews
• The interviewer must be pleasant
• The interviewer must find out early enough about
the person he/she is to interview
• The interviewer must be familiar with the
questions and the interview guide
• The interviewer should interact with the
respondent as an equal
• The interview guide should be pre-tested
• The interviewer should avoid leading questions
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 Positive interviewing strategies

• Use active listening

• Maintain eye contact
• Keep a neutral role
• Ask open ended questions

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 Training interviewers
• Training should be done in groups. This helps to
standardize the procedure
• The study, its purpose, and procedures should
be explained to the interviewer
• The group should go through the interview
schedules, question by question
• The trainer should demonstrate how to carry
out the interviews properly
• Pretest the interviews
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 Strengths of telephone interviews
• Better respondent anonymity than
personal interviews.
• Relatively higher respondent cooperation
• lower non-response compared to
personal interviews.
• Inexpensive

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 Weaknesses of telephone interviews
• Problems in getting representative samples;
unlisted phone numbers.
• Problem of answering machines & faxes.
• Need for callbacks.
• Respondent can easily hang up.
• Inability to use visual aids.
• Need for shorter forms of questioning

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 Interviewing techniques
• Ask one question at a time;
• Repeat question if necessary;
• Allow respondent enough time;
• Avoid suggesting answers to respondents;
• Don’t react to answers;
• Don’t be controversial;
• Take note of answers that are ambiguous

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 Interview techniques
• You can use the following formula to
generate open questions.
• T – Tell me more about that situation
• E – Explain further please
• D – Describe that situation more please
• Why? Is less acceptable and it often
arouses a feeling of intrusion

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 Observation forms, schedules or check lists

• The researcher must define the behaviors to

be observed
• During data collection, the researcher checks
off each behavior as it occurs
• The observer spends time thinking about what
is occurring rather than what to record. This
enhances the accuracy of the results

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 Issues when with observation forms
• The forms must be pre-tested
• Not many behaviors should be observed
• The number of subjects must be controlled
• Behaviors to be observed must be defined in
sufficient detail
• Where more than one observer is to be used,
training is necessary in order to master the
observation form and standardize observation
procedures
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 Strengths of observation
• Optimizing the naturalness of the setting
• Directness-study behavior as it occurs, no
need to ask questions

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 Weaknesses of observation

• Waiting for long go capture relevant

phenomena
• Costly
• Low external validity
• Problem of quantification-large data

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 Focused group discussion
• A focus group is a form of qualitative research
in which a group of people are asked about
their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and
attitudes towards a product, service, concept,
advertisement, idea, or packaging. Questions
are asked in an interactive group setting
where participants are free to talk with other
group members

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 Focused group discussion
• A focus group is an organized discussion –
though structured in a flexible way – of
between 6 and 12 participants.
• It usually lasts one or two hours
• provides the opportunity for all the
respondents to participate and to give their
opinions.

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 Rules for conducting a FGD
• Select a small group of participants, not
more than 15 people
• Set clear guidelines from the beginning
• Identify two facilitators for the focus group
• Can audio-tape focus group discussions
• Ensure equal participation
• Encourage discussion
• Encourage involvement
• Avoid being placed in the role of expert

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 Advantages of FGDs
• The face-to-face involvement of a qualified
moderator can ensure that the conversation is
always on track, and encourage participants’
engagement without one individual
dominating the meeting.
• When participate are stimulated to discuss,
the group dynamics can generate new
thinking about a topic which will result in a
much more in-depth discussion.
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 Disadvantages of FGDs
• If the moderator is not experienced enough, it is
very easy for the whole discussion to be
dominated by a few people.
• It is difficult to have the participants share their
real feelings towards some sensitive topics publicly
• People are collected in a meeting room thus they
might behave differently from how they behave
when they are not watched and it will effect the
quality of research results.

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 Weaknesses of FGDs
• Can be difficult to elicit participation from
individuals who have time constraints
• May involve high costs
• Scarcity of good professionals to conduct the
interviews and discussions
• Some participants can dominate the
conversation
• Multiple participants can also make
documentation difficult
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 Literature review
• Literature reviews are a research method of
examining data from a variety of sources that
ultimately results in the compilation of known
information on a subject. Useful and pertinent
information can be extracted from a variety of
sources ranging from journal articles to
internal agency/organization reports and
databases.

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 Literature review
• Literature reviews are often used when a
plethora of information already exists on a
topic. By compiling information that already
exists on a topic into a single source, literature
reviews can synthesize information into a
concise and highly informative report.

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 Literature review
• Literature Search: includes a search of
statistics, trade journal articles, other articles,
magazines, newspapers, and books for data or
insight into the problem at hand.

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 Advantage of literature review
• Collection is cheap/ economical
• Provide opportunity for study of trends
over time
• Available locally

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 Literature review
• It is sometimes difficult to gain access to the
records or reports required
• Data may not always be complete & precise
enough, or may be too disorganised.

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 Field work activities
• Field work is a general descriptive term for the
collection of raw data
• Field work is an important part of the research
process
• Data collection should be done well so as to
get good quality/accurate results of the study

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 Field activities
• Systematic collection of information, data or
specific other source material
• The interviewing or observation of people to
learn languages, their folklore, and their social
structures constitutes field work
• Carrying out research which can only be done
in a specific geographical area

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 Challenges in the field
• Public transport to various parts of a
geographical area can delay the field work
• Language can be a constraint
• Some respondents may be hostile
• When the instrument is not well pretested and
revised, this may result into low response
• Some respondents may not trust strangers
• The researcher may not be familiar with the
geographical area
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