Data collection

Data, sources of data, and how data are collected are of great significance in
research. Data collections do make a difference, create rigor, and bring
effectiveness in research work.

Source of data:
Data can be obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data
refers to the data collected by the researcher for the specific purpose of the study.
Secondary data are collected from the company records or archives, government
publications, books, research journals, websites, etc.

Primary source of data:

Data collected from individuals through interviews, questionnaires, and
observation is called primary data. Besides that, primary data can be obtained
through focus groups, panels, and unobtrusive measures.

Focus groups:
A group of people with a moderator leading a discussion on a particular topic,
concept, or product is called a focus group. Members of the focus groups are
chosen on the basis of their expertise on the topic/concept/product. The role of the
moderator is very important to make the session productive, successful, and on
track. Focus group discussions on a topic at a particular location and time can
produce free-flowing, unstructured, and spontaneous responses from the
respondents. Responses reflect genuine opinions, ideas, and feelings of the
members. Discussion of focused groups could be disseminated/shown at various
locations/regions/places with the help of video conferencing.

The nature of data obtained from focus groups would be the least expensive,
quickly analyzed, qualitative, and not quantitative, and will not reflect the opinion
of the population at large.
Focused groups are important when the nature of the study is exploratory, making
generalizations and conducting sample surveys. Such discussions are made and
useful for some enlightened investigation as to why certain products fail/succeed,
why certain advertisements are effective/not effective, and why certain
management approaches do well/don’t do well.
Role of moderator: he introduces the topic and observes or tapes the discussion. He
ensures that all members participate in the discussion and no one can dominate the
group.
Panels:
The nature/purpose and composition of panel/focus groups are almost the same,
except that focus groups meet for a one-time group session while members of
panels meet more than once. Panel studies are very useful where the effects of
certain interventions or changes are to be studied over a period of time. For
instance, the effects of advertisement of a certain brand of tea in the year 2009 and
later on, when certain changes in the flavor, packages, and other image-building
features of the product.

Panels can be static or dynamic. In the static panels, the members remain the same
over time, while in dynamic panels, the members change from time to time
according to the needs and requirements of the study. The advantage of a static
panel is that it provides good measurement of the changes that take place between
two points in time. A disadvantage is that a panel member could drop out for
various reasons, and member opinions might no longer be representative of the
others in the population.

Unobtrusive measures:
When the data is obtained from sources other than individuals, like wear and tear
of journals/books in the library, the number of soft drink cans in trash bags.

Secondary data:
Secondary data is collected by someone other than the researcher conducting the
current study. Such data can be obtained from books, periodicals, media,
government publications, company websites, and many other records or published
information. Secondary data saves time and cost; however, this would be obsolete
and not meet the specific needs of the particular situation and current research.

Data collection methods in survey research:

i. Interviews: Data obtained through asking questions and conducting

discussions with the respondents.

ii. Unstructured interviews: When the interviewer does not have a planned
sequence of questions to be asked of the respondents. In this kind of
interview, some preliminary issues come up, and the researcher
determines what variables need further investigation. Unstructured
questions may happen in the following manner:
“Can you tell me something about your life, education, and job, or whatever you
think important about yourself?”.

Many answers come up as a response from some, and some may just not disclose
and respond by saying: everything is fine. In such a situation, the interviewer may
lead the situation and can further put up as:

“I would like to know about your job and education.”

If again the person does not respond in detail, the interviewer may put up other
questions as:

“Compared to your other family members, how is the economic

situation like income, savings, expenditures?”

After conducting a sufficient number of such unstructured interviews with

individuals at several levels and studying the collected data, the researcher would
know the variables that need greater focus to find out the social and economic
indicators of a society.

iii. Structured interviews: Planned interviews with predetermined

questions and the information needed, structured interviews would be
conducted as under: structured interviews are planned when the
interviewer is sure of what information is needed.

Predetermined questions may be asked personally, through phone, PC, or any other
medium. The questions will focus on the points that surfaced during unstructured
interviews. Views would be written down, and the same questions would be asked
of all respondents. Visual aids may be shown for the
guidance/help/assistance/information of the respondents.

When many interviews would be conducted at the same time, team-trained

interviewers would be needed with the clear understanding, when, where, and how
the interviews would be conducted/opened/closed.

iv. Face-to-face interviews: The main advantage of direct interviews is that

the researcher can adopt, clarify, repeat, and rephrase, and ensure that the
right questions have been properly understood and responded to. The
disadvantages are physical/geographical limitations if the interviews are
conducted nationally or internationally, and involve a lot of cost.
 v. Telephone interviews: In IT, respondents can be accessed easily, in a
relatively short time, and reduce the discomfort of face-to-face discussion
if any. The disadvantages are that the respondents can terminate the
interview unilaterally. The respondents may avoid attending the phone
calls if they know the caller ID. To avoid such a problem, the respondent
would be told in advance about the interview.

vi. Computer-assisted interviews: Interviews could also be conducted through

computers. In computer-assisted telephonic interviews (CATI), the PC monitor
prompts/shows the question with the help of software, selects the phone number of
the respondent, and records the responses in a file, which are later analyzed for
research purposes. Computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI) are another type
of interview in which a big hard and software are involved. It can be self-
administered, monitored, and personally used by the respondents; however, not
everyone feels comfortable with (CAPI)

The questioning techniques during conducting interviews:

Funneling:
This involves asking open-ended questions during unstructured interviews to create
an atmosphere for both the interviewee and interviewer.

Unbiased question:
Least biased questions must be ensured.

Clarifying:
It must also be ensured that the interviewee understands the questions. The
interviewer should also clarify him/herself about the confused responses to reach a
better conclusion.

Timing:
Giving enough time so that the respondents can recall the memory/event/thoughts
if needed for their response.

Note Taking:
Recording/taking notes are both important for the exact/true/accurate responses.

Pleasant Environments:
 Both the respondent and interviewer are important for the good conduct of the
interview and reaching the needed conclusion. The respondent should give free and
fair responses without exaggeration, anxiety, fear, and the interviewer should also
provide pleasant, nonjudgmental, and need-based environments for the required
outcomes of the interview.

Questionnaires:

Questionnaires are made of a predetermined written set of questions

given/distributed to the respondents. To record their answers, it may be
administered personally, mailed, or distributed electronically.

Personally administered questionnaire:

Easy/efficient/cost-effective
Responses could be collected in a short period.
Doubts, if any, could be clarified.
Opportunity to motivate the respondent
The disadvantage of PAQ is that many people avoid such practices, especially in
working hours.

Mail questionnaires:
Wide, geographically scattered areas can be covered.
Convenient for the respondents to fill them out at a comfortable time and place
Return rate is generally low; sending a follow-up letter may increase response.
Confusion, if any, may not be clarified.
Lack of representativeness of the sample
May not be effective in non-educated/low low-educated respondents
Electronically distributed questionnaires also have the same
advantages/disadvantages with a little variation in some points.

Guidelines for questionnaire designs:

i. Contents and purpose of questions:

Subjective feelings like satisfaction, attitudes, perception should tap the
conceptual dimensions whereas the objective variables age, education, income
shall be recorded in ordinal scaled set of categories like age 20-25, 26-30, 31-35
e.g. income 10000-15000, 16000-20000, 21000-25000, 26000 and above
ii. Language and wording of the questions should be according to the level
of the understanding of the respondents. Difficult or complex jargon
should be avoided as much as possible.

iii. Open-ended questions give open choices of answers to the respondents

like, list any five motivational factors, or comment on the organizational
culture of your company or state the (-ve) and (+ve) point of management
of your organization.

iv. Closed questions in contrast limit the choices of respondents, like chose
the best motivational factors from the following: Closed questions help
the respondents to make a quick choice and the researcher to code the
information easily for subsequent analysis.

v. Questions should be negatively and positively worded. It is a fun to come

to a job. Not coming to job is affecting career.

vi. Double –barreled questions are those in which two separate idea are tied
like “do you think there is a good market for mobile and it
will sell well” so it should be asked in two separate
questions like Do you think there is a good market for the
mobiles? Do you think the product will sell well?

vii. Ambiguous questions should always be avoided, like to what extent you
would say you are happy? It is not clear in the question that it refers to
general feelings or place of work.

viii. Recall-dependent questions are those questions which need to recall the
evidence/ feeling of the past many years shall be avoided.

ix. Leading questions are those in which the researcher leads the respondents
to give the answers of his/here choice, like don’t you think the
achievements made by the chief executive should be up lauded? To what
extent you think the present government is involved in corruption. Such
questions are not useful for precise and unbiased data collection and shall
be avoided.

x. Loaded questions are those which are phrased in emotionally charged

manner like don’t you think the name of pakhtun khwah will lead to
disintegration of the country or don’t you think that present high prices
 need pay raise in the employees of public sector? Or to what extent it will
annoy the management if the unions decide to go on strike?

xi. Social and psychological desirability means that the questions asked
should meet all the social and psychological norms of the society. Do you
think that partially handicapped employees should be laid off?

xii. Generally simple and short questions are preferred over long questions.

xiii. Sequence of the questions should be from general to specific, and

relatively easy to difficult.

Other methods of data collection

Observational surveys:

When the data is collected without asking questions from the respondents is called
observational survey. People can be observed during their natural work
environment or in the lab setting. During observation their activities and behavior
or other related activities could be noted and recorded. During observation the
following could be studied: Employees movement, work habits, facial expression
of joy, anger and other emotions, body language, layout, work flow patterns. In
this case the researcher may be a non-participant observer.

Structured and un-Structured Observation

When the observer has the predetermined set of categories of activities or

phenomena planned to be studied, it is structured observational study. Format of
recording can be specifically designed to meet the purpose and objective of the
study.

In the unstructured observational studies, the researcher/ observer have no definite

or planned ideas of the activities to be studied. In such cases the observer will
record practically everything being observed. Unstructured observation is mostly
done in qualitative research.
In such case the observer entertains a set of tentative hypothesis; data is collected
through observation over a period of time for the purpose of tracing/determining a
pattern of activities/behavior. This led to an inductive discovery, which further
makes the level, the way for deductive theory building.

Advantages of Observational studies

i. Data is more reliable and free from respondent biased

ii. Easier to find the effects of environment (whether effect on

attendance/absenteeism)

iii. Easier to observe than meet some individuals like children, busy
executives.

Disdvantages of Observational studies

i. The presence of the researcher/observer is necessary

ii. Proper training is needed how to observe and how to avoid biases in
observation.
iii. During prolonged observations, biases may result as a fatigue of
researcher
iv. Mood, facial expressions can be judged through observation but the
cognitive thought process can’t be observed and recorded.

Data collection through mechanical mean/observation

Data can also be collected through machines, by recording behavior, event, and
activities without researcher being physically present.

 People meter.

 Brand Track through scanner.

 Video camera etc.

Projective methods of data collection

Sometimes ideas cannot be told or reminded easily. Thoughts remain/stay in the
mind or the unconscious of the respondent. Such ideas can only be activated
through the motivational efforts of researchers. Trained professionals, through
the following techniques, can only do such a collection.

1. Word Association:

Like asking the first word, like work and ask the respondent what ideas come in
his mind will indicate what work mean to the respondents.

2. Sentence completion:

The respondents will complete a sentence like salary is… The respondents will
complete the sentence by salary is enough, low, etc.
Such statements will reflect the state of mind or attitude of respondents.

3. Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT):

In this technique, the respondents are told to weave/make a story by showing a

picture or saying a word or statement.

4. Inkblot Test:

In this method the respondents are shown various colors and those are
interpreted by them.

These projective tests/techniques /methods are used for data collection about
attitude, feelings, aptitude, consumer preference, product development and
other psychological conclusion. But such data collection and its interpretation
can only be done by trained and qualified persons/people.

Issues in data collection

 Response equivalence:

Data collection should be made in such a way that all respondents should
equally and usefully respond to the questions, queries of the researcher.
Response equivalence may be ensured by:

 Uniform data collection procedures.

 Identical methods of introducing the study; the researcher’s opening and
closing remarks in case of the personally administered questionnaire.

Timings of data collection:

 Data collection should be completed within the specified period of time.

 Visiting the respondent at a convenient time is good both for the researcher
and respondent so that the required data is collected and the required
questions/discussions take place in a congenial environment.

Status /nature of the respondents:

 Foreign /local respondent.

 Education /position/knowledge.
 Higher/lower position as compare to the respondents.
 Seriousness and attitude towards data collection/and in giving data.

Ethics in data collection

1. Treating data confidential and guarding the privacy of the respondents is the
primary responsibility of the researcher.

2. Researcher should not misinterpret the nature of the study to the subjects,
especially in lab experiments. The nature and purpose of research must be
explained to them.

3. Personal information should not be solicited.

4. Whatever the nature of research/data collection would be, the self-esteem
and self-respect of the respondent should not be violated.

5. No one should be forced to respond or subject to a test.

6. Non-participant observer should be as non instructive as possible.

7. In lab study, the subject should be fully briefed with full disclosure of the
reason for the conduct of experience before and after they have participated
to the study.

8. Subject/respondent should never be exposed to situation where they could be

physically or mentally affected.

9. The data should absolutely and never be misrepresented, misinterpreted,

misreported during or after the research and should be fully
used/interpreted/reported in the most professional way for the purpose of
problem solution and academic credibility in all fields of study.