RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
Ass. Prof. Dr. Mogeeb Mosleh
DATA COLLECTION
METHODS
Ass. Prof. Dr. Mogeeb Mosleh
Sources of Data
Primary sources
Primary data refer to information obtained firsthand
by the researcher on the variables of interest for the
specific purposes of the study
Secondary sources
Secondary data refer to information gathered from
sources already existing
Primary Sources of Data
Individuals
Focus groups
Aimed at obtaining respondents’ impressions,
interpretations, and opinions.
Provides only qualitative and not quantitative information
Can not be considered to be truly representative
Focus groups are used for (1) exploratory studies, (2)
making generalizations based on the information gathered
by them, and (3) conducting sample surveys
Videoconferencing
Primary Sources of Data Cont’d)
Panels
Whereas focus groups meet for a one-time group
session, panels meet more than once.
Static or dynamic
Typically used when several aspects of a product are
to be studied from time to time
Unobtrusive Measures
Originate from a primary source that does not involve
people
Secondary Sources
Advantage of seeking secondary data sources is
savings in time and costs of acquiring information.
Drawbacks: obsolete, not meeting the specific
needs of a particular situation or setting
Data Collection Methods
Interviews
Questionnaires
Observation
Unobtrusive Methods
Interviewing
Unstructured interviews
Interviewer does not enter the interview setting with
a planned sequences of questions to be asked of the
respondent
The objective: to bring some preliminary issues to the
surface so that the researcher can determine what
variables need further in-depth investigation
Interviewing (Cont’d)
Structured interviews
Those conducted when it is known at the outset what
information is needed.
The interviewer has a list of predetermined questions
to be asked of the respondents
Interviewing (Cont’d)
Some tips
Biases could be introduced by:
Interviewer
Interviewees
Situational
Biases can be minimized:
Establishing credibility and rapport, and motivating
individuals to respond
Questioning techniques: funneling, unbiased questions,
clarifying issues, helping the respondents to think through
issues, taking notes
Face-to-face Interviews
Advantages:
Adapt the questions as necessary, clarify doubts, and
ensure that the responses are properly understood
Pick up nonverbal cues from the respondent
Any discomfort, stress, or problems that the respondent
experiences can be detected
Disadvantages:
Geographical limitations
Vast resources needed
High costs
Respondents might feel uneasy about the anonymity of
their responses
Telephone Interviews
Advantages:
A number of differently different people can be
reached in a relatively short period of time
It would eliminate any discomfort on respondents
Disadvantages:
Respondents could unilaterally terminate the
interview without warning or explanation, by
hanging up the phone.
Researcher will not be able to read the nonverbal
communication
Questionnaires
Personally administered questionnaires
Advantages:
Researcher can collect all the completed responses within
a short period of time
Clarify any doubts
Less expensive and consumes less time than interviewing
Mail questionnaires
Advantages:
Wide geographical area can be covered
Questionnaires (Cont’d)
Guidelines for questionnaires design
Principles of wording
Content and the purpose of the questions
Language and wording of the questionnaires
Type and form of questions
Sequencing of questions
Classification data or personal information
Questionnaires (Cont’d)
Pretesting of Structured Questions
To ensure that the questions are understood by the
respondents
There are no problems with the wording or
measurement
Other Methods
Observational surveys
Nonparticipant and participant observer
Structured and unstructured
SAMPLING:
DESIGN AND
PROCEDURES
Ass. Prof. Dr. Mogeeb Mosleh
Sampling
A sample is a subset of a
larger population of objects
individuals, households,
businesses, organizations
Population and so forth.
Sampling enables researchers
to make estimates of some
unknown characteristics of
Sample the population in question
A finite group is called population
whereas a non-finite (infinite)
group is called universe
A census is a investigation of all
the individual elements of a
population
Reasons for Sampling
Budget and time Constraints (in case of large populations)
High degree of accuracy and reliability (if sample is
representative of population)
Sampling may sometimes produce more accurate results than
taking a census as in the latter, there are more risks for making
interviewer and other errors due to the high volume of persons
contacted and the number of census takers, some of whom may
not be well-trained
Industrial production and import / export
Sample vs. Census
Conditions Favoring the Use of
Type of Study Sample Census
1. Budget Small Large
2. Time available Short Long
3. Population size Large Small
4. Variance in the characteristic Small Large
5. Cost of sampling errors Low High
6. Cost of nonsampling errors High Low
7. Nature of measurement Destructive Nondestructive
8. Attention to individual cases Yes No
The Sampling Design Process
Define the Population
Determine the Sampling Frame
Select Sampling Technique(s)
Determine the Sample Size
Execute the Sampling Process
Define the Target Population
The target population is the collection of elements or objects
that possess the information sought by the researcher and
about which inferences are to be made. The target
population should be defined in terms of elements, sampling
units, extent, and time.
An element is the object about which or from which the
information is desired, e.g., the respondent.
A sampling unit is an element, or a unit containing the
element, that is available for selection at some stage of the
sampling process.
Extent refers to the geographical boundaries.
Time is the time period under consideration.
Defining the Target Population
The target population is that complete group whose relevant
characteristics are to be determined through the sampling
A target population may be, for example, all faculty members
in the Department of Management Sciences in the COMSATS
network, all housewives in Islamabad, all pre-college students
in Rawalpindi, and all medical doctors in Pakistan
The target group should be clearly delineated if possible, for
example, do all pre-college students include only primary and
secondary students or also students in other specialized
educational institutions?
MBA III (Research Methodology) Course Instructor:
29 August 2005
Dr. Aurangzeb Z. Khan
Define the Target Population
Important qualitative factors in determining the sample size
the importance of the decision
the nature of the research
the number of variables
the nature of the analysis
sample sizes used in similar studies
incidence rates
completion rates
resource constraints
Sample Sizes Used in Marketing
Research Studies
Type of Study Minimum Size Typical Range
Problem identification research 500 1,000-2,500
(e.g. market potential)
Problem-solving research (e.g. 200 300-500
pricing)
Product tests 200 300-500
Test marketing studies 200 300-500
TV, radio, or print advertising (per 150 200-300
commercial or ad tested)
Test-market audits 10 stores 10-20 stores
Focus groups 2 groups 4-12 groups
Classification of Sampling
Techniques
Sampling Techniques
Nonprobability Probability
Sampling Techniques Sampling Techniques
Convenience Judgmental Quota Snowball
Sampling Sampling Sampling Sampling
Simple Random Systematic Stratified Cluster Other Sampling
Sampling Sampling Sampling Sampling Techniques
Convenience Sampling
Convenience sampling attempts to obtain a sample of
convenient elements. Often, respondents are selected
because they happen to be in the right place at the right
time.
use of students, and members of social organizations
mall intercept interviews without qualifying the
respondents
department stores using charge account lists
“people on the street” interviews
Judgmental Sampling
Judgmental sampling is a form of convenience sampling in
which the population elements are selected based on the
judgment of the researcher.
test markets
purchase engineers selected in industrial marketing
research
bellwether precincts selected in voting behavior research
expert witnesses used in court
Quota Sampling
Quota sampling may be viewed as two-stage restricted judgmental sampling.
The first stage consists of developing control categories, or quotas, of
population elements.
In the second stage, sample elements are selected based on convenience or
judgment.
Population Sample
composition composition
Control
Characteristic Percentage Percentage Number
Sex
Male 48 48 480
Female 52 52 520
____ ____ ____
100 100 1000
Snowball Sampling
In snowball sampling, an initial group of respondents is
selected, usually at random.
After being interviewed, these respondents are asked to
identify others who belong to the target population of
interest.
Subsequent respondents are selected based on the
referrals.
Simple Random Sampling
Each element in the population has a known and equal
probability of selection.
Each possible sample of a given size (n) has a known and
equal probability of being the sample actually selected.
This implies that every element is selected independently of
every other element.
Systematic Sampling
The sample is chosen by selecting a random starting point and then
picking every ith element in succession from the sampling frame.
The sampling interval, i, is determined by dividing the population size N
by the sample size n and rounding to the nearest integer.
When the ordering of the elements is related to the characteristic of
interest, systematic sampling increases the representativeness of the
sample.
If the ordering of the elements produces a cyclical pattern, systematic
sampling may decrease the representativeness of the sample.
For example, there are 100,000 elements in the population and a sample
of 1,000 is desired. In this case the sampling interval, i, is 100. A random
number between 1 and 100 is selected. If, for example, this number is 23,
the sample consists of elements 23, 123, 223, 323, 423, 523, and so on.
Stratified Sampling
A two-step process in which the population is partitioned into
subpopulations, or strata.
The strata should be mutually exclusive and collectively
exhaustive in that every population element should be
assigned to one and only one stratum and no population
elements should be omitted.
Next, elements are selected from each stratum by a random
procedure, usually SRS.
A major objective of stratified sampling is to increase
precision without increasing cost.
Stratified Sampling
The elements within a stratum should be as homogeneous as possible,
but the elements in different strata should be as heterogeneous as
possible.
The stratification variables should also be closely related to the
characteristic of interest.
Finally, the variables should decrease the cost of the stratification process
by being easy to measure and apply.
In proportionate stratified sampling, the size of the sample drawn from
each stratum is proportionate to the relative size of that stratum in the
total population.
In disproportionate stratified sampling, the size of the sample from each
stratum is proportionate to the relative size of that stratum and to the
standard deviation of the distribution of the characteristic of interest
among all the elements in that stratum.
Cluster Sampling
The target population is first divided into mutually exclusive and
collectively exhaustive subpopulations, or clusters.
Then a random sample of clusters is selected, based on a probability
sampling technique such as SRS.
For each selected cluster, either all the elements are included in the
sample (one-stage) or a sample of elements is drawn probabilistically
(two-stage).
Elements within a cluster should be as heterogeneous as possible, but
clusters themselves should be as homogeneous as possible. Ideally, each
cluster should be a small-scale representation of the population.
In probability proportionate to size sampling, the clusters are sampled
with probability proportional to size. In the second stage, the probability
of selecting a sampling unit in a selected cluster varies inversely with the
size of the cluster.
Types of Cluster Sampling
Cluster Sampling
One-Stage Two-Stage Multistage
Sampling Sampling Sampling
Simple Cluster Probability
Sampling Proportionate
to Size Sampling
Strengths and Weaknesses of
Basic Sampling Techniques
Technique Strengths Weaknesses
Nonprobability Sampling Least expensive, least Selection bias, sample not
Convenience sampling time-consuming, most representative, not recommended for
convenient descriptive or causal research
Judgmental sampling Low cost, convenient, Does not allow generalization,
not time-consuming subjective
Quota sampling Sample can be controlled Selection bias, no assurance of
for certain characteristics representativeness
Snowball sampling Can estimate rare Time-consuming
characteristics
Probability sampling Easily understood, Difficult to construct sampling
Simple random sampling results projectable frame, expensive, lower precision,
(SRS) no assurance of representativeness.
Systematic sampling Can increase Can decrease representativeness
representativeness,
easier to implement than
SRS, sampling frame not
necessary
Stratified sampling Include all important Difficult to select relevant
subpopulations, stratification variables, not feasible to
precision stratify on many variables, expensive
Cluster sampling Easy to implement, cost Imprecise, difficult to compute and
effective interpret results
Procedures for Drawing Probability Samples
Simple Random
Sampling
1. Select a suitable sampling frame
2. Each element is assigned a number from 1 to N
(pop. size)
3. Generate n (sample size) different random numbers
between 1 and N
4. The numbers generated denote the elements that
should be included in the sample
Procedures for Drawing
Probability Samples
Systematic
Sampling
1. Select a suitable sampling frame
2. Each element is assigned a number from 1 to N (pop. size)
3. Determine the sampling interval i:i=N/n. If i is a fraction,
round to the nearest integer
4. Select a random number, r, between 1 and i, as explained
in
simple random sampling
5. The elements with the following numbers will comprise the
systematic random sample: r, r+i,r+2i,r+3i,r+4i,...,r+(n-1)i
Procedures for Drawing
Probability Samples
Stratified
Sampling
1. Select a suitable frame
2. Select the stratification variable(s) and the number of strata,
H
3. Divide the entire population into H strata. Based on the
classification variable, each element of the population is
assigned
to one of the H strata
4. In each stratum, number the elements from 1 to Nh (the pop.
size of stratum h)
5. Determine the sample
H size of each stratum, nh, based on
proportionate or disproportionate
n =n stratified sampling, where
h
h=1
6. In each stratum, select a simple random sample of size nh
Procedures for Drawing
Cluster
Probability Samples Sampling
1. Assign a number from 1 to N to each element in the population
2. Divide the population into C clusters of which c will be included
in
the sample
3. Calculate the sampling interval i, i=N/c (round to nearest
integer)
4. Select a random number r between 1 and i, as explained in
simple
random sampling
5. Identify elements with the following numbers:
r,r+i,r+2i,... r+(c-1)i
6. Select the clusters that contain the identified elements
7. Select sampling units within each selected cluster based on
SRSor systematic sampling
8. Remove clusters exceeding sampling interval i. Calculate new
population size N*, number of clusters to be selected C*= C-1,
Procedures for Drawing Probability Samples
Cluster
Sampling
Repeat the process until each of the remaining
clusters has a population less than the
sampling interval. If b clusters have been
selected with certainty, select the remaining c-
b clusters according to steps 1 through 7. The
fraction of units to be sampled with certainty is
the overall sampling fraction = n/N. Thus, for
clusters selected with certainty, we would
select ns=(n/N)(N1+N2+...+Nb) units. The units
selected from clusters selected under PPS
sampling will therefore be n*=n- ns.
Choosing Nonprobability vs.
Probability Sampling
Conditions Favoring the Use of
Factors Nonprobability Probability
sampling sampling
Nature of research Exploratory Conclusive
Relative magnitude of sampling Nonsampling Sampling
and nonsampling errors errors are errors are
larger larger
Variability in the population Homogeneous Heterogeneous
(low) (high)
Statistical considerations Unfavorable Favorable
Operational considerations Favorable Unfavorable
Tennis' Systematic Sampling Returns a Smash
Tennis magazine conducted a mail survey of its subscribers to gain
a better understanding of its market. Systematic sampling was
employed to select a sample of 1,472 subscribers from the
publication's domestic circulation list. If we assume that the
subscriber list had 1,472,000 names, the sampling interval would
be 1,000 (1,472,000/1,472). A number from 1 to 1,000 was drawn
at random. Beginning with that number, every 1,000th subscriber
was selected.
A brand-new dollar bill was included with the questionnaire as an
incentive to respondents. An alert postcard was mailed one week
before the survey. A second, follow-up, questionnaire was sent to
the whole sample ten days after the initial questionnaire. There
were 76 post office returns, so the net effective mailing was 1,396.
Six weeks after the first mailing, 778 completed questionnaires
were returned, yielding a response rate of 56%.
