Data Collection Techniques

Various Data Collection Techniques used in Research.

Data collection techniques are a part of research methods. You can also read about the complete research process here.

Survey Research (Quantitative Data Collection Method)

Survey research is a commonly used method of collecting information about a population of interest. There are many different types of surveys, several ways to administer them, and many methods of sampling. There are two key features of survey research: Questionnaires and Sampling.

Questionnaires

Questionnaires refer to a predefined series of questions used to collect information from individuals.

Questionnaires can be useful for collecting data on simple and well-defined issues. Their design should be carefully planned and piloted to ensure that they provide: the required data; data that can be analysed and used; an unbiased response.

Questionnaires should really be developed from pilot studies and tested for validity and reliability. Constructing a reliable and valid questionnaire to collect high-quality data is extremely important. Poorly designed questionnaires collect poor quality data.

Lot of planning goes into designing a questionnaire. Nowadays the most common method of conducting a questionnaire is to post it on the Internet, either on your own site or using one of the many available Internet sites that provide such

Scale

Rating scale allows the observer to rate the behaviour or event on a scale. A rating scale lists an ordered series of categories of a variable that are assumed to be based on an underlying continuum. A numerical value is then assigned to each category in each item. This type of scale is often used in observational measurement to guide data collection.

There is another type of scale often used in research papers: the Likert Scale.

Likert scale

The Likert Scale is the most commonly used scale in quantitative research. It is designed to determine the opinion or attitude of a subject.

It contains a number of statements with a scale after each statement. The original version of the scale included 5 response categories, and each response category was assigned a value.

Usually, the most negative response is given a numerical value of 1, whilst the most positive response has a numerical value of 5.

Questionnaire Design

The two most common types of survey questions are closed-ended questions and open-ended questions.

Closed-Ended Questions: The respondents are given a list of predetermined responses from which to choose their answer. The list of responses should include every possible response and the meaning of the responses should not overlap.

An example of a close-ended survey question would be, “Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statement: ‘I feel good about my work on the job.’ Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, neither agree nor disagree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree?”.

A Likert scale, is a commonly used set of responses for closed-ended questions.

Closed-ended questions are usually preferred in survey research because of the ease of counting the frequency of each response Open-Ended Questions. Survey respondents are asked to answer each question in their own words. Responses are usually categorized into a smaller list of responses that can be counted by the study team for statistical analysis.

Considerations for Designing a Questionnaire

It is important to consider the order in which questions are presented. Sensitive questions, such as questions about income, drug use, or sexual activity, should be put at the end of the survey. This allows the researcher to establish trust before asking questions that might embarrass respondents. Researchers also recommend putting routine questions, such as age, gender, and marital status, at the end of the questionnaire.

Double-barrelled questions, which ask two questions in one, should never be used in a survey. An example of a double barrelled question is, “Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statement: ‘I feel good about my work on the job, and I get along well with others at work.'” This question is problematic because survey respondents are asked to give one response for two questions.

Researchers should avoid using emotionally loaded or biased words and phrases.

Sampling

As it is impossible in most cases to survey every member of a population under study, we have to limit ourselves to a smaller sample of the population. Sampling is a technique in which a subgroup of the population is selected to answer the survey questions; the information collected can be generalized to the entire population of interest. Read more on sampling here.

Survey Administration

Surveys can be administered in various ways: Using software, through mail, by telephone, or face-to-face.

Mail:

Advantages: Mail surveys are inexpensive. It allows the respondent to answer at their leisure. They are not considered as intrusive as other kinds of interviews.

Disadvantages: Mail surveys take longer than other kinds. In populations of lower educational and literacy levels, response rates to mail surveys are often too small to be useful. The best response levels are achieved from highly-educated people and people with a particular interest in the subject.

By telephone:

Advantages: People can usually be contacted faster over the telephone than with other methods. If the Interviewers are using CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviewing), the results can be available minutes after completing the last interview. Interviewers can also ask for clarification of unclear responses.

Disadvantages: Many telemarketers have given legitimate research a bad name by claiming to be doing research when they start a sales call. Consequently, many people are reluctant to answer phone interviews and use their answering machines to screen calls.

Face-to-face

Advantages: Highest response rates. Better suited to collecting complex information. Longer interviews are sometimes tolerated. People may be willing to talk longer face-to-face than to someone on the phone.

Disadvantages: Personal interviews usually cost more per interview than other methods.

Qualitative Data Collection Methods

Qualitative Data can be collected from these Data Sources:

• Interviews (structured, semi-structured or unstructured)
• Focus groups/group interviews
• Questionnaires or surveys
• Secondary data, including diaries, self-reporting, written accounts of past events/archive data and company reports;
• Direct observations – may also be recorded (video/audio)
• Ethnography (the systematic study of people and cultures)

Research Interview

The Interviewing process involves asking questions and getting answers from participants in a study. Interviews can be conducted personally (one to one), by phone or by mail.

Interviews can be structured, semi-structure or unstructured.

Practical Guide to Qualitative Interviewing

Structured Interviews

In structured interviews, the interviewer asks each respondent the same series of questions. These questions are created prior to the interview, and often have a limited set of response categories. There is generally little room for variation in responses and there are few open-ended questions included.

Questioning is standardized and the ordering and phrasing of the questions are kept consistent in all interviews. The interviewer plays a neutral role and avoids giving their own opinion in the interview.

Structured interviews work well when the literature for a topic is highly developed or following the use of observational and other less structured interviewing approaches that provide the researcher with adequate understanding of a topic to construct meaningful and relevant close-ended questions that provide respondents with appropriate response categories to choose from for each question.

Self-administered questionnaires are a type of structured interview.

Structured interview data can be collected via mail or face-to-face (paper-based and self-report), via telephone where the interviewer fills in participants’ responses, or it ca be web-based and self-report.

Structured interviews generally do not require the development of rapport between interviewer and interviewee and can produce consistent data that can be compared across a number of respondents.

Semi-Structured Interviews

In semi-structured interviews, the interviewer and respondents engage in a formal interview. The interviewer uses a list of questions and topics that need to be covered during the conversation, usually in a particular order. The interviewer follows the sequence of questions but may stray if they feel it as appropriate.

Semi-structured interviews allow informants the freedom to express their views in their own terms, it provides a clear set of instructions for interviewers and can provide reliable, comparable qualitative data. The inclusion of open-ended questions provides opportunity for identifying new ways of seeing and understanding the topic at hand.

Since semi-structured interviews often contain open-ended questions and discussions may diverge from the interview guide, it is generally best to tape-record interviews and later transcript these tapes for analysis. This approach also helps in the development of rapport between interviewer and interviewee, which is essential in unstructured interviews. If tape-recording an interview is not possible, you may consider having a note-taker present during the interview.

Unstructured Interviews

In Unstructured Interview, the interviewer and respondents engage in a formal interview, where the interviewer builds rapport with respondents, getting respondents to open-up and express themselves in their own way by asking open-ended questions. The interviewer has a clear plan in mind (not a structured interview guide) regarding the focus and goal of the interview that guides the discussion.

Unstructured interviewing is a useful method for developing an understanding of an as-of-yet not fully understood or appreciated culture, experience, or setting. Unstructured interviews can be an important preliminary step toward the development of more structured interview guides or surveys.

It is generally best to tape-record unstructured interviews and later transcript these tapes for analysis so that the interviewer can focus on interacting with the participant.

Limitations of the Interview

Conducting interviews is time consuming. Besides, the skill of interviewing is not ordinarily possessed by everyone and it takes time to master this skill. Also, the chances of interviewee not responding properly and freely is very high even if the interviewer is very skilled in the technique. The interviewees avoid talking about painful and embarrassing experiences and in that case the responses lack accuracy.

Types of question asked in qualitative interviews

• Introducing questions: ‘Why did you…?’ or ‘Can you tell me about…?’
• Follow up questions: ‘What did you mean…?’ or ‘Can you give more detail…?’
• Probing questions: ‘Do you have any examples?’ or ‘Could you say more about…?’
• Specifying questions: ‘What happened when you said that?’ or ‘What did he say next?’
• Direct questions: Questions with a yes or no answer are direct questions (try to ask these questions towards the end so you don’t lead the interviewee to answer a certain way).
• Indirect questions: Use these to get the interviewee’s true opinion.
• Structuring questions: ‘Moving on to…’ (move the interview on to the next subject)
• Silence: Use pauses to suggest to the interviewee that you want them to answer the question.
• Interpreting questions: ‘Do you mean that…?’ or ‘Is it correct that…?’ (Kvale, 1996)

Interviews for Quantitative Research

Interviews are usually associated with qualitative research, however they can be used in quantitative research as well. When interviews are used as part of a quantitative approach, the interview will be totally structured with the interviewee only being able to choose a response (usually one word); often the reply can only be ‘yes’ or ‘no’, or it may just be a number. Alternatively, the interviewee may be asked just to choose one item from a list. These replies can then be coded and entered into a computer database for statistical analysis in the same way as questionnaire responses.

Focus Groups

Focus group, also known at times as group interview, is commonly used in research, it has strong links with market research but is also a useful method in any qualitative approach to research in any field. Focus group is a form of interview with several participants (usually 6 – 12 participants) discussing a specific theme/topic that is explored in-depth. It is closely controlled by a moderator/facilitator to ensure the discussion stays focused on the topic.

Focus Groups are apt when you need to gather views from a group of people, not just one or two individuals, when discussing non sensitive topic, when you are aware that there is a range of views, when you want to gather reactions from several people to an event, especially as it happens e.g. in politics, to find out what people think about a party conference speech, televised live events.

When conducting focus groups/group interviews, it is recommended that you record the interview and transcribe it later. This helps to focus on things such as monitoring the participants and ensuring all participants contribute equally, to observe things such as language used and nuances of the language. These important aspects may be lost if you focus on writing notes.

Limitations of Focus Group/Group Interviews

Focus Group can be difficult to organise, and researcher has less control over the proceedings than in individual interviews. It can be a challenge to balance dominant against reticent speakers in the group. In public, people also often do not openly express their real views. Data is also difficult to analyse.

These challenges can be overcome by better facilitation at the event, including careful design and outline of the topics to be covered.

Experiments

Here, the environment in which the investigation is conducted is changed (manipulated) and the effect on the participants is noted. Experiments try to establish the relation between cause and effect: whether a change in one of the independent variables produces an effect on the dependent variable.

Controlled experiments are more suitable in a natural sciences laboratory rather than in business and management where continuous changes defy control; however, at times, these approaches can be applied as well.