3/24/25

DATA COLLECTION METHODS

• DATA COLLECTION IS A SYSTEMATIC PROCESS OF GATHERING OBSERVATIONS OR MEASUREMENTS.

THE FOLLOWING MUST BE CONSIDERED IN DATA COLLECTION:
• THE AIM OF THE RESEARCH
• THE TYPE OF DATA THAT YOU WILL COLLECT
• THE METHODS AND PROCEDURES YOU WILL USE TO COLLECT, STORE, AND PROCESS THE DATA
Ø STEPS IN DATA COLLECTION:
1. STEP 1: DEFINE THE AIM OF YOUR RESEARCH
2. STEP 2: CHOOSE YOUR DATA COLLECTION METHOD
3. STEP 3: PLAN YOUR DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES
4. STEP 4: COLLECT THE DATA

41

TYPES OF DATA

1.
QUANTITATIVE DATA IS EXPRESSED IN NUMBERS AND GRAPHS AND IS ANALYZED
THROUGH STATISTICAL METHODS.
2. QUALITATIVE DATA IS EXPRESSED IN WORDS AND ANALYZED THROUGH INTERPRETATIONS AND
CATEGORIZATIONS.
• IF YOUR AIM IS TO TEST A HYPOTHESIS, MEASURE SOMETHING PRECISELY, OR GAIN LARGE-SCALE
STATISTICAL INSIGHTS, COLLECT QUANTITATIVE DATA. IF YOUR AIM IS TO EXPLORE IDEAS,
UNDERSTAND EXPERIENCES, OR GAIN DETAILED INSIGHTS INTO A SPECIFIC CONTEXT, COLLECT
QUALITATIVE DATA. IF YOU HAVE SEVERAL AIMS, YOU CAN USE A MIXED METHODS APPROACH THAT
COLLECTS BOTH TYPES OF DATA.

42

1
 3/24/25

STEP 1: DEFINE THE AIM OF YOUR RESEARCH

BEFORE YOU START THE PROCESS OF DATA COLLECTION, YOU NEED TO IDENTIFY EXACTLY WHAT
YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE. YOU CAN START BY WRITING A PROBLEM STATEMENT: WHAT IS THE
PRACTICAL OR SCIENTIFIC ISSUE THAT YOU WANT TO ADDRESS AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?
• NEXT, FORMULATE ONE OR MORE RESEARCH QUESTIONS THAT PRECISELY DEFINE WHAT YOU
WANT TO FIND OUT. DEPENDING ON YOUR RESEARCH QUESTIONS, YOU MIGHT NEED TO
COLLECT QUANTITATIVE OR QUALITATIVE DATA:

43

STEP 2: CHOOSE YOUR DATA COLLECTION METHOD

BASED ON THE DATA YOU WANT TO COLLECT, DECIDE WHICH METHOD IS BEST SUITED FOR YOUR
RESEARCH.
• EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH IS PRIMARILY A QUANTITATIVE METHOD.
• INTERVIEWS, FOCUS GROUPS, AND ETHNOGRAPHIES ARE QUALITATIVE METHODS.
• SURVEYS, OBSERVATIONS, ARCHIVAL RESEARCH AND SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION CAN BE
QUANTITATIVE OR QUALITATIVE METHODS.
• CAREFULLY CONSIDER WHAT METHOD YOU WILL USE TO GATHER DATA THAT HELPS YOU
DIRECTLY ANSWER YOUR RESEARCH QUESTIONS.

44

2
 3/24/25

DATA COLLECTION METHODS

Method When to use How to collect data

Experiment To test a causal relationship. Manipulate variables and measure their effects on others.

Survey To understand the general characteristics or Distribute a list of questions to a sample online, in person
opinions of a group of people. or over-the-phone.

Interview/focus To gain an in-depth understanding of Verbally ask participants open-ended questions in

group perceptions or opinions on a topic. individual interviews or focus group discussions.

Observation To understand something in its natural setting. Measure or survey a sample without trying to affect them.

Ethnography To study the culture of a community or Join and participate in a community and record your
organization first-hand. observations and reflections.
Archival research To understand current or historical events, Access manuscripts, documents or records from libraries,
conditions or practices. depositories or the internet.

Secondary data To analyze data from populations that you can’t Find existing datasets that have already been collected,
collection access first-hand. from sources such as government agencies or research
organizations, medical image archives etc..

45

STEP 3: PLAN YOUR DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES

• PLAN EXACTLY HOW YOU WILL IMPLEMENT THE METHOD. WHAT PROCEDURES WILL YOU
FOLLOW TO MAKE ACCURATE OBSERVATIONS OR MEASUREMENTS OF THE VARIABLES YOU ARE
INTERESTED IN?
• FOR E.G., IF YOU’RE CONDUCTING AN EXPERIMENT, MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT
YOUR EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN (E.G., DETERMINE INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION CRITERIA). IF
YOU’RE CONDUCTING SURVEYS OR INTERVIEWS, DECIDE WHAT FORM THE QUESTIONS WILL
TAKE
• OTHERS: SAMPLING, STANDARDIZING THE PROCEDURE

46

3
 3/24/25

STEP 4: COLLECT THE DATA

• COLLECT THE DATA

47

VARIABLES

• IN RESEARCH, DATA VARIABLES ARE BROADLY CLASSIFIED AS QUANTITATIVE (NUMERICAL) OR

QUALITATIVE (CATEGORICAL), WITH FURTHER DISTINCTIONS WITHIN EACH TYPE:
• QUANTITATIVE VARIABLES CAN BE DISCRETE OR CONTINUOUS, WHILE QUALITATIVE VARIABLES
CAN BE NOMINAL, ORDINAL, OR BINARY.

48

4
 3/24/25

VARIABLES

1. QUANTITATIVE VARIABLES: 2. QUALITATIVE VARIABLES:

• THESE VARIABLES REPRESENT NUMERICAL DATA THAT • THESE VARIABLES REPRESENT CATEGORIES OR LABELS
CAN BE MEASURED AND HAVE MEANINGFUL VALUES. THAT DESCRIBE QUALITIES OR CHARACTERISTICS.

• TYPES: • TYPES:

• DISCRETE: CAN ONLY TAKE ON SPECIFIC, SEPARATE • NOMINAL: CATEGORIES HAVE NO INHERENT ORDER OR
VALUES (E.G., NUMBER OF PATIENTS, NUMBER OF RANKING (E.G., GENDER, BLOOD TYPE, EYE COLOR).
ITEMS).
• ORDINAL: CATEGORIES HAVE A MEANINGFUL ORDER OR
• CONTINUOUS: CAN TAKE ON ANY VALUE WITHIN A RANKING, BUT THE INTERVALS BETWEEN THEM MAY
RANGE (E.G., HEIGHT, WEIGHT, SIZE, TEMPERATURE, NOT BE EQUAL (E.G., SURVEY RESPONSES LIKE
DOSE). "STRONGLY AGREE," "AGREE," "NEUTRAL," "DISAGREE,"
"STRONGLY DISAGREE").

49

VARIABLES

Type of variable What does the data Examples Type of variable What does the data Examples
represent? represent?
Binary Yes or no outcomes. •Heads/tails in a coin
Discrete Counts of individual •Number of students variables (aka flip
variables (aka items or values. in a class dichotomous •Win/lose in a
integer variables) •Number of variables) football game
different tree
Nominal variables Groups with no rank •Species names
species in a forest
or order between •Colors
Continuous Measurements of •Distance them. •Brands
variables (aka ratio continuous or non- •Volume Ordinal variables Groups that are •Finishing place in a
variables) finite values. •Age ranked in a specific race
order. •Rating scale
responses in a survey,
such as Likert scales*

50

5
 3/24/25

INDEPENDENT VS DEPENDENT VS CONTROL

VARIABLES
Type of variable Definition Example (salt tolerance
experiment)
Independent variables (aka Variables you manipulate in The amount of salt added to
treatment variables) order to affect the outcome of each plant’s water.
an experiment.
Dependent Variables that represent the Any measurement of plant
variables (aka response outcome of the experiment. health and growth: in this case,
variables) plant height and wilting.

Control variables Variables that are held constant The temperature and light in the
throughout the experiment. room the plants are kept in, and
the volume of water given to
each plant.

51

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS EXAMPLES OF

INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES
RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS EXAMPLE 1 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS EXAMPLE 2
THE GREATER NUMBER OF COAL PLANTS WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF DIET OR
IN A REGION (INDEPENDENT VARIABLE) REGULAR SODA (INDEPENDENT
INCREASES WATER POLLUTION VARIABLE) ON BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS
(DEPENDENT VARIABLE). (DEPENDENT VARIABLE)?

• IF YOU CHANGE THE INDEPENDENT • IF YOU CHANGE THE INDEPENDENT

VARIABLE (BUILDING MORE COAL VARIABLE (THE TYPE OF SODA YOU
FACTORIES), IT WILL CHANGE THE CONSUME), IT WILL CHANGE THE
DEPENDENT VARIABLE (AMOUNT OF DEPENDENT VARIABLE (BLOOD SUGAR
WATER POLLUTION). LEVELS)

52

6
 3/24/25

OTHER IMPORTANT VARIABLE TYPES:

• INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: THE VARIABLE THAT IS MANIPULATED OR CHANGED BY THE RESEARCHER TO SEE ITS EFFECT ON ANOTHER
VARIABLE.

• DEPENDENT VARIABLE: THE VARIABLE THAT IS BEING MEASURED OR OBSERVED TO SEE IF IT IS AFFECTED BY THE INDEPENDENT
VARIABLE.

• CONFOUNDING VARIABLE: A VARIABLE THAT IS NOT PART OF THE STUDY BUT COULD INFLUENCE THE RESULTS.

• EXTRANEOUS VARIABLE: A VARIABLE THAT IS NOT PART OF THE STUDY BUT COULD INFLUENCE THE RESULTS.

• CONTROL VARIABLE: A VARIABLE THAT IS HELD CONSTANT DURING THE STUDY TO ISOLATE THE EFFECTS OF THE INDEPENDENT
VARIABLE.

• MODERATING VARIABLE: A VARIABLE THAT INFLUENCES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES.

• INTERVENING VARIABLE: A VARIABLE THAT EXPLAINS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES.

53

Sample data collection sheet

STATISTICAL SOFTWARE
FOR DATA ANALYSIS

• SPSS

• R STATISTICS

• MATLAB

• EXCEL

54