Chapter 2

Collection of Data

Chapter Outline:

• Types of sources of data

• Designing a questionnaire
• Types of questionnaire
• Issues should be kept in mind while designing a questionnaire
• Pretesting the questionnaire

Types of sources of data

Primary data
As the name suggests, are first-hand information collected by the surveyor. The data so collected are
pure and original and collected for a specific purpose. They have never undergone any statistical
treatment before. The collected data may be published as well. The Census is an example of primary
data.
Methods of primary data collection:
1. Personal investigation: The surveyor collects the data himself/herself. The data so collected is
reliable but is suited for small projects.
2. Collection via Investigators: Trained investigators are employed to contact the respondents to
collect data.
3. Questionnaires: Questionnaires may be used to ask specific questions that suit the study and
get responses from the respondents. These questionnaires may be mailed as well.
4. Telephonic Investigation: The collection of data is done through asking questions over the
[Link] give quick and accurate information.
Secondary data
Secondary data are opposite to primary data. They are collected and published already (by
some organization, for instance). They can be used as a source of data and used by surveyors to
collect data from and conduct the analysis. Secondary data are impure in the sense that they have
undergone statistical treatment at least once.
Methods of secondary data collection:
1. Official publications such as the Ministry of Finance, Statistical Departments of
the government, Federal Bureaus, Agricultural Statistical boards, etc. Semi-official sources
include State Bank, Boards of Economic Enquiry, etc.
2. Data published by Chambers of Commerce and trade associations and boards.
3. Articles in the newspaper, from journals and technical publications.
Internal Data:
Internal data refer to the measurements that are the by-product of routine business record keeping
like accounting, personnel, quality control, sales, R&D, etc.
Internal data is data retrieved from inside the company to make decisions for successful
operations. This information is important to determine whether the strategies the company is
currently using are successful or if shifts should be made. There are four different areas a
company can gather internal data from: sales, finance, marketing, and human resources. Each
area provides a unique perspective, yet the data connects the departments. Let's review each
source of data.

Designing a questionnaire:
The qualities of a good questionnaire
The design of a questionnaire will depend on whether the researcher wishes to collect
exploratory information (i.e. qualitative information for the purposes of better understanding or
the generation of hypotheses on a subject) or quantitative information (to test specific hypotheses
that have previously been generated).

Exploratory questionnaires: If the data to be collected is qualitative or is not to be statistically

evaluated, it may be that no formal questionnaire is needed. For example, in interviewing the
female head of the household to find out how decisions are made within the family when
purchasing breakfast foodstuffs, a formal questionnaire may restrict the discussion and prevent a
full exploration of the woman's views and processes. Instead one might prepare a brief guide,
listing perhaps ten major open-ended questions, with appropriate probes/prompts listed under
each.

Formal standardized questionnaires: If the researcher is looking to test and quantify

hypotheses and the data is to be analyzed statistically, a formal standardized questionnaire is
designed. Such questionnaires are generally characterized by:

✓ Prescribed wording and order of questions, to ensure that each respondent receives the
same stimuli
✓ prescribed definitions or explanations for each question, to ensure interviewers handle
questions consistently and can answer respondents' requests for clarification if they occur
✓ Prescribed response format, to enable rapid completion of the questionnaire during the
interviewing process.

Preliminary decisions in questionnaire design

There are nine steps involved in the development of a questionnaire:

1. Decide the information required.

2. Define the target respondents.
3. Choose the method(s) of reaching your target respondents.
4. Decide on question content.
5. Develop the question wording.
6. Put questions into a meaningful order and format.
7. Check the length of the questionnaire.
8. Pre-test the questionnaire.
9. Develop the final survey form.

Types of questionnaire

On the basis of structure, questionnaire can be following two types:

Structured questionnaire: Structure refers to the degree of standardization imposed on the
questionnaire. A highly structured questionnaire is one in which the questions to be asked and
the response permitted are completely predetermined.
Unstructured questionnaire: A highly unstructured questionnaire is one in which the questions
to be asked are only loosely predetermined, and the respondents are free to respond in his /her
own words and in a way he/she sees fit.

On the basis of purpose of investigation, questionnaire can be following two types:

Disguised questionnaire: A disguised questionnaire attempts to hide the purpose of the study.
Undisguised questionnaire: An undisguised questionnaire is one the purpose of the research is
obvious from the questions posed.

There are some other following types of questionnaires:

Computer questionnaire. Respondents are asked to answer the questionnaire which is sent by
mail. The advantages of the computer questionnaires include their inexpensive price, time-
efficiency, and respondents do not feel pressured, therefore can answer when they have time,
giving more accurate answers. However, the main shortcoming of the mail questionnaires is that
sometimes respondents do not bother answering them and they can just ignore the questionnaire.

Telephone questionnaire. Researcher may choose to call potential respondents with the aim of
getting them to answer the questionnaire. The advantage of the telephone questionnaire is that, it
can be completed during the short amount of time. The main disadvantage of the phone
questionnaire is that it is expensive most of the time. Moreover, most people do not feel
comfortable to answer many questions asked through the phone and it is difficult to get sample
group to answer questionnaire over the phone.

In-house survey. This type of questionnaire involves the researcher visiting respondents in their
houses or workplaces. The advantage of in-house survey is that more focus towards the questions
can be gained from respondents. However, in-house surveys also have a range of disadvantages
which include being time consuming, more expensive and respondents may not wish to have the
researcher in their houses or workplaces for various reasons.
Mail Questionnaire. This sort of questionnaires involves the researcher to send the
questionnaire list to respondents through post, often attaching pre-paid envelope. Mail
questionnaires have an advantage of providing more accurate answer, because respondents can
answer the questionnaire in their spare time. The disadvantages associated with mail
questionnaires include them being expensive, time consuming and sometimes they end up in the
bin put by respondents.

Questionnaires can include the following types of questions:

Open question questionnaires. Open questions differ from other types of questions used in
questionnaires in a way that open questions may produce unexpected results, which can make the
research more original and valuable. However, it is difficult to analyze the results of the findings
when the data is obtained through the questionnaire with open questions.

Multiple choice questions. Respondents are offered a set of answers they have to choose from.
The downsize of questionnaire with multiple choice questions is that, if there are too many
answers to choose from, it makes the questionnaire, confusing and boring, and discourages the
respondent to answer the questionnaire.

Dichotomous Questions. This type of questions gives two options to respondents – yes or no, to
choose from. It is the easiest form of questionnaire for the respondent in terms of responding it.

Scaling Questions. Also referred to as ranking questions, they present an option for respondents
to rank the available answers to the questions on the scale of given range of values (for example
from 1 to 10).
Survey Monkey represents one of the most popular online platforms for facilitating data
collection through questionnaires. Substantial benefits offered by Survey Monkey include its
ease to use, presentation of questions in many different formats and advanced data analysis
capabilities.

Questionnaire sample
Issues should be kept in mind while designing a questionnaire

a) Covering letter: The person conducting the survey must introduce himself and state the
objectives of the survey. It is desirable that-
• A short letter is enclosed.
• Enclose a self –addressed envelope for the respondent’s convenience in returning
the questionnaire.
• Assure the respondent that his answers will be kept confidential.
• Promise the respondents that he will not be harassed after he fills up the
questionnaire.
 • Offer special inducement to return the questionnaire.
• If the respondent is interested, promise him a copy of the result of the survey.

b) The number of the questions should be as few as possible.

c) Questions should be logically arranged.
d) Questions should be short and simple.
e) Questions of a sensitive nature should be avoided.
f) Instructions to the informants.
g) Footnotes.
h) Questions should be capable of objective answers.

Pre testing the questionnaire:

Pretesting is a very important step in survey research. It is an absolutely necessary step to ensure
all kinds of errors that are associated with survey research are reduced. It helps to improve the
quality of data significantly. Pretesting is done on a small sample of respondents from the target
population. After the pilot test, both the interviewer(s) and respondents are asked a series of
questions regarding the survey as well as the process of data collection during the debriefing
session. Such debriefing sessions can help detect any problem with the questionnaire design
leading to ambiguity of words, misinterpretation of questions, inability to answer a question,
sensitive questions, and many other problems associated with the questionnaire as well as the
process of administering the survey. It also provides an opportunity to give feedback to the
interviewer to ensure that she/he follows the proper protocol of data collection procedures to
ensure objectivity in data collection.

How to pretest and pilot a survey questionnaire

It’s important to test your survey questionnaire before using it to collect data. Pretesting and
piloting can help you identify questions that don’t make sense to participants, or problems with
the questionnaire that might lead to biased answers. This guide explains how to conduct basic
pretesting and piloting for a survey.
Any testing is better than no testing
People often think that testing a survey takes a long time. They think they don’t have the time or
resources for it, and so they end up just running the survey without any testing. This is a big
mistake. Even testing with one person is better than no testing at all. So if you don’t have the
time or resources to do everything in this guide, just do as much as you can with what you have
available.
As a general rule, you should aim to pretest all your surveys and forms with at least 5 people.
Even with this small number of people you’ll be surprised how many improvements you can
make. Piloting is only really needed for large or complex surveys, and it takes significantly more
time and effort.
Pretesting
Find 5-10 people from your target group. Once you’ve finished designing your survey
questionnaire, find 5-10 people from your target group to pretest it. If you can’t get people from
your exact target group then find people who are as close as possible. I once designed a survey
that was going to be completed by garment factory workers in another province. There wasn’t
enough budgets available for us to travel to that province to pretest it, so we found some garment
factory workers in our own province to test it.
Try to get a range of different people who are representative of your target group. For example,
if your target group is young people aged 15-25; try to include some who are younger, some who
are older, boys and girls with different socioeconomic backgrounds.

Although 5-10 people might not sound like many, you will usually find that most of them have
the same problems with the survey. So even with this small number of people you should be able
to identify most of the major issues. Adding more people might identify some additional smaller
issues, but it also makes pretesting more time consuming and costly.
Ask them to complete the survey while thinking out loud
Once you’ve found your testers, ask them to complete the survey one at a time (they shouldn’t be
able to watch each other complete it). The testers should complete the survey the same way that
it will be completed in the actual project. So if it’s an online survey they should complete it
online, if it’s a verbal survey you should have a trained interviewer ask them the questions.
While they are completing the survey ask them to think out loud. Each time they read and answer
a question they should tell you exactly what comes into their mind. Take notes on everything
they say.
Observe how they complete the survey
You should also observe them completing the survey. Look for places where they hesitate or
make mistakes, such as the example below. This is an indication that the survey questions and
layout are not clear enough and need to be improved. Keep notes on what you observe.

Make improvements based on the results

Once all the testers have completed the survey review your notes from each session. At this point
it’s normally clear what the major problems are so you can go about improving the survey to
address those problems. Normally this is all that’s needed. However, if major changes are needed
to the questions or structure it might be necessary to repeat the pretesting exercise with different
people before starting the survey.
Piloting
Select the pilot sample
For large or complex surveys it’s a good idea to do a full pilot before starting actual data
collection. To do a pilot you need to test all the survey steps from start to finish with a
reasonably large sample. The size of the pilot sample depends on how big your actual sample is,
and how many data collectors you have. For a typical baseline or end line survey a sample of
around 30-50 people is usually enough to identify any major bugs in the system.
Implement all the steps from start to finish
Start by training your data collectors, if you have them. Then distribute and collect the survey
exactly as you would in practice. Enter the completed surveys into the database that you plan to
use and then test the analysis that you plan to perform.

Make improvements
Assuming that the survey was pretested, piloting will normally identify practical problems with
implementation, rather than problems with the survey design. For example, lack of staff training,
challenges with the logistics of distributing and collecting the survey, or errors in data entry.
These can then be fixed before you do the actual survey.