Data Collection Methods
Data represents information collected in the form of numbers and text. Data collection is done after an experiment or an observation. Data collection is useful in planning, estimation and it also saves lot of time and resources. Data collection is either qualitative or quantitative. Data collection methods are used in businesses and sales organizations to analyze the outcome of a problem, arrive at a solution, draw conclusions about the performance of a business and so on.
Data Collection Methods
Data collection is defined as a method of collecting, analyzing data for the purpose of validation and research using some techniques. Data collection is done to analyze a problem and learn about its outcome and future trends. When there is a need to arrive at a solution for a question, data collection methods helps to make assumption about the result in the future. It is very important that we collect reliable data from the correct sources to make the calculations and analysis easier. Basically there are two types of data collection methods. This is dependent on the type of data that is being collected. They are,
- Primary Data Collection Methods
- Secondary Data Collection Methods
Types of Data Collection Methods
For any study or research problem that is taken, there may be a requirement for primary data or secondary data. Primary and secondary data are used in different conditions. Primary data collection is more time consuming than secondary data collection.
Primary Data Collection Methods
Primary data collection is the original form of data that is collected directly from the source. For example, data collected through surveys, opinion polls from people, conducting experiments, Primary data can be classified in to the following two types. They are,
- Quantitative data collection methods
- Qualitative data collection methods
Qualitative Data Collection Methods
Qualitative data collection methods does not include any mathematical calculation to collect data. It is mainly used for analyzing the quality, or understanding the reason behind something. Some of the common methods used for qualitative data collection are discussed below.
Interview Method
As the name suggests data collection is made by verbal conversation of interviewing people in person or in a telephone or using any computer aided model. A short note on each of these methods is given below.
Personal or Face to Face Interview: This is done by an interviewer with a person from whom data is collected. The interview may be structured or it may not be structured. Data to be collected is directly got from the person who is interviewed by straight forward questions or investigations.
Telephonic Interview: This is done by asking questions in a telephonic call. There are many online calling software readily available to carry out this data collection method. Data is collected from people directly by collecting their views or opinions on a topic.
Computer Assisted Interview: This type of interview is same as that of a personal interview, except that the interviewer and the person being interviewed are doing it in a desktop or a laptop. Also, the data collected is directly updated in a database in a aim of making the process quicker and easier and it eliminates lot of paper work to be done in updating the collection of data.
Questionnaire Method of Collecting Data
Questionnaire method is nothing but conducting surveys with a set of questions targeting the quantitative research. These survey questions are easily made using online survey questions creation software. It also ensures that the trust of the people attending the surveys are legitimized. Some types of questionnaire methods are,
Web Based Questionnaire: Web based questionnaire is a method in which a survey link is sent to the targeted audience. They click on the link which takes them to the survey questions. This is a very cost efficient and a quick method which people can do it at their own convenient time. The survey has the flexibility of doing in any device also. So it is really reliable and flexible.
Mail Based Questionnaire: In this type of questionnaire mails are sent to the target audience which contains sheets of paper containing survey questions. Basically it contains the purpose of conducting the survey and the type of research that is being made. Some incentives are also given to complete this survey which is a main attraction. The benefit of this method is that the respondents name remains undisclosed to the researchers and they are free to take any time to complete this survey.
Observation Method
As the word 'observation' suggests, in this method data is being collected directly by observing. This can be achieved by counting the number of people or umber of events that take place in a particular time frame. The main skill needed here is to observe and arrive at the numbers correctly. Structured observation is a type of observation method in which a researcher observes for certain specific behaviors.
Document Review Method
Document review method is a data collection method that is used to collect data from existing documents that are having data about the past. There are three types of documents from which we can collect data. They are,
Public Records: The data that is collected in an organization like annual reports, sales information of the past months are used to do future analysis.
Personal Records: As the name suggests, the documents pertaining to an individual such as type of job, their designation, their interests are taken in to account.
Quantitative Data Collection Methods
The term 'Quantity' refers to a certain number. Quantitative data collection methods express the data in figures or numbers using either traditional methods or online data collection methods. Once these data are collected the results can be arrived at by using some statistical methods and mathematical tools. Some of the quantitative data collection methods include probability sampling, surveys, conducting interviews.
Secondary Data Collection Methods
The data collected by an another person other than the researcher is called secondary data. Data that is to be known is readily available and does not require any special methods of data collection. Data can be obtained from directly from the company or organization in which the research is conducted or from outside sources also. The internal sources of secondary data collection include Company documents, financial statements, annual reports, employee information, reports got from customers, dealers. External sources of secondary data include information got from books, journals, magazines, census taken by government, information available in the internet about the topic of research. The main advantage of this type of data collection method is that it is easy to collect since they are readily available.
Topics Related to Data Collection Methods
Check out some interesting topics related to data collection methods.
FAQs on Data Collection Methods
What is Data Collection?
Data collection is the process of collecting information required for a research or analysis. Data can be collected from a primary source or a secondary source. Data collected can be both numeric or behavioral .
What are the Different Types of Data Collection Methods?
- Primary data collection method : Primary data collection is the original form of data that is collected directly from the source. Some examples include face to face interviews, questionnaire, surveys.
- Secondary data collection method: The data collected by an another person other than the researcher is called secondary data. Sources of secondary data include data from internet, information from books, journals and company reports or any other pre existing document with recorded data.
What are the Tools For Data Collection?
Data collection tools are the objects or devices used to collect data. Some of them include checklists, survey sheets, interviews or even a computer system.
How to Analyze Quantitative Data?
Quantitative data is a numerical form of data collection. It is analyzed by using various mathematical tools and statistical methods such as mean, median and mode.
How To Analyze Data From Questionnaire?
By choosing the correct set of questions based on the research or learnings to be made and also choosing the correct target audience from whom the data can be collected, we can analyze data from a questionnaire.