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2.1

CHAPTER FIVE
Sources and Methods
OF data collection

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Introduction
Data collection is gathering information to
address those critical evaluation questions
that you have identified earlier in the
research process.
To plan data collection, you must think about
the questions to be answered and the
information sources available.
You must begin to think ahead about how the
information could be organized, analyzed,
interpreted and then reported to various
audiences
There are many methods available to gather
information, and a wide variety of
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Data Sources and Methods

Data collection method: a detailed
plan of procedures that aims to
gather data for the purpose of
answering a research question
Data source: the “who” (or “what”)
that supplies the data
o Firsthand data: data provided by
people who have experienced some
phenomenon directly.
o Secondhand data: an indirect
account of a phenomenon (e.g.,
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Primary Sources
Primary sources are sources of
information—the raw materials of
history—created by people who
actually participated in or witnessed
events of the past.
Methods of Primary Data Sources
o Interview
o Questionnaire
o Observation

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Interviews
‘An interview is a purposeful discussion between two or
more people’
Kahn and Cannell (1957)
o Verbal communication between researcher and
interviewee; commonly used in exploratory and
descriptive studies.
o Instruments - interview schedule with questions and space
to record answers; tape recordings of face-to-face or
telephone interviews.
o Interviewer training - pilot testing; familiar with content
and situations encountered with interviewing; practice
maintaining unbiased verbal and nonverbal
communication.
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Structured interview –
Interviews
 use questionnaire based on a predetermined and ‘standardized’ or
identical set of questions and we refer to them as interviewer
administered questionnaires.
 interviewee; specific questions asked in consistent order using the
same words each time; no variation from questions and no
explanation of unclear questions.
Semi-structured interview -
 the researcher will have a list of themes and questions to be covered,
although these may vary from interview to interview. The order of
questions also be varied depending on the flow of conversation.
 On the other hand, additional questions may be required to explore
your research question and objectives given the nature of events
within particular organizations.
 interviewee; list of topics or questions for discussion with additional
probes, aka topic guide; uses both open and close-ended questions;
taped.
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Interviews
Unstructured interview
 There is no predetermined list of questions to work through
in this situation, although you need to have a clear idea about
the aspect or aspects that you want to explore.
 The interviewee is given the opportunity to talk freely about
events behavior and beliefs in relation to topic area.
 So that this type of interaction is sometimes called
‘nondirective’.
 It has been labeled as informant interview since it is the
interviewees perceptions that guide the conduct of the
interview. In comparison, a participant (or respondent)
interview
 is one where the interviewer directs the interview and the
interviewee responds to the questions of the researcher.
 are informal. You would use these to explore in-depth a general
area in which you are interested. We therefore, refer to these as
in-depth interviews.
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Interview and type of research

 In an exploratory research study, in-depth interviews can be
very helpful to find out what is happening and to seek new
insight. Semi structured interviews may be used in relation to
an exploratory study.
 In descriptive studies structured interviews can be used as a
means to identify general patterns.
 In an explanatory study, semi structured interviews can be used
in order to understand the relationships between variables, such
as those revealed from a descriptive study,
 structured interview may also be used in relation to an
explanatory study, in statistical sense.

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Advantages of interview
Better response rates
Wider range of subjects
Can clarify questions
Greater depth of questions
Decreases missing information
Order of questions controlled
Adds supplementary observational data

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Questionnaire
o Techniques of data collection in which each person
is asked to respond to the same set of questions in a
predetermined order
Types of questionnaire

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Questionnaire
Types of questionnaire
 The design of a questionnaire differs according to how it
is administered and in particular, the amount of contact
you have with respondents. Self-administered
questionnaires are usually completed by respondents.
 Self-administered questionnaires are administered
electronically using the internet [Internet-mediated
questionnaires] or intranet [intranet-mediated
questionnaires], posted to respondents who return them
by post after completion [postal or mail questionnaire],
or delivered by hand to each respondent and collected
later [delivery and collection questionnaire].
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Questionnaire
Types of questionnaire
• Responses to interviewer-administered questionnaires are
recorded by the interviewer on the basis of each respondent’s
answers. Questionnaires administered using the telephone are
known as telephone questionnaires.
• The final category, structured interviews [sometimes known as
interview schedules], refers to those questionnaires where
interviewers physically meet respondents and ask the question
face to face.
• These differ from semi-structured and unstructured [in-depth]
interviews, as there is a defined schedule of questions, from
which interviewers should not deviate.

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Tips for wording the question

Tips:
o Clearly stated and Bias decreased.
o Sensitive information – respect respondent
o Worded so that respondents can respond to questions
o Short sentences
o Avoid leading questions; focus on research objectives
and questions
o Use closed-ended questions with socially unacceptable
topics
o Do not assume respondents are well informed about
topic
o Impersonal wording of items without "I“
o Mutually exclusive item choices
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Observation
Observation involves the systematic observation,
recording, description, analysis and interpretation of
people’s behaviour’
The two main types
Participant observation – emphasises the discovery
of meaning attached to actions (qualitative)
Observer & subject interact to some degree
duration observation.
o Overt – subject aware of observation
o Covert – subject not aware of observation
Structured observation – is concerned with
frequency of actions (quantitative)

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Participant observation (1)

 ‘Where the researcher attempts to participate fully in the lives and
actions of subjects, enabling them to not merely observe what is
happening but also feeling it’
Determining factors
 Purpose of the research and time available
 Degree of suitability felt by the researcher
 Organisational access
 Ethical considerations
 Threats to validity
 The perspective of the subject - not the researcher

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Advantages
It is good at explaining “what is going on” in particular social
situation.
It heightens the researcher’s awareness of significant social
process.
It is particularly useful for researchers working within their own
organization.
Some participant observation affords the opportunity for the
researcher to the experience ‘for real’ the emotions of those who
are being researched.
Virtually all data collected are useful.

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Disadvantages
 It can be very time consuming.
 It can pose difficult ethical dilemmas for the
researchers.
 They can be high levels of role conflict for the
researcher.
 The closeness of the researcher to the situation being
observed can lead to significant observer bias .
 The participant observer role is a very demanding one,
to which not all researchers will be suited
 Access to organizations may be difficult.
 Data recording is often very difficult for the researcher.

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Structured observation (1)

• Non-participant observations –observer and subject do not
interact; can be overt or covert
• is concerned with frequency of actions (quantitative)
• Time sampling – making an observation for a specified
length of time at pre-determined intervals (eg observe for
5 minutes every 15 minutes or observe for 5 minutes 3
randomly selected times each hour)
• Event sampling – making an observation whenever an
event occurs.
• Structured observation is systematic and aims to establish
straightforward facts
• Structured observation was an important part of Mintzberg’s
(1973) study of managerial work
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Observation
Structured observation
• Structured observation tell you how often
things happen rather than why they happen.
• Define what is to be observed.
• Define how observations will be made,
recorded, and coded
• Recording structured observations.

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Primary Data - Limitations

Do you have the time and money for:
o Designing your collection instrument?
o Selecting your population or sample?
o Pretesting/piloting the instrument to work out
sources of bias?
o Administration of the instrument?
o Entry of data?
Uniqueness
o May not be able to compare to other
populations
Researcher error
o Sample bias
o Other confounding factors

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Secondary Data
Secondary data is data that have already
been collected for some other purposes,
while primary data is data which can be
collected specifically for the purpose of
answering a research question(s) and to
meet research objectives
Data gathered and recorded by someone
else prior to and for a purpose other than
the current project.
Is often:
o Historical
o Already assembled
o Needs noBIRHAN
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Secondary Data

Types of secondary data

 Documentary: are often used in research projects that
also use primary data collection methods. However, you
can also use them on their own or with other sources of
secondary data
 Surveys: refers to data collected using a survey strategy,
usually by questionnaires, that have been already
analysed for their original purpose
 Multiple-source secondary data can be based entirely on
documentary or on survey secondary or can be
combination of the two. The key factors is that different
data sets have been combined to form another data set
prior to your accessing the data

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Secondary Data – Examples of Sources

Vital Statistics – birth, death certificates

Hospital, clinic, school nurse records
Private and foundation databases
City and county governments
Surveillance data from state government
programs
Federal agency statistics - Census

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Advantages of Secondary Data

Inexpensive.
o Often it is cheaper in terms of money than
collecting your own data.
Obtained Rapidly
o No need to reinvent the wheel.
o If someone has already found the data, take
advantage of it.
o It will save you time.
Information is not Otherwise Accessible
It may be very accurate.
o When especially a government agency has
collected the data, incredible amounts of time
and money went into it.

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Disadvantages of Secondary Data

Disadvantages of Secondary Data
o Uncertain Accuracy
o Data Not Consistent with Needs
o Inappropriate Units of Measurement
o Time Period Inappropriate

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Limitations of Secondary Data

When was it collected? For how long?
o May be out of date for what you want to
analyze.
o May not have been collected long enough for
detecting trends.
Is the data set complete?
o There may be missing information on some
observations
o Unless such missing information is caught and
corrected for, analysis will be biased.

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Limitations of Secondary Data

Are there confounding problems?
o Sample selection bias?
o Source choice bias?
o In time series, did some observations drop out
over time?
Are the data consistent/reliable?
o Did variables drop out over time?
o Did variables change in definition over time?
Is the information exactly what you need?
o In some cases, may have to use “proxy
variables” – variables that may approximate
something you really wanted to measure. Are
they reliable? Is there correlation to what you
actually want to measure?
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Evaluating Secondary Data

Does the data help to

Applicability answer questions
to project set out in the
Objectives problem definition?
Does the data apply to
the time period of
interest?

Does the data apply to

the population of
interest?

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Evaluating Secondary Data

Do the other terms
and variable
Applicability classifications
to project presented apply?
objectives
Are the units of
measurement
comparable?

If possible, go to the
original source of the
data?

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Evaluating Secondary Data

Is the cost of data

Accuracy of acquisition worth it?
the data

Is there a possibility
of bias?

Can the accuracy of

data collection be
verified?

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