DATA COLLECTION

1. SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION
BY:
MS NOOR SHAHARIAH BT SALEH
FAC. SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
UTHM BP

2. SOURCES OF DATA
COLLECTION
Primary sources
- Your own data collection from own
investigation
Secondary sources
- From publications, government
d o c u m e n t s , b r o c h u r e s ,
newsletters, annual reports
- Look for recent reports, check
on the author’s qualification and
the reputation of the publisher
- Document the sources through
footnotes, endnotes or reference
list

3. Collecting Primary Data
The 4 main ways to collect primary data:
1. Documents
- can be primary or secondary source
- from own company files, business documents such as
sales reports, policy statements, correspondence with
customers, suppliers, contracts and log book.
2. Observation
- informal observation by using eyes or ears based on
the researcher visiting a facility or observe operations
- specific observations with a checklist on what to look
out for
- useful when studying objects, physical activities, the
environment or human behaviour

4. - the disadvantage depends on the reliability of the
observer as people have the tendency to see what they
want on their own experiences. Therefore, proper
instructions and trustworthy observer is essential.
3. Surveys
- includes single interviews to the experts to distribution
of thousands of questionnaires to outsiders.
- a formal survey can consist of face-to-face interviews,
phone calls or printed questionnaires.
- how many individuals should be contacted to get
reliable results?
- what specific questions should be asked?

5. Things to be avoided when constructing
questions:
1. Biased questions
- The questions that encourage participants to
respond in a certain way.
Biased q: don’t you agree that campus parking is a
problem?
Revised q: Is parking on campus a problem?

6. 2. Questions that assume/ predict what they ask.
- A type of biased question and lead participants to
agree.
Assumption q: There are many people who believe
that campus parking is a problem.
Are you one of them?
Revised q: do you agree or disagree that campus
parking is a problem?

7. 3. Double- barreled questions
- The questions have more than one question
embedded within it. Participants may answer one
but not both, or disagree with a part all of the
question.
- Double- barreled q: Do you agree that campus
parking is a problem and
that the administration should
be working diligently on a
solution?
- Revised q: is campus parking a problem? If yes,
what the administration do to
solve the problem?

8. 4. Confusing or wordy questions
Confusing q: what do you think about parking?
(this is confusing because the question
isn’t clear about which parking involves)
Revised q: What is your opinion of the parking
situation on campus?

9. 5. Unrelated questions
- Make sure the questions are related to the study to
be conducted.
Unrelated qs: Have you ever encountered problems
in the parking garage on campus? Do
you like or dislike the bus system?

10. Types of survey questions
a. Open-ended question
Eg: How would you describe the way the van driver drove the
van?
b. Either-or
Eg: Do you think that the van driver obey the Safety Regulation
while driving on the road?
Yes / No
c. Multiple choice
Eg: What is best way to educate the van drivers?
a. UTHM should give often reminder
b. By distributing flyers and brochures to the drivers
c. Never renew the permit if they have safety offends
d. Suspend their services

11. d. Scale
Eg: Please mark an X on the scale to indicate how
you feel regarding your safety while traveling on the
vans provided by UTHM.
Key: 1 Very safe (VS)
2 Safe (S)
3 Moderate (M)
4 Unsafe (US)
5 Very unsafe (VUS)
1 2 3 4 5
VS S M US VUS

12. e.Checklist
e.g. Which movie/s have you watched in the past 3
months? (tick / all that apply)
i. Shrek 3
ii. The Incredibles
iii. Terminator III
iv. I know What You Did Last Summer
v. Hamlet

13. f. Ranking
e.g. Rank these movies according to your preferences;
from 1 (most preferred) to 5 (least preferred).
i. Shrek 3
ii. The Incredibles
iii. Terminator III
iv. I know What You Did Last Summer
v. Hamlet

14. Guidelines when making survey
questions
i. Provide clear instructions; especially on how to fill out
the questionnaires or provide explanations on why the
research is conducted,
ii. Keep the questions short and easy to answer
iii. Create questions that are easy to tabulate or analyse;
eg. numbers
iv. Ask only one thing at one time.
NOT: “Do you read books and magazines regularly?”
v. Pretest the questionnaire on a sample group

15. 4.Experiments
- for technical fields to see the differences between
two factors/ elements/ variables,
eg. Experiments done on animals or two groups of
people

16. SECONDARY DATA
• Information from secondary sources is most useful
– To find out about the background to the topic
– To be included in the introduction to the report.

17. • When using the information from secondary
sources, write the author’s name, the date of
publication to the book or article, and the number of
the page. For example:
According to a recent newspaper report,
“The amount of waste produced by the
population of Kuala Lumpur would fill both of
the KLCC Twin Tower within three days”
(Hamid, 2005:p. 10)

18. • In the List of References, the quotation should
appear as below:
Hamid Azman. (2005, 25 October).
Coping with KL’s waste. The New
Straits Times, p. 10.