This document discusses various tools and methods for data collection. It defines data collection as the process of gathering information from relevant sources to answer research questions and test hypotheses. There are two main sources of data - primary sources where data is directly collected, and secondary sources where data is collected by someone else. Common tools for collecting data include interviews, questionnaires, observations, and various bio-physiological methods. The appropriate method depends on factors like the type of research, sample size, and available resources. Interview and questionnaire-based tools are described in more detail.

1. UNIT – IV
TOOLS AND METHODS
OF
DATA COLLECTION

2. INTRODUCTION
• ‘’Data is a collection of facts/information’’.
• Such as numbers, words, measurements, observation
or even just description of things.

3. DEFINITION
• Data collection is a process by which the researcher collects
the information from all the relevant sources to find answers
to the research problem, test the hypothesis and evaluate the
outcomes.

4. SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION
A) Primary Sources
• Directly collected from which may be individuals, objects,
programme, institutions.
• First hand information collected directly by the researcher .
B) Secondary Sources
• Data are collected by someone else for a purpose.
• Example: Newspaper, Journals, Magazine etc.

5. Sources of data
collection
Primary
sources
People,
Object,
Programme,
Institutions
etc.
Secondary
sources
A. Internal
sources[Private]
- Biographies.
- Diaries.
- Letters.
- Memories.
B. External
sources
[Public]
Published
records
Unpublished
records

6. Published records
• Magazines.
• Newspapers.
• Census reports.
• Govt. reports.
Unpublished
records
• Unpublished thesis.
• Unpublished
dissertation.
• Office report.
• Patient records.

7. INSTRUMENTS/TOOLSFOR DATACOLLECTION
- A research instrument/tool is a devices used to collect
data/information.
Example- Interview, observations , surveys etc.

8. Method/Technique Tools for data collection
A. Interview a. Interview schedule.
b. Opinionnaire.
B. Questioning [ Self report ] a. Questionnaire.
b. Opinionnaire.
c. Attitude scales/composites scales.
d. Visual analog scale eg. Pain scale
C. Observation a. Rating scales.
b. Checklists.
c. Anecdotes.
d. Video tapes/films.
D. Bio-physiologic methods a. In-vivo bio-physiological
measurements. E.g BP monitored.
b. In-vitro bio-physiological
measurements. E.g Blood test.
Types of methods and tools of data
collection

9. Factor influencing in selection of data
collection method-
1. Types of research subjects.
2. Types of research study.
3. Size of the study sample.
4. Distribution of the target population.
5. Time frame of the study.
6. Availability of the resources and manpower.
7. Researchers knowledge and competence.

10. INTERVIEW
• The interview is a process of communication or interaction in
which the subjects or interviewee gives the needed information
verbally in a face to face situation.
• Most often use in qualitative research.
• Interviewing require face to face contact or contact over
telephone.
• Interview require high level questioning skills and active
participation.
• Interview conducted one-on-one while focus group interview are
conducted in small groups.

11. Definition
• A method of data collection in which one person asks the
question from another person (respondent) conducted either
face to face or telephonically.

12. Types
1. Structured interview (directive interview)
2. Unstructured interview ( Non directive interview)
3. In depth interview
4. Focus group interview.
5. Telephonic interview.

13. STRUCTURED INTERVIEW
• Also known as standardized interviews.
• Interview schedule is formalized and has a limited set of
questions.
• The aim is to ensure that each interview is presented with
exactly the same questions in the same order.
• It increases reliability.

14. MERIT:
1. Data from one interview to the next one are easily comparable.
2. Recording and coding data does not pose any problem.
3. Time saving.
DEMERITS:
1. It tends to lose the spontaneity of natural conversation.
2. The scope of exploration of information of data is limited.

15. UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEW
• In unstructured interview here are no specification in the
wording of the question or order.
• They may ask question whenever Q is required.
• Has open ended question.
• Have no guide ,prior indication of the issues on which the Q
are to be asked or about the time limit.
• The aim is to explore the information from the respondent.

16. FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW
• It is a unstructured group interview.
• It consists of 8-12 member.
• Duration 1.5-2 hours
• All information including facial expressions and body language
is recorded.
• It has a moderator to lead the discussion.
• The interviewer can freely choose the order of questions.
• Interviewer tries to focus his attention on a particular aspects
of problem.

17. Merits
• Wide range of information is collected
• One persons comment may trigger a response from another,
leading to in-depth discussion on the topic.
• It increases excitement in a group.
• It involves many participants at one time.

18. Demerits
• It is difficult too moderate.
• It is difficult to code, analyse and interpret.
• Focus group interview is not a representative of general
population.

19. TELEPHONIC INTERVIEWS
• Contacting samples on telephone
• Uncommon method may be used in developed regions
MERITS
• Flexible compare to mailing method
• Faster than other methods
• Cheaper than personal interview method
• Replies can be recorded without embarrassment to
respondents
• Interviewer can explain requirements more easily
• No field staff is required
• Wider distribution of sample is possible

20. DEMERITS
• Little time is given to respondents
• Survey is restricted to respondents who have telephones
• Bias information may be more
• Very difficult to make questionnaire because it should short
and to the point

21. In Depth interviews
• Indepth interviews are those interviews that are designed to
discover underlying motives and desires and are often used in
motivational research.
• Such interviews are held to explore needs, desires and feelings of
respondents.
• In other words, they aim to elicit unconscious as also other types of
material relating especially to personality dynamics and motivations.

22. QUESTIONNAIRES

23. TYPES OF QUESTIONARES
1. Open-ended question:-
• Broad type (Essay type)
• Narrow type. (Short answer question)
2. Close-ended question:-
• Dichotomous questions
• Multiple- choice questions.
• Rating questions
• COMPOSITE SCALES /ATTITUDE SCALE (likert scale and semantic
differential scale)
• Visual analogue scale

24. OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS:-
• Open-ended questions are ones that require more than one
word answers.
• The answers could came in the form of a list ,a few
sentences or some thing longer such as a speech, paragraph
or essay.
• Open-ended questions require a response with more depth
& a lengthier require a response.
• Open-ended questions are helpful in finding out more about
a person or a situation, whether it’s during an interview, at a
party, or when getting to know a new friend.

25. FEATURESOFESSAYTYPEQUESTIONS:-
• Questions are used both as formative & summative
assessments.
• They require a great deal of thought & planning.
• Students prepare their own answers.
• They evaluate knowledge areas alone.
• Student’s handwriting, spelling, neatness, organization & way
of expressing ideas may be considered while scoring the
items.
• The examinee is permitted freedom of response.
PURPOSES OF ESSAY TYPE QUESTION:-
• Students get a chance to express own views.
• To assess factual recall of knowledge.
• Analysis and explanation of relationships.
• Assessment of non content related attributes of students.

26. PRINCIPLESFORCONSTRUCTIONOFESSAYTYPE
QUESTIONS:-
• The learning objective supposed to be evaluated by an essay
type question should be clearly defined in simple words.
• If a learning objective can be evaluated by any other type of
question, the use of essay type question should be avoided.
• It is always better to use several short essay type questions
instead of a long one.

27. CRITERIAFORESSAYQUESTION
• Clearly defined the question so that students understand what to
write.
• Delimit the scope of the question so that students understand what
to write.
• Clearly develop the problem or problem situation so that students
can be focused.
• The approximate time & word limit for each easy type question
should be specified.
• The distribution of marks for different segments of a particular
question and organization, neat news, expressive language should
be explained.
• Questions can be written in declarative as well as interrogative
statements.
• The relative point value & the approximate time should be specified
in clear directions.
• The use of optional questions which may confuse the students
&make evaluation difficult should be avoided.
• The essay question should be improved through preview & review.

28. ADVANTAGESOFESSAYTYPEQUESTION:-
• Assess higher-order or critical –thinking skills in learners.
• Provide an opportunity to assess the problem solving and
decision making abilities in learners.
• Help evaluate thinking, recall, analysis & synthesis of facts.
• Provide an opportunity for creative expression & organization
of facts.
• Are relatively easy to construct but require a good knowledge
of essay type question among evaluations.
• Provide very limited scope of guessing answers.

29. DISADVANTAGESOFESSAYTYPEQUESTION:-
• These questions lead to vague answers if wording of questions
is ambiguous & difficult to understand.
• They assess a limited sample of the range of content from the
entire curriculum.
• It is difficult & time consuming to grade the answers.
• Evaluation is subjective, different teachers may mark the same
answer differently.
• There is a scope of a lot of subjective biasness.
• They have a limited range of application.

30. SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS:-
• Short-answer questions are open-ended questions that
require students to create an answer.
• They are commonly used in examinations to assess the basic
knowledge & understanding (low cognitive levels) of a topic
before more in-depth assessment questions are asked on the
topic.

31. STRUCTUREOFSHORT ANSWERQUESTIONS:-
• Short-answer questions do not have a generic structure,
questions may require answers such as complete the
sentence, and supply the missing word, short descriptive or
qualitative answer is usually short, from one word to a few
lines. Often students may answer in bullet form.

32. ADVANTAGES:-
• Short-Answer questions are relatively fast to mark and can be
marked by different assessors, as long as the questions are set
in such a way that all alternative answers can be considered by
the assessors.
• Short answer questions are also relatively easy to set
compared to many assessment methods.
• It can be used as part of a formative and summative
assessment, as the structure of short answer questions are
very similar to examination questions, students are more
familiar with the practice& feel less anxious.

33. DISADVANTAGES:-
• Short answer questions are only suitable for questions that
can be answered with short responses.
• It is very important that the assessor is very clear on the type
of answers expected when setting the questions, because SAQ
is an open-ended questions, students are free to answer any
way they choose, short answer questions can lead to
difficulties in grading if the questions is not worded carefully.
• Short answer questions are typically used for assessing
knowledge only, students may often memorize short answer
questions with rote learning.
• Accuracy of assessment may be influenced by handwriting
/spelling skills.
• There can be time management issues when answering short
answer question.

34. CLOSEENDEDQUESTIONS:-
• If you can answer a question with only a “yes”, or “no
“response, then you are answering a close-ended type of
questions.
Examples:-1) Are you feeling better today’s?
2) Would you like vanilla ice cream?
• Closed ended questions can be answered in only one
word or very short phrase.

35. ADVANTAGES:-
• Easy to administer & analyses.
• Closed ended questions are most efficient in the sense
respondents can complete at given.
• It ensures that the researcher obtains the desired
information.
• It increases the reliability of study.

36. DISADVANTAGES:-
• Difficult to construct.
• Closed-ended questions may be superficial.
• Some respondents become frustrated with the limited
response & expand their answers.

37. TYPES OFCLOSE-ENDEDQUESTIONS:-
• It is often difficult to create a good quality close-ended
questions, because the researcher must pay careful attention
• To the wording, content and formatting of response.
There are various types:-
A) DICHOTOMOUS QUESTIONS:-
• These require the respondent to make a choice between
two responses such as yes/no or male/female.
• It is used to collect factual information.
• Example:-Have you ever been hospitalized?
• a) Yes b) No

38. MULTIPLECHOICEQUESTIONS:-
These questions require respondents to make a choice
between more than two response alternatives.
• EXAMPLE:-
Which of the following disease is sexually transmitted?
a) Diabetes mellitus.
B) Hypothyroidism
c) syphilis
d) Hypertension.

39. RANK-ORDER QUESTIONS:-
• It asks respondents to rank target concept along some
continuum such as most favorable or most to least important.
• Respondents are asked to mark 1,2,3………according to their
importance and there should not be more than 10
alternatives.
EXAMPLE:-
Q. What according to you is most important in your life? Rank
from most favorable to least favorable.
(a)Family relationship. (B)Health. (c)Money. (d) Religion

40. RATINGQUESTIONS:-
• These questions ask respondents to judge something
along an ordered dimension.
• Respondent is asked to rate a particular issues on a scale
that ranges from poor to good. They may provide a
number of choices.
• Example:-How you rank the education quality in our
college?

41. Likert Scale:
• It provides for quantitative measure on a uni-dimensional
scale of continuum.
• It uses statements from the extreme positive to extreme
negative position.
• It generally uses a five point scale as we have discussed in
rating scale.
• It could be standardised and norms are worked out.
• It disguises the attitude object rather than directly asking
about the attitude on the subject

43. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)
• The visual analogue scale or visual analog scale (VAS) is
a psychometric response scale which can be used in
questionnaires.
• It is a measurement instrument for subjective
characteristics or attitudes that cannot be directly
measured.
• When responding to a VAS item, respondents specify
their level of agreement to a statement by indicating a
position along a continuous line between two end-
points.

44. • A is a measurement instrument that tries to measure a
characteristic or attitude that is believed to range across
a continuum of values and cannot easily be directly
measured.
• For example, the amount of pain that a patient feels
ranges across a continuum from none to an extreme
amount of pain.

46. OBSERVATION

47. CHECKLIST
• A checklist is a simple instrument consisting prepared list of
expected items of performance or attributes which are
checked by an evaluator for the presence or absence.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CHECKLIST
• Observe one respondent at one time
• Clearly specify the characteristics of the behaviour to the observer
• Use only carefully prepared checklists to avoid more complex traits.
• The observer should be trained how to observe, how to record the
observed behaviour.
• Use checklist only when you are interested in calculating in
particular characteristics

50. BIO PHYSIOLOGICAL METHODS-
• Used to assess the physiologic status of study participants.
For example-height, weight, HB level.
A) In vivo bio physiological measurements
B) In vitro bio physiological measurements

51. Contd….
• In vivo measurement- Performed directly with in or on
living organisms e.g. BP, oxygen saturation, body
temperature
• In vitro measurements-performed outside the organisms
body e.g. Haemoglobin, Serum potassium concentrate in
the blood

52. Aspects measures in
Biophysiological methods
In-Vivo Biophysiological Methods
• Sensory equipment
• Recording equipment
• Example – TPR, BP monitoring.
In-Vitro Biophysiological Methods
• Radiological measurements: Evaluation of body tissues by use
of X-rays, CT scan, MRI, PET, etc.
• Biochemical measurements: Measuring biochemical attributes
such as serum electrolytes, blood sugar levels, LFT RFT, etc.
• Microbiological measurements: These include evaluation of
bacterial counts , culture and sensitivity tests of urine, blood,
etc.