The document outlines data collection methods in quantitative research, emphasizing the structure, quantifiability, and objectivity of the data collected. It discusses various data collection approaches, including structured and unstructured methods, the importance of instrument selection, and modern techniques like internet surveys and digital tools. Challenges and strategies for effective questionnaire design, administration, and ensuring data quality are also highlighted.

1. Data Collection In Quantitative
Research
Prepared by : Abdulaziz T. A. Khader

2. Instruments Of Research
• Instruments of research :measurements
designed to measure the same variables
among the participants
• Data collection if often the costliest and most
time consuming portion in research study

3. Dimensions Of Data Collection
Approaches
1. Structure: 1. structured plan that indicates
what information is to be gathered and how
to gather it. 2. unstructured and to provide
participants with opportunities to reveal
information in a naturalistic way (qualitative).
2. Quantifiability: Data that will be subjected to
statistical analysis must be gathered in such a
way that they can be quantified.

4. Dimensions of Data Collection
Approaches (cont.)
3. Researcher obtrusiveness (prominent):Data collection methods
differ in the degree to which people are aware of their status as
participants.
4. Objectivity: Objectivity refers to the degree to which two
independent researchers can arrive at similar “scores” or make
similar observations regarding the concepts of interest, that is,
make judgments regarding participants’ attributes or behavior
that are not biased by personal feelings or beliefs.

5. • Researchers collect data in structured manner
thus imposing constraints on the methods so
that there is consistency in what is asked and
how answers are reported in effort to enhance
1-objectivity. 2-reduce biases. 3-facilitate
analysis
• Data collection plans for quantitative studies
ideally yield accurate ,valid , meaningful this is
challenging goal typically requiring
considerable time and effort to achieve

6. Identifying Data Needs
• researchers may need to identify data requirements for
accomplishing the following :
1) Testing the hypotheses or addressing the research
questions
2) Describing sample characteristics
3) Controlling confounding (extraneous) variables
4) Analyzing potential biases
5) Understanding subgroup effects
6) Interpreting results
7) Assessing treatment fidelity
8) Obtaining administrative information

7. Selecting And Developing Instruments
• In reviewing data needs researchers should determine
how best to capture each variable in terms of its
conceptual or theoretical definition
 criteria that may affect researchers’ decisions in
selecting an instrument are as follows:
1. Conceptual relevance.
2. Yield high quality data
3. Resources.
4. Availability and familiarity.
5. Norms and comparability.
6. Population appropriateness.
7. Administration issues.
8. Reputation.

8. On the side of the road
If existing instrument are not suitable for
some variables you may be faced with either
adapting an instrument or developing a new
one but its last choose for novice researchers
If you identifying a suitable instrument the
next step likely will be to obtain written
permission from the author to use it

9. The Role Of The Modern Techniques In
The Collection Of Data
• Survey researchers are increasingly using
sophisticated computer programs to facilitate
collecting, recording, and encoding self-
report data (CATI, CAPI) .
• The internet is being used to gather data from
geographically dispersed populations.
• Personal digital assistants(PDAs) and audio-
enhanced PDAs are also beginning to play a
role.

10. Structured Self-Report Instruments
• The most widely used data collection method
by nurse researchers.
• The instrument is an : 1-interview schedule:
when questions are asked orally in face to face
or by telephone
2-questionnaire or SAQ (self-administered
questionnaire) when respondents complete
the instrument them selves
3-embed an SAQ into interview schedule (mix)

11. Types Of Structured Questions
Open ended questions : allow people to
respond in their own words.
Closed ended questions (fix-alternative) offer
response options from which respondents
much choose the one that most closely
matches the appropriate answer

12. Strengths And Weaknesses In Closed-
End Questions
 Good closed-ended items are often difficult to construct
but easy to administer and especially to analyze
 Researchers need only tabulation the number of responses
to each alternative to gain descriptive information
 More efficient than open-ended in given amount of time to
complete
 Preferred if respondents are unable to express themselves
well verbally and some questions are less objectionable
 Possibility of omitting key responses and lead to
inadequate understanding of the issues or the outright bias
if respondents choose an alternative that misrepresents the
position
 Items tend to be superficial

13. Strength And Weaknesses In open-end
questions
 The analysis of open-ended items is more difficult and
time consuming
 Tabulation can be made by procedure is to develop
categories and code open-ended responses into the
categories. Researchers essentially transform open-
ended responses to fix categories in a post hoc fashion
 Time consuming to fill it by respondents
 If the participant cooperation and verbally expressive
can give richer and fuller perspective on a topic
 The richness can be lost in the tabulate answering in
categorized
 Give freedom to respondents

14. Mix Open And Closed End
Questions
• Considered the :
1-sensitivity of question
2-respondents verbal ability
3-amount of time available
4-amount of prior research on topic

15. Types Of Close-Ended Questions
1-Dichotomous items: such as yes/no
2-Multiple- choice questions: 3-7 alternatives
3-Cafeteria questions: multiple choice questions in which
respondents choose the most closely cross ponds to their
view
4-Rank order questions: from the best to the worst or least
important alternative
5-Forced choice questions: respondent should choose between 2
alternative statements
6-Rating questions: judge something along an order dimensions
which are bipolar in nature
7-Checklist: items encompass several questions on topic and
require the same response format, is often two dimensional
arrangements
8-Visual analogue scales: it is used to measure subjective
experiences such as pain and fatigue.

16. Structured Questions
Dichotomous
____Yes
____No
Male Female
Note:
Appropriate for
gathering factual
information

17. Multiple questions
Example: How favorable is it to you to become
pregnant at this time?
___ Very favorable
___ Favorable
___ Not sure
___ Unfavorable
___ Very unfavorable
(http://www.slideshare.net/ludymae/chapter-9methods-of-data-collection)
Note: Graded alternative are preferable to
dichotomous items for opinion or attitude
questions because researchers get more
information (intensity as well as direction of
opinion

18. Cafeteria questions
-Example: People have different views on “family planning”
which of the following best represent your views?
___1. Family planning is necessary to quality life.
___2. Family planning is immoral and should be totally
banned.
___3. Family planning has undesirable side effects that
suggest need for caution.
___4. Family planning has beneficial effects that merit its
practice.
___5. Family planning is moral and should be practiced.
(http://www.slideshare.net/ludymae/chapter-9methods-of-data-collection)

19. Rank-Order questions
Example: Why must family planning be practiced?
Rank your answers from the 1-most reasonable
to 5-least reasonable?
___Limits maternal disabilities.
___Gives parents more time to meet family needs.
___Helps maintain financial viability of the family.
___Affords more working hours for couples.
___Ensures family capability to educate all the
children in the future.
(http://www.slideshare.net/ludymae/chapter-9methods-of-data-collection)
Note: Sometime misunderstand them so
good instructions and an example may be
needed

20. Forced-Choice
1. I believe that all happened to me is a
faith
2. I believe that all happen to me is because of my
behaviors

21. Rating
1 10
Very
Dissatisfied
Very Satisfied

22. Checklist
Note: Efficient and easy to understand but because they are difficult to
read orally they are used more frequently in SAQs than interviews

23. Scales (VAS)Visual Analogue

24. Collecting Historical Data
• Researchers collect information about activities and date by :
A. Event history calendar :calendar are matrix that plot time on
one dimension (usually the horizontal dimension) and the
events or activities on the other. The person recording the
data(either the participant or an interviewer)draws lines to
indicate the stop and start dates of the specified events or
behaviors. Event history calendar are especially useful in
collecting information about the occurrence and sequencing of
events retrospectively.
B. Diary :ask participants to maintain information in ongoing
structured diary over a specified time period. This approach is
often used to collect quantitative information about sleeping,
eating, exercise behavior.

26. Composite Scales
And Other Structured Self-Reports
Scales used to make fine quantitative discriminations
among people with different attitudes, perceptions,
traits
* The most important are composite social-
psychological scales that are often included in a
questionnaire or interview package
1-Likert scales
2-Semantic differential scales

27. Likert Scales
• The most widely used scaling technique consists
of several declarative items that express a
viewpoint on a topic. Respondents are asked to
indicate the degree to which they agree or
disagree with the opinion expressed by the
statement.
• Typically, agreement with positively worded
statements and disagreement with negatively
worded statements are assigned higher scores.

28. Note: a high score consistently reflects positive attitudes toward condoms. A person’s total score
is determined by adding together individual item scores. Such scales are often called summated
rating scales

29. Semantic Differential Scales
-Require ratings of various concepts
-Rating scales involve bipolar adjective pairs,
with 7-point ratings.
-Ratings for each dimension are summed to
compute a total score for each concept.
 flexible and easy to construct. The concept being
rated can be virtually
anything—a person, place, situation, abstract idea,
controversial issue, and so forth.
 higher scores usually associated with the
positively worded adjective

30. Example of a Semantic Differential

31. Cognitive And Neuropsychological
Tests
 Nurse researchers sometime assess study participants
cognitive skills. There are several different types of cognitive
tests for example :
A. Intelligence tests evaluate a persons global ability to
perceive relationships and solve problem
B. Aptitude tests measure a persons potential for achievement
 Some cognitive tests are specially designed to assess
neuropsychological functioning among people with potential
cognitive impairments such as the Mini-Mental Status
Examination(MMSE) this test capture varying types of
competence such as the ability to concentrate and the ability
to remember, such test can use in studies of elderly patients
and patients with Alzheimer's disease.

32. Q Sorts
-Participants sort a deck of cards into piles (plenty)
according to specific criteria.
-Cards contain statements to be sorted on a bipolar
continuum (e.g., most like me/least like me).
-Usually 50 to 100 cards; usually 9 or 11 piles

33. Vignettes
-Brief descriptions of situations to which respondents are
asked to react
-Descriptions are usually written “stories”
About; Perceptions, opinions or knowledge
-Respondents can be asked open-ended or closed-ended
questions about their reactions.
-Aspects of the vignettes can be experimentally
manipulated.

34. Projection techniques
• Are data collection methods that rely on peoples
projection of psychological traits in response to
vaguely structured stimuli.
• Pictorial methods: present picture or cartoons
and ask participants for their reactions.
• Verbal methods: present people with ambiguous
verbal stimulus rather than the picture.
• Expressive methods: take the form of play,
drawing, or role play.

35. Advantages of a Questionnaire
• Cost (less costly than interview)
• Anonymity
• Interviewer bias (difficult to achieve because
respondents and interviewers interact as
humans)
• Relatively simple method of obtaining data
• Less time is consumed
• Researcher is able to gather data from a widely
scattered sample

36. Disadvantages of a Questionnaire
• Responses to a questionnaire lack depth
• Respondent may omit or disregard any item he
chooses
• Some items may force the subject to select responses
that are not his actual choice
• Length of the questionnaire is limited according to the
respondent’s interest
• Data are limited to the information that is voluntarily
supplied by the respondents
• Some items maybe misunderstood
• The sample is limited to those who are literate
(http://www.slideshare.net/ludymae/chapter-9methods-of-data-collection)

37. Advantages Of Interview
• Response rate (people less likely to refuse)
• Audience
• Clarity
• Depth of questioning
• Missing information (less likely to give “don’t know”)
• Order of questions (different ordering of questions from the
one intended could bias response
• Sample control (interviewed the intended respondents)
• Supplementary data (additional data through observation)
Disadvantages of Interview
1. Time element
2. Biases may result
3. Costly

38. Evaluation Of Structure Self-Report
 Structure self-report are a powerful data collection method.
Yield information that can be readily analyzed statistically.
 The questions tend to be much more superficial than questions
in unstructured interviews because most structured questions
are closed-ended.
 Susceptible to the risk of various response biases.
 Respondents may give biased answers in reaction to
interviewers behavior or appearance.
 Social desirability response bias refers to the tendency of some
individuals to misrepresent themselves by giving answers that
are congruent with prevailing social value.
 Indirect and delicately worded questioning sometimes can help
to minimize this response bias and permissive atmosphere and
provisions for anonymity also encourage frankness.

39. cont.
• Response set bias are commonly observed in
composite scales.
• Extreme responses are a bias reflecting consistent
selection of extreme alternative.
• Acquiescence response set (yea-sayers)
• Nay-sayers to disagree with statements independently
of question content.
• Researchers who construct scales should attempt to
eliminate or minimize response set biases.
• If scales is being developed for general use by others
evidence should be gathered to demonstrate that scale
is sufficiently free from response biases.

40. Tips for wording questions
1. Clarity
2. Ability of respondents to give information
3. Bias
4. Sensitivity
 Some specific suggestions
 Clarify in your own mind the information you are trying to obtain.
 Avoid jargon or technical terms (don’t assume that even nurses have
extensive knowledge on all aspects of nursing and medical
terminology)
 Do not assume that respondents will be aware of or informed about
issues in which you are interested
 Avoid leading questions that suggest a particular answer.
 State a range of alternatives within the question itself when possible.
 For questions that deal with controversial topics or socially
unacceptable behavior closed end-questions may be preferred.
 Impersonal wording of questions is sometimes useful in encouraging
honesty.

41. Tips for Preparing Response
Alternatives
• Responses options should cover all significant
alternatives.
• Alternatives should be mutually exclusive.
• There should be a rationale for ordering
alternatives. When options have no “natural”
order, alphabetic ordering of the alternatives is
less likely to lead respondents to a particular
response.
• Response alternatives should not be too lengthy.

42. Tips for Formatting an Instrument
 The format is especially important in questionnaires
because respondents cannot usually ask for help.
 Do not compress too many questions into too small a
space.
 Set off the response options from the question or stem
itself. Response alternative are usually aligned
vertically.
 Give special care to formatting filter questions, which
are designed to route respondents through different
sets of questions depending on their responses.

44. ADMINISTERING STRUCTURED SELF-REPORT INSTRUMENTS
• Collecting Interview Data : The quality of interview data depends heavily
on interviewer proficiency.
1. A primary task of interviewers is to put respondents at ease so that they
will feel comfortable in expressing opinions honestly.
2. Interviewers should always be punctual, courteous, and friendly.
3. Interviewers should strive to appear unbiased.
4. All opinions of respondents should be accepted as natural.
5. interviewers should follow question wording precisely.
6. Repetitions of the questions are usually adequate to dispel
misunderstandings.
7. Interviewers should not read questions mechanically.
8. Give respondents show card to remember complex alternatives or length
closed-ended questions.
9. the interviewers’ job is to probe. The purpose of a probe is to elicit more
useful information than respondents volunteered during their initial
reply.

45. Collecting Questionnaire Data Through In-person
Distribution
The most convenient procedure is to distribute
questionnaires to a group of people who
complete the instrument together at the same
time.
Individual distribution of questionnaires in
clinical settings is often inexpensive and efficient
and can yield a relatively high rate of response.

46. Collecting Questionnaire Data through the mail
• For surveys of a broad population questionnaires are often
mailed
• This approach is cost-effective for reaching geographically
dispersed respondents but is tend to yield low response rates.
• When only a subsample of respondents return their
questionnaires the risk of bias is high.
• With low response rate researchers face the possibility that
people who did not complete a questionnaire would have
answered questions differently from those who did return it.
• With response rate greater than 65% the risk of bias may be
relatively small.
• Response rate can be affected by the manner in which the
questionnaire are designed and mailed.
• The standard procedure for distributing mailed questionnaires
its to include a stamped, addressed return envelope.

47. Follow-up reminders
• are effective in achieving higher response rates for mailed (and Internet)
questionnaires.
• This procedure involves additional mailings urging nonrespondents to
complete and return their forms.
• Follow-up reminders are typically sent about 10 to 14 days after the initial
mailing.
• Sometimes reminders simply involve a letter or postcard of
encouragement to nonrespondents.
• It is preferable, however, to send a second copy of the questionnaire with
the reminder letter because many nonrespondents will have misplaced or
discarded the original.
• Telephone follow-ups can be even more successful, but are costly and
time-consuming.
• With anonymous questionnaires, researchers may be unable to distinguish
between respondents and nonrespondents for the purpose of sending
follow-up letters. In such a situation, the simplest procedure is to send out
a follow-up letter to the entire sample, thanking those who have already
answered and asking others to cooperate.

48. Collecting Questionnaire via the
internet
• Internet distribution requires appropriate equipment and some
technical skills.
• Surveys can be administered through the internet in several ways
one method is to design a questionnaire in a word processing
program.
• The file with the questionnaire is then attached to an email
massage and distributed to an potential respondents.
• Respondents can complete the questionnaire and return it as email
attachment or print it and return it by mail or fax.
• This method may be problematic if respondents have trouble
opening attachments or if they use a different word-processing
program .
• The risk of not getting delivered to the intended party either
because email addresses have change or because the email
massage are blocked by internet security filters

49. Collecting Questionnaire via the
internet
• Researchers are collecting data through web-based surveys.
• This approach requires researchers to have a website on
which the survey is placed or to use a service such as survey
monkey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/) .
• Respondents typically access the website by clicking on
hypertext link.
• Web-based forms are designed for online response.
• A major advantage of web-based survey is that the data are
directly amenable to analysis
• Internet surveys will undoubtedly abound in the years ahead.
• Sample are almost never representative and response rates
tend to be low

51. Evaluation Of Structure Self-Report
 Structure self-report are a powerful data collection method.
Yield information that can be readily analyzed statistically.
 The questions tend to be much more superficial than
questions in unstructured interviews because most structured
questions are closed-ended.
 Susceptible to the risk of various response biases.
 Respondents may give biased answers in reaction to
interviewers behavior or appearance.
 Social desirability response bias refers to the tendency of
some individuals to misrepresent themselves by giving
answers that are congruent with prevailing social value.
 Indirect and delicately worded questioning sometimes can
help to minimize this response bias and permissive
atmosphere and provisions for anonymity also encourage
frankness.

52. • Response set bias are commonly observed in
composite scales.
• Extreme responses are a bias reflecting consistent
selection of extreme alternative.
• Acquiescence response set (yea-sayers)
• Nay-sayers to disagree with statements independently
of question content.
• Researchers who construct scales should attempt to
eliminate or minimize response set biases.
• If scales is being developed for general use by others
evidence should be gathered to demonstrate that scale
is sufficiently free from response biases.
cont.

53. SUMMARY
• Self-report data usually are collected by an oral interview
or written questionnaire.
• Structured self-report instruments may include open- or
closed-ended questions. Open-ended questions permit
respondents to reply in narrative fashion, whereas closed-
ended (or fixed-alternative) questions offer response
options from which respondents must choose.
• Questionnaires are less costly and time-consuming than
interviews, offer the possibility of anonymity, and run no
risk of interviewer bias; however, interviews tend to yield
higher response rates, to be suitable for a wider variety of
people, and to yield richer data than questionnaires.
• Data quality in interviews depends heavily on interviewers’
interpersonal skills.

54. SUMMARY
• Types of closed-ended questions include dichotomous
questions, multiple-choice questions, cafeteria questions,
rank order questions, forced-choice questions, rating
questions, checklists, calendar questions, visual analogue
scales (VAS).
• Composite psychosocial scales are Likert scales and Semantic
differentials (SDs).
• Self-reports are vulnerable to the risk of reporting biases,
which are often called response set biases
• Group administration is the most convenient and economical
way to distribute questionnaires.
• A number of techniques, such as the use of follow-up
reminders and good cover letters, are designed to increase
response rates.