Data gathering is a process used by researchers to collect necessary information for addressing research problems, initiated after defining the problem. It involves determining which data to gather, how and by whom to gather it, and can utilize methods such as experiments, surveys, interviews, observations, and questionnaires. Data can be classified into primary data, which is collected for the first time, and secondary data, which has been previously gathered and analyzed.

2. WHAT IS DATA GATHERING?
It is a process by which the
researcher collects/gathers the
information needed to answer the
research problem.

3. The task of data gathering
begins after a research
problem has been defined.

4. IN COLLECTING OR GATHERING DATA THE
RESEARCHER MUST CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS:
Which data to gather?
How to gather the data?
Who will gather the data?
When to gather the data?

5. TWO ESSENTIAL TYPES OF DATA GATHERING
METHODS
1. PRIMARY DATA
2. SECONDARY DATA

6. PRIMARY DATA ARE THOSE WHICH ARE GATHERED
FOR THE FIRST TIME AND ARE ORIGINAL IN CHARACTER.
Primary data may be collected through:
1. Experiments
2. Surveys(sample surveys or census surveys)
3. Interviews
4. Observations
5. Questionnaires
6. Schedules

7. EXPERIMENT
An experiment is a data collection method where a researcher change
some variables and observe their effect on other variables. The variables
that you manipulate are referred to as independent while the variables
that change as a result of manipulation are dependent variables.
Imagine a manufacturer is testing the effect of drug strength on
the number of bacteria in the body. The company decides to test drug
strength at 10mg, 20mg and 40mg. In this example, drug strength is the
independent variable while number of bacteria is the dependent variable.
The drug administered is the treatment, while 10mg, 20mg and 40mg are
the levels of the treatment.

8. SURVEY
It is a data collection method where you
select a sample of respondents from a large
population in order to gather information
about that population. The process of
identifying individuals from the population
who you will interview is known as sampling.

9. SURVEY
• To gather data through a survey, you construct a questionnaire to
prompt information from selected respondents. When creating a
questionnaire, you should keep in mind several key considerations.
First, make sure the questions and choices are unambiguous. Second,
make sure the questionnaire will be completed within a reasonable
amount of time. Finally, make sure there are no typographical errors.
To check if there are any problems with your questionnaire, use it to
interview a few people before administering it to all respondents in
your sample. We refer to this process as pretesting.

10. INTERVIEW
When you use this method, you meet with the
respondents face to face and ask questions. This
technique has excellent response rates and enables you
to conduct interviews that take a longer amount of
time. Another benefit is you can ask follow-up
questions to responses that are not clear.(if you cannot
do it on face to face interview you can have an on-line
interview)

11. OBSERVATION METHOD
In an observation data method, the
data from the field is gathered with the
help of observation by the observer.

12. QUESTIONNAIRES
A questionnaire is sent (by post or by
mail) to the persons concerned with a
request to answer the questions and
return the questionnaire.

13. SCHEDULES.
Very similar to questionnaire method. The main
difference is that schedule is filed by the enumerator
who is specifically appointed for the purpose.
Enumerator goes to the respondents, asks them the
questions from the questionnaire in the order listed,
and records the responses in the space provided.

14. SECONDARY DATA
Secondary data are those which have
already been gathered by someone else and
which have gone through some statistical
analysis.
•Examples of secondary data are census data
published.