This document discusses various data collection methods used in research, including observation, interviews, focus groups, and projective techniques. It provides details on each method, such as how to conduct interviews and focus groups, the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, and examples of projective techniques like word association tests. The document aims to explain the appropriate use of both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods in social science research.

1. DATA COLLECTION METHOD

2. data
• Data may be defined as the facts presented to the
researcher from the study environment .
• Data are metaphorical than real(GNP growth
reflected as effects)
• Data are processed by our senses
• Collecting data is elusive, complicated by the
speed at which events occur and the time-
bound nature of observation

3. Types of Data
• Data needed in Ss research may be classified into the
following
• Data on individual characteristics: demographic and
socio economic characteristics. Varibles like Age
sex,education,marital status,income,occupationn etc
• Data on behavioral characteristics: relating to attitude
,opinions,knowledge etc.
• Organizational Data: its origin
growth,performance,employees etc
Territorial Data: data relating to the geographical
characters.

4. Relevance of data
• The primary and secondary data collected by the
researcher serves as the bases or raw material
for analysis .
• Without an analysis no inference can be made
on the objectives.
• The relevance ,adequacy and reliability of data
determine the quality of the findings &research

5. • It is the basis for the verification and testing of
Hypothesis.
• It gives facts about the scales and measuring
techniques, tables
• The scientific process are laid on the foundation
of reliable data

6. Primary and secondary data
• It is the data colllected by the reseraher by
himself from the original sources
• It is the data collected through questionnaire
,schedules, observation,interview.
• Secondary data are the information collected by
researcher from other source other than direct
intervention.
• This data were collected by the worker from
already collected &processed resources.

7. • Many agencies are collecting data for their use
and provide it as source.
• like UNO ,UNDP,WHO,Gok,GoI ,State planning
boards, NSSO, Census India,
• Secondary data contains published and
unpublished works.
• Eg;Population data,income data,

8. sourecs

9. Advantages of Secondary data
• Save time and cost ,It aid the reseracher in
formulation of problem, method selection, data
sources selection, and serves as a source of
comparative data by which the interpretation is
done
• Economy and time
• Easy availability
• Coverage(wide)
• Verification is possible

10. Disadvantages
• Data fit problem; may not fit to our needs,some
times. unit of measurment may not match
• Accuracy problem. errors may be there in
sample like
data,sample,collection,analysis,report
• to avoid this .select from original source

11. Validity and reliability
• Are the terms related with measurment of data.
• After identifying a study area in order to get the
information connected the “issue” must be
identified and transformed into a measurable
form

12. • Validity means the effectiveness of an
instrument in measuring the specific properties
which it intends to measure.
• Height, weight, length are some easily
measurable
• But the measurment of abstracts forms of
properties like attitude morale ,motivation ,etc is
indirect and pose the problem of validity.

13. • It is classified into content validity ,face validity,
predictive validity, consturct validity

14. Data collection Methods
• Data may be collected from various population
by using various method.
• Methods like observation,interview, survey, etc
are available

15. Observation
• It is the method that employ vision as its main
data collection means.
• It implies the use of eyes. It the accurate
watching and noting of phenomena as they
occur with regard to the cause and effect .
• Watching the issue of child labour from the
environment gives a clear picture about the
issue.

16. • Observation is the planned methodological
watching that involves constraints to improve
accuracy.
• Lindzey Gardener “ selection ,provocation,
recording, and encoding of that set of behaviors
and setting, concerning organisms ‘in-situ’
which are consistent with empirical aims”

17. • Six kinds of content can be observed according
to Zikmund(1988)
• Physical actions
• Verbal behavior
• Expressive behavior
• spatial relations
• Temporal patterns
• Verbal records

18. Characteristics
• It is always direct
• It takes place in natural setting
• Less structurd
• It makes only the qualitative study

19. Purposes
• Black & Champion(1976)
• To capture human conduct as it actually
happens
• To provide more graphic description of social
life than can be acquired in other ways.
• To explore important events and situations.
• It can be used as a tool of collecting information
in situations where methods other than
observations cannot prove to be useful.

21. • Participant/non-participnt
• Systematic/unsystematic
• naive/ scientific
• Structured/unstructured
• natural /laboratory
• Open/Hidden
• Direct/indirect
• Covert/overt

22. Observation Types
• Direct vs indirect:
▫ Direct>> observing
behavior as it occurs
▫ Indirect >> observing
the effects of behavior
• Disguised vs
nondisguised
▫ Nondisguised>>Direc
t
▫ Disguised >> Indirect
• Structured vs
unstructured
▫ Structured>>predeter
mine what to observe
▫ Unstructured>>monit
or all behavior
• Human vs Mechanical
▫ Human>>observation
done by human
beings
▫ Mechanical>>observa
tion by machine
22
Classification of Observation

23. Observation:
Advantages and Limitations
• Advantages
▫ Greater data accuracy than direct questioning, in
natural settings people behave naturally,
▫ Problems of refusal, not at home, false response,
non-cooperation etc. are absent,
▫ No recall error,
▫ In some situations, only way
 Number of customers visiting a store
 Studying children’s behavior
• Limitations
▫ Time consuming, -- too many things to
observe,
▫ may not be representative,
▫ difficulty in determining root cause of the behavior.
23

24. Focus Group Discussion
• An interview conducted by a trained
moderator in a non-structured and
natural manner with a small group of
respondents.
Group size 8-12
Group composition Homogenous, respondents
prescreened
Physical setting Relaxed, informal setting
Time duration 1 - 3 hours
Recording Use of audio and video cassettes
Moderator Observational, interpersonal, good
communication skills needed.
24

25. Focus Group Procedure
Determine the objectives of Research Project and
define the problem
Specify the objective of qualitative research
State the objectives/questions to be answered by
the focus group
Write a screening questionnaire
Develop a moderator’s outline
Conduct the focus group interview
Review tapes and analyze data
Summarize the findings and plan follow-up
research
25

26. The Focus Group Moderator
• The person who conducts the focus group
session.
▫ Success of focus groups depend on him/her,
▫ He/she must strive for generating a stimulating
natural discussion without losing sight of the
focus,
▫ Must take initiative, but should not dominate the
discussion unduly,
▫ Should have feeling of urgency,
▫ Should participate in the research from the
beginning,
▫ Must add value beyond just conducting the
session.
26

27. Focus Group:
Advantages and Disadvantages
• Major Advantages:
▫ Synergism, Snowballing, Stimulation,
Security, Spontaneity, Speed and Cost
savings.
• Major Disadvantages:
▫ Lack of representativeness, Misuse,
Misjudge, Moderation problem, and
Difficulty of analysis
• A very promising technique.
27

28. Five Disadvantages of Focus Group
28
1.Lack of representativeness. Focus groups are not representative of the
general population. Hence, results of focus group discussions are not
projectable and should not be the only basis for decision making.
2.Misjudgement. Focus groups are generally susceptible to client and
researcher biases. As such, compared to the results of other data
collection techniques, focus group results could be easily misjudged.
3.Misuse. Focus groups can be misused and abused by considering the
results as conclusive rather than exploratory.
4.Moderation. Skills of the moderator is a major determinant of focus
group success and the quality of their results. But moderators with
desirable skills are rare.
5.Difficult to analyze. The unstructured nature of the responses in focus
group discussions makes coding, analysis, and interpretation difficult.

29. interview
• Another method of collecting information is by
interviews. two types of interviews are there
• Direct(personal)& indirect(telephone)
• skilled interviewer sensitive to body language
• schedule & guide????????(sample)

30. • It is verbal questioning.
• it is different from the general interview when it
is used as method of data collection in research.
• It is different in preparation, construction, and
execution.
• It is implemented in a systematic way and
controlled by the reseracher and it is related to
specific purpose.

31. • Bingham & Moore(1924) “ a conversation with a
purpose”.
• Lyndey Gardener (1968) “as two person
conversation , initiated by the interviewer for
the specific purpose of obtaining research –
relevant information and focused by him on the
content specified by the research objectives of
descriptions and explanation”

32. Functions of interview
• Description
it facilitate a kind of description to the subject
by the interviewer at the spot itself.
• Exploration
• It provide chance for exploring the unexplored
area. It useful in conducting research on victims
of any issues like natural calamity, riots etc.

33. characteristics
• Black & Champion(1976)
• Personal communication
• Equal status. Interviewer & interviewee
• Verbal reception of questions and answers.
Information is recorded by the interviewer.
• Both of them are strangers to each other
• Interview is not necessarily limited to two
persons.
• Flexibility in the format of the interview

34. Types
• Classification is mainly done on the basis of
structure ,number of persons involved, etc.

35. • Structured & unstructured
• Here in first one is based on the structured
interview guide which is little different form the
questionnaire.
• In reality it is set of definite questions prepared
by the interviewer.
• The research has freedom to make any
adjustment to any of its element like content,
wording or order of questions.( sarantoks 1998)

36. • This type of interview is employed in
quantitative research.
• In unstructured interview here are no
specification in the wording of the question or
order.
• They may ask question whenever Q is required.
• Have no guide ,prior indication of the issues on
which the Q are to be asked or about the time
limit.

37. Standardized /un-standardised
• In standardized interviews answer to each
question is standardized as it is determined by
a set of response category given for this propose.
• the respondents are expected to chose one of
the given options as the answer.
• In un-standardised interviews the response are
left open to the respondent.

38. Individual or group interview
Its type of interview in which the research
interviews only one person at a time. But in
other simultaneously an interview with more
than one person will undertook.( it may be small
group interviewing husband and wife, worker &
coworker, class)

39. Self administered /other-administered
interviews
• The respondent is supplied a list of questions
along with instructions for writing answers in
the appropriate place on the interview form.
• In other the interviewer himself writes answers
to questions on the response sheet.

40. Unique /panel interview
It is one in which the interview collects entire
information In one interview.
In panel interview the interviewer collects
information from the same group of respondents
two or more times at regular intervals.

41. • Soft/hard interview
• Is type of interview in which the interviewer
holds a secondary position and guides the
respondents without putting any pressure on
them. The hard interview resembles the police
interrogation. The validity of the answer will be
verified by the interviewer by asking questions

42. • Personal/non-personal interview
it is face to face contact. But In the other the
information is collected via telephone, computer
or ay other medium.

43. Conditions for successful interview
• Accessibility
• Understanding
• Motivation
• Skill
• Efficiency

44. Content analysis
• In recent years the role of print and visual media
as increased .it may be used to manipulate
,convinced or manipulated.
• Media communicate ideas.
• Nowadays the analysis of communication
content written as well as pictorial have
developed as trend in research especially in data
analysis.

45. Other Qualitative Techniques
Depth Interview: An unstructured interview that seeks opinions
of respondents on a one-to-one basis. Useful for sensitive issues,
politics etc.
Protocol Analysis: Involves placing a person in a decision
making situation and asking him/her to state everything he/she
considers in making a decision. Useful in 1. Purchasing involving
a long time frame (car, house) and 2. Where the decision process
is too short (greeting card).
Projective technique: Involve situations in which participants
are placed in simulated activities hoping that they will divulge
information about themselves that are unlikely to be revealed
under direct questing.
45

46. Projective Techniques
• These are indirect interviewing methods which enable
sampled respondents to project their views, beliefs and
feelings onto a third-party or into some task situation.
• The researcher sets up a situation for the respondents asking
them to express their own views, or to complete/ interpret
some ambiguous stimulus presented to them.
• Various types. More common ones are:
▫ Free Word Association
▫ Sentence Completion
▫ Unfinished scenario/story completion
▫ Cartoon completion test
46

47. Visual Projective Techniques-
Rosarch,TAT,Rosenz Test,
Picture Frustration, Holtzman Ink Blot
Verbal Projective Techniques
Word Association,
Sentence Completion, Story Completion Test
Expressive Techniques
• Play,Role play,Drawing,Painting,

48. 48
Stimulus Word Response
Postman __________
Bank Teller* __________
Networking __________
Automatic teller machine*
Persian Carpet __________
Driver __________
Bank by Phone* __________
Transitlink _________
FREE WORD ASSOCIATION
In this technique, a list of carefully selected stimulus words or
phrases related to the topic of research are read out, one at a
time, to a respondent. The respondent is asked to respond with
the first word or phrase that comes to his/her mind. The list of
words should contain a mixture of test words and neutral
words.
In the example shown here, the
researchers seems to be interested in
studying high-tech banking (words
with *).
However, analyzing and interpreting
test results are rather difficult.

49. 49
Automatic teller machine users are
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Automatic teller machines may be convenient, but they
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
My major concern about automatic teller machines is
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
SENTENCE COMPLETION
This technique is an extension of the free-word association test. In this
technique, the respondent is presented with some sentences containing
incomplete stimuli and is asked to complete them. Like the free-word
association method, interpreting and analysing data obtained from this
technique is also difficult.

50. 50
Since Mr. Albert Lee had received a large commission by check just
before leaving home for a holiday trip, he wanted to deposit it in an
automatic teller machine, because ___________, but his friend Mr.
Wong told him that he should _____________, because
_____________.
UNFINISHED SCENARIO
COMPLETION
This technique is similar to the sentence completion test. However, in this
technique, the respondent is presented with a specific scenario containing
incomplete stimuli [see example below] and is asked to complete the
scenario. Interpreting and analysing data obtained from this technique is also
difficult.

51. Projective techniques
• In psychology, a projective test is a personality
test designed to let a person respond to ambiguous
stimuli, presumably revealing hidden emotions and
internal conflicts.
• This is different from an "objective test" in which
responses are analyzed according to a universal
standard (for example, a multiple choice exam). The
responses to projective tests are content analyzed
for meaning rather than being based on
presuppositions about meaning, as is the case with
objective tests.

52. • The general theoretical position behind
projective tests is that whenever a specific
question is asked, the response will be
consciously-formulated and socially determined.
These responses do not reflect the respondent's
unconscious or implicit attitudes or motivations.
The respondent's deep-seated motivations may
not be consciously recognized by the respondent
or the respondent may not be able to verbally
express them in the form demanded by the
questioner.

53. • Rorschach inkblot test
• The best known and most frequently used projective test
is the Rorschach inkblot test,
• in which a subject is shown a series of ten irregular but
symmetrical inkblots, and asked to explain what they
see.[1] The subject's responses are then analyzed in
various ways, noting not only what was said, but the time
taken to respond, which aspect of the drawing was
focused on, and how single responses compared to other
responses for the same drawing.
• For example, if someone consistently sees the images as
threatening and frightening, the tester might infer that
the subject may suffer from paranoia.

54. • Thematic Apperception Test
• Another popular projective test is the Thematic
Apperception Test (TAT) in which an individual views
ambiguous scenes of people, and is asked to describe
various aspects of the scene; for example, the subject
may be asked to describe what led up to this scene, the
emotions of the characters, and what might happen
afterwards. The examiner then evaluates these
descriptions, attempting to discover the conflicts,
motivations and attitudes of the respondent. In the
answers, the respondent "projects" their unconscious
attitudes and motivations into the picture, which is why
these are referred to as "projective tests."

55. • Draw-A-Person Test
• The Draw-A-Person test requires the subject to draw
a person. The results are based on a psychodynamic
interpretation of the details of the drawing, such as
the size, shape and complexity of the facial features,
clothing and background of the figure. As with other
projective tests, the approach has very little
demonstrated validity and there is evidence that
therapists may attribute pathology to individuals
who are merely poor artists

56. Sociometry
• Sociometry, by definition, measures the
“socius”—the interpersonal connection between
two people (Moreno 1951).
• The founder of sociometry, Jacob L. Moreno
• (1889–1974)

57. • sociometry theory is focused on measuring
relationships, the purview of both social atom
theory (long-term relationships and their
development and maintenance over time) and
sociometry (fluctuation of interpersonal
connections over short periods). The sociogram
is the representation of sociometry

58. • However, a complete understanding of
sociometry provides tremendously powerful
structures and tools for use not only in small
group interactions but also wherever and
whenever interpersonal dynamics come into
play.

59. Questionnaire
• It is the structured set f questions usually sent
by mail.
• “ a document contains a set of Q, the answer to
which are to be provided personally by the
respondent”
• a covering letter
• Types of questionnaire

60. • Qustionnaire is used as tool of data collection
when;
• a large samples are desired
• Costs have to be kept low
• Ease of administration is necessary
• moderate response rate is considered
satisfactory

61. critera
• Topic-one topic or several topic
• Size-printed in small card, 4-5 pages or 9-10
pages
• Target-specific people or too general
• Type of response required- closed/open-ended
or combination of this two
• Method of administration

62. Interview schedule
• The set of structured questions in which
answers are recorded by the interviewer is
called interview schedule or schedule.
• It can be used with educated and illiterate
• It is used with a small amount of population
• In constructing a questionnaire or schedule
• we seek three types of information

63. • Demographic information : identify the
interviewee
• substantive information. focused on subject
under study
• additional information.

64. Construction of questionnaire
/schedule
• Discussing about the sequence, placing of Q and
type of questions should be considered
• The following aspects are considered in the
construction of Q or S
• Length.
• It should be reasonably long. It is noted that the
time for filling up Q or S is generally limited to
30-40 mts.

65. • A face to face interview can continue for 45-60
mts.
• Respondents availability
• Clearly typed
• should not hard to read. Should printed clearly

66. • Adequate space for answer.
• Avoid abbreviation
• Proper instructions
• Explicit information should be given to
respondents.
• Eg: Branching questions.

67. • Determining number and response category
• Ordinal Q the number of response categories
are often subjective and the researcher fails to
decide the number of categories b/w highest
and the lowest. It may be 3,4 or 5
• Eg. Regularly/occasionally/hardly ever/never/
• Excellent/good/poor/undecided
• Strongly agree/agree/neutral/strongly
disagree/disagree

68. • Very important/important/somewhat
important/not important
• always./ sometimes/rarely/never

69. Q
• Q questions should b clear
• Relevant
• Short
• Negative Q should be avoided
• Biased terms should be avoided
• Competency of the respondents
• willingness of the respondents

70. Data Analysis& Presentation

71. Data Analysis& Presentation
• Discussed about the data collection and
procedures related with data collection
• We collect data through applying any of the
method like interview, questionnaire, content
analysis, projective techniques .
• After collecting the data reseracher become
concerned about six major things.

72. • Checking the questionnaires and schedules
• Sorting out and reducing information collected
to manageable form.
• Summarizing the data into tabular form.
• Analyzing facts with purview to bring out its
salient features.
• Interpreting the results. Converting into
statements.
• Presenting the report

73. • It is a crucial stage in any reseracher activity
• It includes many activities like editing, coding
,tabulation,
• And includes the interpretation and inferential
analysis
• It is also known as processing of data

74. • Data processing ,data analysis, interpretation
and presentation and are some of the important
activities involved in the process of data
analysis.

75. Data processing
• Data reduction or processing involves various
activities manipulation which is necessary for
preparing the data for analysis.
• it could be done manual or electronic.
• It involves editing , categorizing the open ended
questions, coding, preparation of tables and
diagrams.

76. checking and Editing data
• The process of examining the data collected in a
survey to detect errors and omissions and to see
that thy are correct and the schedules prepared
for tabulations known as editing.
• It include the routine work of checking the
filled questionnaire
• Identifying incomplete answers

77. • Editing is required for proper coding and entry
into computer.
• Editing means that the date are complete error
free, readable and worthy of being assigned a
code.(it can be done soon after completing the
interview)
• Editing includes categorizing of information
given by the respondent.(as middle age-young
aged etc)

78. Coding
• Coding is translating answers into numerical values
or assigning numbers to the various categories of a
variable to be used in data analysis.
• Coding is generally done while prepaing the
questions before finalising the questionnaire nd
interview schedule.
• coding is done by using code book,code sheet nad
computer card.
• Larton; “coding consists in assigning a number of
symbol to each answers which falls in a determined
class.”

79. Data distribution
• Distribution of data is important in the
presentation of data.
• It is form of classification of sources obtained
from various categories of particular variable.
• Frequency distribution, percentage distribution,
cumulative distribution are common.

80. Tabulation
• Is the procedure which involves arranging of
assembled data in a logical ,concise ,and systematic
manner on the basis of the criteria like geographical
,chronological ,qualitative, qualitative
,attributive,quanittative matters.
• It can be prepared manually or y computers.
• It present an overall view of the findings in a simple
way.
• Identify trends
• They display relationships in a comparable way
between parts of findings.

81. Types of tables
• Single(univariate ) table
• A two variable(biviariate) table
• A table with more than two variable( multi
variate)

82. Data analysis and interpretation
• Analysis is the ordering of the data into
constituent parts in order to obtain answers to
research questions.
• analysis never gives answers to research
question . Interpretation is also necessary .
• Interpretation is done on the basis of the
analysis and inferences and conclusion will be
made on the basis of the interpretation.

83. • Interpretation is done in two way
• 1-relatios with in the study and its data are
interpreted.
• 2-the results of the study and the inferences
drawn with in the data are compared to theory
and other research results.

84. Method of data analysis
• Descriptive analysis:
• It limits generalization to the particular group of individuals
observed. No conclusions are extended beyond this group and any
similarity to those outside the group cannot be assumed. The data
describes one group and that group only. It provides valuable
information about the nature of particular group of individuals.
• Inferential analysis:
• It is also called logical or statistical analysis. It is probably based. It
always involves the process of sampling and the selection of a small
group that is assumed to be related to the population from which it
is drawn. The small group is called the sample and the
• large group is the population.

85. Report
• No matter what quality is of the research
undertaken, much of the acceptance of the
results depends on the way a they are
communicated to the relevant audiences.
• This act of communicating is called report
writing. It is the final step in the research
process.

86. • It is culmination of the research findings to a
specific audience to accomplish given purpose.
• This presentation can be written or given orally
or both.
• It is concise and clear communication of
findings of the research work.

87. • According to Kinner and Taylor- “A research
report can be defined as the presentation of the
research findings directed to a specific audience
to accomplish specific purposes”.

88. Guidelines for report writing
• The research report is design to communicate
information for use by decision makers, so
obviously it must be tailored to this need.
• Report should be concise yet complete. It
should cover the important points of the project
and should exclude the unimportant.
• The research report must be an objective
presentation or the research findings.

89. components
• Title page
• The title page appears first. It should indicate
the subject, for whom the report is prepared and
by whom it is prepared. If the research report is
confidential the name of those individuals to
receive report should be specified on the title
page.

90. Table of contents
• If the report is lengthy or it is divided into
numerous parts, it is usually describe to have
table of content.
• Table of contents list the sequence of topic
covered in the report long with page reference.
Its purpose is to aid the readers in findings
the particular section in report.
• If the report includes numerous chart, graphs,
and figures they should be listed immediately
following the table of content by page number

91. Management/executive summary
• Most decision maker requires that the research
report ,contains one or two page management
summary.
• Most executives choose to read only this
summary.
• It provides the executives with the key research
findings which bear on the decision problem.
• It contains objective of the research project,
conclusion and specific recommendation for
action.

92. forward
• This serves to introduce the readers to the
research project.
• It should give background of the problems like
how and when it comes to existence, importance
of the problem, various dimensional of the
problem and whether any previous research was
done which is pertinent to the specific project
being reported.

93. • Methodology
• It describes the research procedure.
• This includes the following
• Research design
• It can be exploratory or conclusive the researcher should
describe the particular design used.
• Data collection method
• The researcher must explain the data collection method
used. Data can be collected from primary or secondary
source with various methods.
• Sampling
• It should specify universe, sampling units, sampling size,
sampling procedure employed

94. Analysis and interpretation
• It should include logically unfolding of
information.
• It requires the organization of the data into a
logical flow of information for decision making
purposes.

95. Findings
• Findings are the results of the study. It is an
organized narrative of the results. This section
makes up the bulk of the report. Summary table
and graphics methods of presentation should be
used liberally.

96. Conclusions and recommendations
• It must flow logically form the presentations of
the findings.
• Conclusions should clearly link the research
findings with the information needs and based
on these linkage recommendations for action
can be formulated.

97. Appendix
• The purpose of the appendix is to provide a place for
material which is not absolutely essential to the
body
of the report.
• This material is typically more specialized and
complex or too detailed than presented in the main
report and it is design to serve the needs of the
technically oriented readers.
• The appendix typically contains the following
materials: copies of data collection forms: details of
sampling plan; tables not included in findings;
bibliography.