This document provides an overview of 12 common data collection instruments used in educational research: 1) Checklist, 2) Survey/Questionnaire, 3) Audio-visual recording, 4) Logs, 5) Field notes, 6) Interview, 7) Photo, 8) Portfolio, 9) Anecdote, 10) Journal/Diary, 11) Tests, and 12) Document analysis. For each instrument, a brief definition is given along with one or two examples of how it has been used in educational research studies. The document concludes with suggesting groups design a data collection instrument for a sample research question involving the use of comic strips in an English classroom.

1. Lecturer: Yee Bee Choo
IPGKTHO
Topic 9

2. Data Collection Instruments
1. Checklist
2. Survey/Questionnaire
3. Audio-visual recording
4. Logs
5. Field notes
6. Interview
7. Photo
8. Portfolio
9. Anecdote
10. Journal/ Diary
11. Tests
12. Document Analysis

3. 1. Checklist
• Johnson defined checklist as a list of behaviours,
characteristics, skills, or other entities that a
researcher is interested in investigating (as cited in
Mertler, 2009, p.124).
• The primary difference between a checklist and a
survey is that checklists present only a
dichotomous set of response options or a set of
frequency count, as opposed to some sort of
continuum.
• Checklists are quicker for the researcher to use
than are surveys; however, they provide data that
are not so detailed.
(Mertler, 2009)

4. 1. Checklist
This Analytic Dichotomous Evaluation Checklist (ADEC) is aimed at
enhancing both inter and intra-rater reliability of writing evaluation
http://www.ensani.ir/storage/Files/20141001200100-9829-35.pdf

5. 1. Checklist
(Miller, 2014)

6. (Fraenkel, Wallen & Hyun, 2012, p.121)
1. Checklist

7. 2. Survey/Questionnaire
• Survey refers to a collective group of
quantitative data collection techniques that
involve the administration of a set of
questions or statements to a sample of
people.
• Survey administered verbally: interview
• Survey administered in written form:
questionnaire
• Surveys and questionnaires allow a
researcher to collect data quickly.
(Mertler, 2009)

8. 2. Survey/Questionnaire
• Open-ended questions allow the participants
to provide their own responses, e.g.
– What is your favourite subject in school?
_______________________________________
• Close-ended questions provide preset
response options for the participant, e.g.
– What is your favourite subject in school?
English
Mathematics
Science
History
(Mertler, 2009)

9. 2. Survey/Questionnaire
• A Likert scale begins with a statement and
then asks individuals to respond on an agree-
disagree continuum.
1= strongly disagree
2= disagree
3= no opinion
4= agree
5= strongly agree
• It is used very effectively to measure
students’ attitudes, perceptions, or
behaviours.
(Mertler, 2009)

10. 2. Survey/Questionnaire

11. 2. Survey/Questionnaire
• A Likert-type scale also exists on a
continuum, but something other than
extent of agreement is being measured.
E.g.
– Quality (“excellent…poor”)
– Frequency of occurrence (“always…never”)
– Level of comfort (“very comfortable…not at all
comfortable”)
(Mertler, 2009)

12. (Fraenkel, Wallen & Hyun, 2012, p.118)
2. Survey/Questionnaire

13. 3. Audio-visual recordings
• Audio-visual materials consist of images or
sounds that researchers collect to help them
understand the central phenomenon under
study.
• Images or visual materials such as
photographs, videotapes, digital images,
paintings and pictures, and unobtrusive
measures (e.g. footsteps) are used with
increasing frequency in qualitative research.
(Creswell, 2012)

14. 4. Logs
• A time-and-motion log is the observation and
detailed recording over a given period of time
of the activities of one or more individuals (for
example, during a 15-minute laboratory
demonstration).
• Observers try to record everything an
individual does as objectively as possible and
at brief, regular intervals (such as every 3
minutes, with a 1-minute break interspersed
between intervals).

15. 4. Logs
(Fraenkel, Wallen & Hyun, 2012, p.125)

16. • Field notes are text (words) recorded by the
researcher during an observation.
• Descriptive field notes record a description of the
events, activities, and people (e.g. what
happened)
• Reflective field notes record personal thoughts
that researchers have that relate to their insights,
hunches, or broad ideas or themes that emerge
during the observation (e.g. what sense you
made of the site, people, and situation).
(Creswell, 2012)
5. Field Note

17. (Creswell, 2012, p.216)
5. Field Note

18. 6. Interview
• A qualitative interview occurs when researchers
ask one or more participants general, open-ended
questions and record their answers (Creswell,
2012).
• Interviewing (i.e., the careful asking of relevant
questions) is an important way for a researcher to
check the accuracy of—to verify or refute—the
impressions he or she has gained through
observation (Fraenkel, Wallen & Hyun, 2012,
p.482).
• The purpose of interviewing people is to find out
what is on their mind – what they think or how they
feel about something (Fraenkel, Wallen & Hyun,
2012, p.483).

19. 7. Photo
• A researcher may use photographs to
capture events happening in the
classrooms that are central to his given
area of focus.
(Mills, 2014)

20. 7. Photo
McNiff, Lomax and Whitehead suggested some
ways photographs can be used :
• To show changes in activities over time
• To show the quality of your student’s
engagement in an activity
• To use as evidence that an event has taken
place
• To help you to recall and deconstruct
personal memories
• To stimulate discussions during interview
(as cited in Goh, 2012, p.86)

21. 8. Portfolio
• Portfolios are collections of student work
representing a selection of performance.
• A portfolio may be a folder containing a student's
best pieces and the student's evaluation of the
strengths and weaknesses of the pieces.
• It may also contain one or more works-in-
progress that illustrate the creation of a product,
such as an essay, evolving through various stages
of conception, drafting, and revision.
• A teacher may use it to evaluate the students’
progress in learning something.

22. 9. Anecdote
• Another way of recording the behavior of individuals is
the anecdotal record.
• It is just what its name implies—a record of observed
behaviors written down in the form of anecdotes.
• There is no set format; rather, observers are free to
record any behavior they think is important and need
not focus on the same behavior for all subjects.
• To produce the most useful records, however,
observers should try to be as specific and as factual as
possible and to avoid evaluative, interpretive, or overly
generalised remarks.
(Fraenkel, Wallen & Hyun, 2012)

23. 9. Anecdote
• Evaluative: Julius talked loud and much during poetry;
wanted to do and say just what he wanted and didn’t
consider the right working out of things. Had to ask
him to sit by me. Showed a bad attitude about it.
• Interpretive: For the last week Sammy has been a
perfect wiggle-tail. He is growing so fast he cannot be
settled. . . . Of course the inward change that is taking
place causes the restlessness.
• Generalised: Sammy is awfully restless these days. He
is whispering most of the time he is not kept busy. In
the circle, during various discussions, even though he is
interested, his arms are moving or he is punching the
one sitting next to him. He smiles when I speak to him.

24. 9. Anecdote
• Specific (the type desired): The weather was so
bitterly cold that we did not go on the playground
today. The children played games in the room
during the regular recess period. Andrew and
Larry chose sides for a game which is known as
stealing the bacon. I was talking to a group of
children in the front of the room while the
choosing was in process and in a moment I heard
a loud altercation. Larry said that all the children
wanted to be on Andrew’s side rather than on his.
Andrew remarked, “I can’t help it if they all want
to be on my side.”

25. 10. Journal/ Diary
• The journal acts as a narrative technique and
records events, thoughts, and feelings that
have importance for the writer. As a record
kept by a student, it can inform the teacher
researcher about changing thoughts and new
ideas and progression of learning (Anderson,
Herr & Nihlen, as cited in Mills, 2014, p.83)
• Students’ journals can provide teachers with
a valuable window into student’s world.
• Teachers can also use daily journals to keep
a narrative account of their perspectives of
what is happening in their classrooms.

26. 10. Journal/ Diary
Reflective Journal
• Teachers can “systematically reflect on
their practice by constructing a narrative
that honours the unique and powerful
voice of the teachers’ language” by
reflecting not only observations but also
the feelings and interpretations associated
with those observations.
(Mertler, 2009, p.113)

27. 10. Reflective Journal

28. 11. Tests
• Teacher-made tests: Gather information
about how well the students are
responding to a particular teaching or
curriculum innovation.
• Standardised tests: contribute to our
understanding of how teaching practices
affect our students. E.g. UPSR, PT3,
SPM, STPM, MUET

29. 12. Document Analysis
• Documents can provide a context for the
practices observed.
• Documents such as teacher lesson plans and
students’ work can provide details associated
with practices observed in the classroom.
• Rating of pupils’ works can be defined as the
rating or evaluations being made for the pupils’
works such as worksheets during the teaching
and learning process in the classroom to show
strong evidences for the improvement regarding
to the research topic
(Goh, 2012).

30. 12. Document Analysis (Pupils’ Work)
• Use of Hand-Shape Coding to Improve Subject-Verb Agreement in Writing
Sentences Among Year 4 Pupils (AR by Gan Siew Huat, 2016)
Worksheet 1 Worksheet 2

31. 12. Document Analysis (Pupils’ Work)
Worksheet 3 Worksheet 4

32. Tutorial 9
In groups, design a suitable instrument for the following research
questions:
How does the use of comic strips improve pupils’ mechanics of writing
in capitalisation and punctuation marks in an English classroom?
1. Checklist
2. Survey/ Questionnaire
3. Audio-visual recording
4. Logs
5. Field notes
6. Interview
7. Photo
8. Portfolio
9. Anecdote
10. Journal/ Diary
11. Tests
12. Document Analysis

33. References
• Creswell, J.W. (2012). Educational research: Planning,
conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative
research (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
• Fraenkel, J.R., Wallen, N.E., & Hyun, H. H. (2012). How to
design and evaluate research in education (8th ed.).
London: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
• Goh, L. H. (2012). A practical guide to writing your action
research. Puchong: Penerbitan Multimedia.
• Mertler, C.A. (2009). Action research: Teachers as
researchers in the classroom. (2nd ed.). California: SAGE.
• Mills, G. E. (2014). Action research: A guide for the teacher
researcher (5th ed.). London: Pearson Education Limited.