When a research team has gather data for specific research needs This is known as?

BY MICHAEL DOJC

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

Step 1: Define the aim of your research
Step 2: Choose your data collection method
Step 3: Plan your data collection procedures
Operationalisation
Standardising procedures
Creating a data management plan
Step 4: Collect the data
Frequently asked questions about data collection
What type of research would be considered quantitative data?
Which of the following is a systematic means of collecting information from people using a questionnaire?
At which stage of the research process are you at when you are determining whether to collect primary data secondary data or both?
How is information generally gathered in a survey?

Many market, research groups are experiencing tunnel vision when it experiencing tunnel vision when it comes to focus group testing. By dipping and double dipping and triple dipping into the same pool of people again and again, focus groups are really working with a fuzzy lens.

I started attending focus groups when I was 16 years old and I always relished the experience of not only trying out a new product, but being paid for it as well. Though it didn't take long for me to rush through the surveys, get my cash and run.

Since then, I have been repeatedly called, approximately twice a month, by the various groups in the Toronto area and even more times since I turned 19.

But now the novelty has worn off and I am beginning to realize the sheer inconsequence of the groups.

I am not the only disenchanted frequent focus group attendee at these gatherings. It did not take long to notice that it is the same people who go every time.

We all know the drill so well that we are never refused entry by the faceless telephone operators who screen candidates.

I came up with this simple formula that has never failed me yet. The first thing you have to realize is that the person on the other end of the phone does not care about you, and while they may not believe everything you say, they will diligently write it down as if it were the gospel.

The following is an example of the typical screening process:

"Hi, this is Casey from X recruiting, would you be interested in participating in a focus group? It pays $30 for 45 minutes."

The answer to this question is an assured "yes" or "sure," depending on your personal preference both will do quite fine.

"First we have to see if you qualify. Have you done a focus group in the last three months?"

The answer is "no."

Even if you have attended one, they will never check their records and even if the same person called you the last time, it is highly unlikely they will remember, considering that they make hundreds of calls every day.

"Do you or any of your immediate family members work in advertising, television, journalism or media?"

Again the answer is "no" and the same aforementioned rules apply. "Which of the following have you purchased in the last week?"

The answer to any question of this type is always an affirmative "yes." Never take a chance. The one negative you give could be the qualifying question. It has happened to me-on numerous occasions and they never let you take it back.

"Actually I did buy a bottle of wine this week, .1 just remembered," I coyly added after being rejected. I was not even given the courtesy of a response as the dial tone rang in my ear.

Do not be concerned that the phone operator will find you strange for haying purchased every item they list off. -They really couldn't care less.

On many occasions they will ask you if you have any friends who would be interested in coming out. Always give them as many names as you can. It never hurts to be nice to people and who knows, maybe your friends will return the favour.

One of my friends invented a fictional twin brother and requalified under the inventive alias for the same focus group just one hour later than the one he had signed up for under his

own name. After finishing the first group, my friend went to the bathroom, put on a backwards Yankees cap, and went right back in.

Once you get in, the rest is child's play. The focus group supervisors will explain everything they want you to do in baby speak and they may even do it twice to make sure you understand that you should write your assigned number in the top left-hand corner of the survey sheet beside the word marked "number."

It's become almost a social event for my friends and I who now go in-groups and make bets as to who will get out first. We take pleasure in writing down funny answers to the stupid questions that are invariably asked, like, how an image of a certain beverage makes you feel. It's truly amazing that companies are throwing around millions of dollars in these so-called research ventures, where they inter view professional focus group attendees who couldn't care less about the product a company is hawking, even if it's one they use on a regular basis.

Michael Dojc is a student at McMaster University and an Intern at the Town Crier in Toronto.

Published on 4 May 2022 by Pritha Bhandari.

Data collection is a systematic process of gathering observations or measurements. Whether you are performing research for business, governmental, or academic purposes, data collection allows you to gain first-hand knowledge and original insights into your research problem.

While methods and aims may differ between fields, the overall process of data collection remains largely the same. Before you begin collecting data, you need to consider:

The aim of the research
The type of data that you will collect
The methods and procedures you will use to collect, store, and process the data

To collect high-quality data that is relevant to your purposes, follow these four steps.

Step 1: Define the aim of your research

Before you start the process of data collection, you need to identify exactly what you want to achieve. You can start by writing a problem statement: what is the practical or scientific issue that you want to address, and why does it matter?

Next, formulate one or more research questions that precisely define what you want to find out. Depending on your research questions, you might need to collect quantitative or qualitative data:

Quantitative data is expressed in numbers and graphs and is analysed through statistical methods.
Qualitative data is expressed in words and analysed through interpretations and categorisations.

If your aim is to test a hypothesis, measure something precisely, or gain large-scale statistical insights, collect quantitative data. If your aim is to explore ideas, understand experiences, or gain detailed insights into a specific context, collect qualitative data.

If you have several aims, you can use a mixed methods approach that collects both types of data.

Example: Quantitative and qualitative research aimsYou are researching employee perceptions of their direct managers in a large organisation.

Your first aim is to assess whether there are significant differences in perceptions of managers across different departments and office locations.
Your second aim is to gather meaningful feedback from employees to explore new ideas for how managers can improve.

You decide to use a mixed methods approach to collect both quantitative and qualitative data.

Step 2: Choose your data collection method

Based on the data you want to collect, decide which method is best suited for your research.

Experimental research is primarily a quantitative method.
Interviews, focus groups, and ethnographies are qualitative methods.
Surveys, observations, archival research, and secondary data collection can be quantitative or qualitative methods.

Carefully consider what method you will use to gather data that helps you directly answer your research questions.

Data collection methods

Method	When to use	How to collect data
Experiment	To test a causal relationship.	Manipulate variables and measure their effects on others.
Survey	To understand the general characteristics or opinions of a group of people.	Distribute a list of questions to a sample online, in person, or over the phone.
Interview/focus group	To gain an in-depth understanding of perceptions or opinions on a topic.	Verbally ask participants open-ended questions in individual interviews or focus group discussions.
Observation	To understand something in its natural setting.	Measure or survey a sample without trying to affect them.
Ethnography	To study the culture of a community or organisation first-hand.	Join and participate in a community and record your observations and reflections.
Archival research	To understand current or historical events, conditions, or practices.	Access manuscripts, documents, or records from libraries, depositories, or the internet.
Secondary data collection	To analyse data from populations that you can’t access first-hand.	Find existing datasets that have already been collected, from sources such as government agencies or research organisations.

Step 3: Plan your data collection procedures

When you know which method(s) you are using, you need to plan exactly how you will implement them. What procedures will you follow to make accurate observations or measurements of the variables you are interested in?

For instance, if you’re conducting surveys or interviews, decide what form the questions will take; if you’re conducting an experiment, make decisions about your experimental design.

Operationalisation

Sometimes your variables can be measured directly: for example, you can collect data on the average age of employees simply by asking for dates of birth. However, often you’ll be interested in collecting data on more abstract concepts or variables that can’t be directly observed.

Operationalisation means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations. When planning how you will collect data, you need to translate the conceptual definition of what you want to study into the operational definition of what you will actually measure.

Example: OperationalisationYou have decided to use surveys to collect quantitative data. The concept you want to measure is the leadership of managers. You operationalise this concept in two ways:

You ask managers to rate their own leadership skills on 5-point scales assessing the ability to delegate, decisiveness, and dependability.
You ask their direct employees to provide anonymous feedback on the managers regarding the same topics.

Using multiple ratings of a single concept can help you cross-check your data and assess the test validity of your measures.

Sampling

You may need to develop a sampling plan to obtain data systematically. This involves defining a population, the group you want to draw conclusions about, and a sample, the group you will actually collect data from.

Your sampling method will determine how you recruit participants or obtain measurements for your study. To decide on a sampling method you will need to consider factors like the required sample size, accessibility of the sample, and time frame of the data collection.

Standardising procedures

If multiple researchers are involved, write a detailed manual to standardise data collection procedures in your study.

This means laying out specific step-by-step instructions so that everyone in your research team collects data in a consistent way – for example, by conducting experiments under the same conditions and using objective criteria to record and categorise observations.

This helps ensure the reliability of your data, and you can also use it to replicate the study in the future.

Creating a data management plan

Before beginning data collection, you should also decide how you will organise and store your data.

If you are collecting data from people, you will likely need to anonymise and safeguard the data to prevent leaks of sensitive information (e.g. names or identity numbers).
If you are collecting data via interviews or pencil-and-paper formats, you will need to perform transcriptions or data entry in systematic ways to minimise distortion.
You can prevent loss of data by having an organisation system that is routinely backed up.

Step 4: Collect the data

Finally, you can implement your chosen methods to measure or observe the variables you are interested in.

Example: Collecting qualitative and quantitative dataTo collect data about perceptions of managers, you administer a survey with closed- and open-ended questions to a sample of 300 company employees across different departments and locations.

The closed-ended questions ask participants to rate their manager’s leadership skills on scales from 1 to 5. The data produced is numerical and can be statistically analysed for averages and patterns.

The open-ended questions ask participants for examples of what the manager is doing well now and what they can do better in the future. The data produced is qualitative and can be categorised through content analysis for further insights.

To ensure that high-quality data is recorded in a systematic way, here are some best practices:

Record all relevant information as and when you obtain data. For example, note down whether or how lab equipment is recalibrated during an experimental study.
Double-check manual data entry for errors.
If you collect quantitative data, you can assess the reliability and validity to get an indication of your data quality.

Frequently asked questions about data collection

What is data collection?

Data collection is the systematic process by which observations or measurements are gathered in research. It is used in many different contexts by academics, governments, businesses, and other organisations.

What are the benefits of collecting original data?

When conducting research, collecting original data has significant advantages:

You can tailor data collection to your specific research aims (e.g., understanding the needs of your consumers or user testing your website).
You can control and standardise the process for high reliability and validity (e.g., choosing appropriate measurements and sampling methods).

However, there are also some drawbacks: data collection can be time-consuming, labour-intensive, and expensive. In some cases, it’s more efficient to use secondary data that has already been collected by someone else, but the data might be less reliable.

What is operationalisation?

Operationalisation means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.

For example, the concept of social anxiety isn’t directly observable, but it can be operationally defined in terms of self-rating scores, behavioural avoidance of crowded places, or physical anxiety symptoms in social situations.

Before collecting data, it’s important to consider how you will operationalise the variables that you want to measure.

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What type of research would be considered quantitative data?

There are four main types of Quantitative research: Descriptive, Correlational, Causal-Comparative/Quasi-Experimental, and Experimental Research. attempts to establish cause- effect relationships among the variables.

Which of the following is a systematic means of collecting information from people using a questionnaire?

surveys. A survey is a research method where you collect and analyze data from a group of people. A questionnaire is a specific tool or instrument for collecting the data.

At which stage of the research process are you at when you are determining whether to collect primary data secondary data or both?

In the second step, designing the research project, researchers identify the type of data that is needed, whether primary or secondary, on the basis of the objectives of the project from step 1 and then determine the type of research that enables them to collect those data.

How is information generally gathered in a survey?

Data collection surveys collect information from a targeted group of people about their opinions, behavior, or knowledge. Common types of example surveys are written questionnaires, face-to-face or telephone interviews, focus groups, and electronic (e-mail or website) surveys.