6 Collection of Data

DATA COLLECTION
DATA COLLECTION
Data collection is a systematic approach to gathering

information from a variety of sources to get a
complete and accurate picture of an area of
interest.
Itis the process of observing, measuring and

recording information on variables of interest in a
systematic manner that enables one to answer
stated research questions/ hypotheses and evaluate
outcomes.
WHAT IS DATA?
Data is factual information that has been

translated into a form that is more convenient
to process and analyse.
Data can be classified into two types viz.

Primary Data and Secondary Data.
DEFINITION
Primary Data is the one which is collected for

the first time by the researcher for his
specific study. It is the fresh data which is
first hand and original in nature.
Secondary Data is the one which was

collected by others and already undergone
processing and now used for our study. It is
second hand information
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRIMARY DATA & SECONDARY DATA

Primary Data
Secondary Data
First Hand data collected by the

current Researcher
Second Hand data collected by

others
Fresh & Up-to-date
Old and maybe outdated
Addresses specific Research Issues

of the current study
May not be specific to the current

Research study
Complete information will be

available
Information may not be complete
Primary data is more reliable as it is Secondary data may not be reliable

fresh & up-to-date
as it may be out dated
It is more time consuming
It is less time consuming
It is more expensive
It is less expensive
It is difficult to collect
it is easy to collect
Survey Method
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

Surveys:
Surveys are a good way of gathering a large amount of data, providing a broad
perspective. Surveys can be administered electronically, by telephone, by mail or face to face.

Surveys
administered through Mail have a wide reach, are relatively cheap to administer,
information is standardised and privacy can be maintained. They have a low response rate, are
unable to investigate issues to any great depth, require that the target group is literate and
do not allow for any observation.
Electronically
administered surveys also have wide reach and relatively cheaper. But the target
group who have the facility only can be included for the survey.
Face
to face surveys or surveys by personal interview method is the best suited surveys. Even
illiterate and poor population can be included for the survey. This is also more reliable as
investigator can identify subjects and clarify doubts and get factual information. Response
rate is also high.
It
is therefore vital that surveys used are designed and tested for validity and reliability with
the target groups who will be completing the surveys.
Experimentation is a research process used to study the causal

relationships between variables. It aims at studying the effect
of an independent variable on a dependent variable, by
controlling other factors affecting the dependent variable.
Experimentation is extremely difficult to design and is also time
consuming.
Marketers often undertake experiments to gauge how the
manipulation of one marketing variable affects another (i.e.,
causal research). The use of experiments has applications for
many marketing decision areas including product testing,
advertising design, setting price points and creating packaging.
For example, a market researcher for a retail chain may want
to study the effect on sales if a product display is moved to
different locations in a store. Unfortunately, performing highly
controlled experiments can be quite costly.
Tracking
is a method through which research marketers are able to
monitor the behavior of customers as they engage in regular purchase

or information gathering activities. Possibly the most well-known
example of tracking research is used by websites as they track
customer visits. But tracking research also has offline applications,
especially when point-of-purchase scanners are employed, such as
tracking product purchases at grocery stores and automated
collections on toll roads.
This
method of research is expected to grow significantly as more
devices are introduced that provide means for tracking. However

some customers may see tracking devices as intrusive and many
privacy advocates have raised concerns about certain tracking
methods especially if these are not disclosed to customers.
Simulation is one of the forms of observational

methods. It is a process of conducting experiments on
a symbolic model representing a phenomenon. It is the
exercise of a flexible imitation of processes and
outcomes for the purpose of clarifying or explaining
the underlying mechanisms involved. Simulation is a
technique of performing sampling experiments on the
model of the systems. The experiments are done on
the models instead of on the real system because it
would be too inconvenient and expensive.
Personal Interviews
Case Study Method:
Personal Interviews: Talking to someone one-on-one

allows a researcher to cover more ground than may be
covered if a respondent was completing a survey. The
reason lies with the researchers ability to dig deeper
into a respondents comments to find out additional
details that might not emerge from initial responses.
Structured interviews are conducted with a welldesigned form already established. Forms which are
called schedules are filled in by researchers, instead
of respondents.
Unstructured interviewing allows the respondent to tell their own

stories in their own words, with prompting by the interviewer.
Semi-structured interviews are characterised by topic guides

containing major questions that are used in the same way in every
interview, although the sequence of the questions might vary as
well as the level of probing for information by the interviewer.
Individual interviewing can be quite expensive and may be

intimidating to some who are not comfortable sharing details with
a researcher.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PERSONAL INTERVIEWS

Advantages
Usually yield richest data, details, new

insights
Permit face to face contact with
respondents
Provide opportunity to explore topics in
depth
Allow interviewer to experience the
affective as well as cognitive aspects of
responses
Allow interviewer to explain or help
clarify questions, increasing the
likelihood of useful responses
Allow interviewer to be flexible in
administering interview to particular
individuals or in particular circumstances
Disadvantages
Expensive and time consuming

Need well qualified, highly trained
interviewers
Interviewee may distort information
through recall error, selective
perceptions, desire to please
interviewer
Flexibility can result in inconsistencies
across interviews
Volume of information very large; may
be difficult to transcribe and reduce
data
Focus Groups: To overcome the drawbacks associated with

personal interviews, marketers can turn to focus groups. Focus
groups aims at capturing the interaction between the
participants based on topics that are supplied by the researcher.
Under this research format, a group of respondents (generally
numbering 8-12) are guided through discussion by a moderator.
The main purpose of focus group research is to evoke a level of
respondents' attitudes, feelings, beliefs, experiences and
reactions otherwise not available when using methods, such as
observation or interviewing.
In this way, the depth of information offered by a respondent
may be much greater than that obtained through individual
interviews.
ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF FOCUS GROUPS

Advantages
Disadvantages
useful when exploring cultural values and

health beliefs
can be used to examine peoples mind set
what makes them what they are.
can be used to explore complex issues
can be used to develop hypothesis for

further research
do not require participants to be literate.
lack of privacy/anonymity.
having to carefully balance the group to
ensure they are culturally and gender
appropriate
potential for the risk of group think (not
allowing for other attitudes, beliefs etc.)
potential for group to be dominated by one
or two people
group leader needs to be skilled at
conducting focus groups, dealing with
conflict, drawing out passive participants
and creating a relaxed, welcoming
environment
are time consuming to conduct and can be
difficult and time consuming to analyse.
Observation Method: Watching customers as they

perform activities can be a very useful research
method, especially when customers are observed in a
natural setting (e.g., shopping in a retail store, using
products at home). In fact, an emerging research
technique called ethnographic research has researchers
following customers as they shop, work, and relax at
home in order to see how they make decisions, use
products and more.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF OBSERVATIONS
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Provide direct information about

behavior of individuals and groups.
Expensive and time consuming.
Permit evaluator to understand

situation/context.
Provide good opportunities for
identifying unanticipated
Outcomes.
Exist in natural, unstructured,

and flexible setting
Need well -qualified, highly trained

observers.
May affect behavior of participants
Selective perception of observer
may distort data.
Behavior or set of behaviors
observed may be atypical.
Case Study Method: As a research method deployed

within social and behavioural scientific research, the case
study is utilised in order to gain an in-depth
contextualised examination of social interaction within a
single social setting.
These studies generally utilise several data collection

methods for example, observation, interview and
documentary analysis.
Case study research is exploratory in nature, and is

typically used to generate models and hypothesis of the
process under investigation in a specific context, which
can then be tested through larger scale quantitative
surveys.

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DATA COLLECTION

Data collection is a systematic approach to gathering

Itis the process of observing, measuring and

Data is factual information that has been

Data can be classified into two types viz.

Primary Data is the one which is collected for

Secondary Data is the one which was

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRIMARY DATA & SECONDARY DATA

First Hand data collected by the

Second Hand data collected by

Fresh & Up-to-date

Old and maybe outdated

Addresses specific Research Issues

May not be specific to the current

Complete information will be

Information may not be complete

Primary data is more reliable as it is Secondary data may not be reliable

It is less time consuming

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

perspective. Surveys can be administered electronically, by telephone, by mail or face to face.

the target groups who will be completing the surveys.

Experimentation is a research process used to study the causal

is a method through which research marketers are able to

monitor the behavior of customers as they engage in regular purchase

method of research is expected to grow significantly as more

devices are introduced that provide means for tracking. However

Simulation is one of the forms of observational

Case Study Method:

Personal Interviews: Talking to someone one-on-one

Unstructured interviewing allows the respondent to tell their own

Semi-structured interviews are characterised by topic guides

Individual interviewing can be quite expensive and may be

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PERSONAL INTERVIEWS

Usually yield richest data, details, new

Expensive and time consuming

Focus Groups: To overcome the drawbacks associated with

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF FOCUS GROUPS

useful when exploring cultural values and

can be used to explore complex issues

can be used to develop hypothesis for

Observation Method: Watching customers as they

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF OBSERVATIONS

Provide direct information about

Expensive and time consuming.

Permit evaluator to understand

Exist in natural, unstructured,

Need well -qualified, highly trained

Case Study Method: As a research method deployed

These studies generally utilise several data collection

Case study research is exploratory in nature, and is

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