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10 Super-Effective
Data Collection
Methods to Know
About

By Riaz Lalehzari | September 2, 2020

We live in an era governed by data. Every business organization is

dependent on insightful stories conveyed by data to take decisions that
are imperative for organizational growth. Well, if that didn’t sink in, here
are a few questions for you:
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Do you want to improve customer experience?

Ever wondered why your competitors are performing better?

Want to introduce a new feature in your product?

If the answer is a yes to any of the above, then data collection is the
path.

Every organisation can be made more successful and more

efficient by making use of insights acquired through data
collection.

When you have the right data in hand and the right tools to process and
analyse that data, you can turn that data into information, and make
more informed and educated decisions based on that information. The
data collected however should be relevant, precise, and taken in
context, or else it can be misleading, which can have quite a negative
impact on a business. For this reason it is prudent to treat your
conclusions as hypotheses rather than statements of fact, and to take
action in incremental steps rather than making sweeping changes or
decisions in one go.

In this article we will be discussing the 10 best data collection methods

that can help you obtain the right data effectively. But before delving into
data collection methods, let's first briefly cover the basics of data
collection.

What is Data Collection?

Data collection is the process of gathering and measuring information
from various sources, in a way that enables you to find answers to real
questions, and to gain new insights that would not otherwise be
immediately obvious – for example the accurate assessment of
collected data can help you analyze current trends and even predict
future trends.
Why Should You Collect Data?
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By now, you would already have a general idea of data collection, but
are you convinced enough to employ it yet?

If not, let’s explore the advantages and uses of data collection.

It aids you in understanding your customers better.

It helps you analyze trends better, as to how customer opinions and
behaviour change over time.
You can make quicker, more effective decisions based on the data
collected.
It enables you to segment audiences and curate dedicated marketing
strategies for each segment.
Feedback data let’s you resolve issues and you improve your
product/services.
It helps improve customer relationships.

What are the Different Types of Data

Collection?
When it comes to data collection there are quite a few useful methods.
Well before delving into the data collection methods, there’s something
you need to know. Data Collection essentially falls under two main
categories: Primary data collection and Secondary data Collection.

Primary Data Collection

Primary data collection is the act of gathering raw data collected for a
specific research. Primary data collection methods can be further
divided into two:

1. Qualitative Research Method

Qualitative research method basically depends on the non – calculable
elements like the emotions, opinions and feelings. This method does
not involve any numbers or calculations whatsoever. A fine example of
a qualitative data collection method would be open-ended feedback.
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2. Quantitative Method
As opposed to qualitative methods of data collection, quantitative
method depends on numbers and mathematical calculations to arrive at
a conclusion. Any close-ended question that demands calculated
answers, like the ones involving mean, median, mode etc.

Secondary Data Collection

In simple words, Secondary data collection takes place when you

collect data from a secondary source rather than from the original one.
This kind of data can be sourced from online portals, books and
journals that have been already published. It is often the easier and
cheaper method when compared to primary data collection.

Now, we know what’s going on in your mind. Which one to choose?

Primary or secondary data collection method. Well, the choice depends
on the area of research, your requirements, the kind of organization you
run and its goals.

10 Effective Data Collection Methods

Now that you know the different categories of data collection, let’s move
to the crux of our article, the top 10 data collection methods.

1. Forms and Questionnaires

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This is one of the most sought after methods of primary data collection.
The method guarantees accuracy of data to a great extent, especially
when relied on online surveys, forms or questionnaires. Such a data
collection method can be used to procure answers for close-ended
questions quite efficiently.

If you are dealing with a large audience, then definitely form and
questionnaires are your best bets. You will be able to collect definitive
data from a large audience in a matter of minutes!

Yes, the data collection method is quite useful and can generate a lot of
information and leads if designed properly.

You need to carefully plan out the questions. Make sure you include
relevant, short questions in your forms that can be easily understood by
your audience. If not chances are that your audience might feel
disengaged and eventually opt out from responding. So, if response
rates and valuable information is what you want make sure you have an
engaging, relevant questionnaire form.

You can make use of online data collection tools like form builders to
make the process easier. Most of these tools offer a variety of templates
and also automate the workflow to suit your needs.

2. Interview
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Interview is yet another data collection method used to gather crucial

information. It can be conducted in person, through a phone call or web
chat.

Open ended questions are more often asked in interviews. Here too,
you need to be aware of the questions to be asked and shouldn’t
compromise with the quality and efficiency. Interviews can be an
expensive method of data collection and you should not leave room for
errors.

The customizability of interviews is one benefit that the interviewer has.

He/she can ask follow-up questions that pertain to the previous answers
as the information exchange takes place in real time.

3. Observation
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When it comes to observation, there are minimal questions involved.

The information gathered by the researcher can also be based on the
judgements they make of the observation yet it needn’t be biased
always.

Observation helps you make a note of the changes that happen in real
time which is not always possible with other methods. For instance, you
can observe how the mood of your audience changes in real time.

Observation is one of the key data collection methods used to form a

hypothesis. It is not viable always as it depends on the situation and
biased results can be expected.

4. Documents and Records

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Documents and Records based data collection makes use of existing

data for gathering information.

This is a secondary data collection method where you don’t have to

spend time researching on your own as a major part of the research
has been recorded.

You don’t have to curate a list of questions as there is no such demand.

Financial and attendance records are an example of this method.

Relying on documents and Records is also one of the most cost-

effective data collection methods though not as efficient as it’s
counterparts.

5. Focus Groups
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Focus Groups fall in the qualitative data collection category. This kind of
research involves a group of individuals that provides feedback and
answers to the open-ended questions asked to them. Focus groups can
be seen as a combination of interviews, surveys and observation.

The main objective of such a data collection method is to gather

collective opinions rather than individual ones.

The organizer can ask open ended questions like ‘What was your
favourite feature of the product’ or similar questions. The group
discusses among themselves and puts forward a shared opinion.

6. Oral Histories
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As its name suggests, oral history can be defined as the collection,

preservation and interpretation of historical data that were based on the
experiences and thoughts of people who were part of the particular
event. Oral histories are mainly based on a single phenomenon or
event.

7. Combination Research
Coming under the primary data collection category, combination
research is a blend of both focus groups and interviews. The main
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objective of such a method is to improve participation so that data about
sensitive topics can be gathered without much difficulty.

Combination research protects the anonymity of the respondents

allowing them to give accurate unbiased information, that enhances the
richness of the data.

The only drawback of this data collection method would be that it is time
consuming.

8. Online Tracking

Did you know that 40 different data points are covered when someone
visits a page on your website? Yes, they do and that is why online
tracking can be one of the best data collection methods for website
owners.

The website hosting provider or even an analytics software can act as

your data collection tool here and help you collect information about
both customers and prospects alike.

You can also use tracking pixels and cookies to further track the
activities of your website visitor over the course of numerous sessions.
9. Online Marketing Analytics
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Marketing Campaigns can also be an excellent method for collecting

data. Let us explain how.

You will be able to collect valuable information from the marketing

campaigns run through webpages, social media, emails etc. The
software that you use to place the ads in various destinations can help
you collect data.

The tool can tell you who clicked on your ad, how many clicked, how
many times was it clicked, from what device was it clicked, from which
region you procured the maximum clicks and so on.

Data can be collected even from offline marketing campaigns as well.

For example an advertisement on the side of a bus can have a
particular phone number or short URL advertised which is specific to
that offline campaign, this way your sales team knows exactly where
they originated from.

10. Social Media Monitoring

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Today, every business has its presence in social media. Social media
platforms are not just for brand building alone but for collecting reliable
customer data as well.

You can get vital data from various aspects of social media. For
instance, you can measure the engagement of your customers with
your posts through the number of impressions, likes, shares and
comments.

You can analyze the activities of your followers, how they respond to
your page in social media and even segment them accordingly.

You can either make use of the social media platform for analytics on
the performance of your posts or employ a social media management
software to act as your data collection tool in this context.

Structured Data vs Unstructured Data

When you collect data, especially if there are large quantities of it, in
order for it to be most useful it needs to be "structured". What this
means is that the data should be placed into a logical structure so that
tools (and also people), can efficiently come to conclusions about the
data.
For example if you have 500 PDF documents, this isn't particularly
useful when it comes to the "analysis" part of the data collection
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process. But if you could record pieces of structured information
alongside those PDF's you now suddenly have a very efficient way of
filtering and searching through your data. One of the major advantages
of using a forms platform like GlobalPatron as part of your data
collection is exactly this, it by default aligns the data you collect into a
structured format. For example a HR person collecting data (in this case
PDF Resume's of Job applicants - which is "unstructured data"), also
collects structured data alongside these PDF's such as "years of
experience", and "education level". This way he can rapidly search and
filter the applicants based on those two pieces of structured data, and
only needs to open up the PDF of applicants that meet his filter criteria.
This is a basic example but shows how important collecting structured
data is.

Privacy & Trust

When working with any data, it is essential that you not breach the trust
of your customers. Never disclose collected data to third parties, and
never collect data without the customers consent. Doing so can expose
your organisation to serious legal consequences and hefty fines. If you
are collecting data from customers in an automated/discreet manner
(e.g. by reviewing server activity logs), you must ensure that you have a
privacy policy and comply with GDPR standards, as customers have a
right to know what data you are collecting about them, and also have
the right to request that you delete that data. GDPR compliance is too
large a topic to be covered here, but all organisations involved in data
collection would be advised to comply with its rules, even if they are not
dealing with customers in Europe.

Final Thoughts
Data collection is no more a once in a blue moon affair. Collecting data
has become a necessity for all organisations that want to be able to
make better informed decisions.
Collecting data lets you know what your customers think about your
brand, points out the areas that can improve, helps generate leads, and
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lets you update your products and services as per the latest customer
behaviour and trends.

If you are serious about your business or organisation and want to see
it reach its goals more efficiently and effectively, then surely data
collection and analysis should be on your list.

We hope this article was useful. So now you can choose the preferred
methods for your organization, assign an efficient data collection
software and get started!

Also, if you haven't yet used GlobalPatron's online form platform for
data collection, feel free to have a look, it's free to access and will help
you rapidly collect structured data.

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