CHAPTER SIX

SOURCES AND METHODS OF

DATA COLLECTION
 Types of Data

Primary data:
Are those data, which are collected by the investigator
himself for the purpose of a specific inquiry or study.

Such data are original in character and are mostly

generated by surveys conducted by individuals or
research institutions.
Secondary data:
3

 Data which have already been collected by others

 Such data are primary data for the agency that

collected them, and become secondary for someone

else who uses these data for his own purposes.
 Secondary data can be obtained from journals, reports,
government publications, publications of professionals and
research organizations.
 Secondary data are less expensive to collect both in money and
time.
 The choice of methods of data collection is largely
based on the accuracy of the information they yield.
 DATA COLLECTION TOOLS

 The most important issue related to data collection is selecting the

most appropriate information or evidence to answer your
questions.
 To plan data collection, you must think about the
questions to be answered and the information sources
available.
 Also, you must begin to think ahead about how the
information could be organized, analyzed,
interpreted and then reported to various audiences.
DATA COLLECTION TOOLS

INTRODUCTION
o The quality of research depends to large extent on the quality of
the collection tools. Types of research instruments
 Interviews

 Questionnaires

 Observations and others

 Interviewing and administering questionnaires are probably the

most commonly used research techniques.

 Therefore designing good research instrument design forms on

important and time-consuming phase in the development of

most research proposals.
 Cont …….

The validity depends on the quality of these instruments.

Good questionnaires are difficult to construct;

Bad questionnaires are difficult to analyze.

Questionnaire is a research tool which contains only

questions and statements to be answered
Once the decision has been made to use these tools, the following questions
should be considered before designing them:

What exactly do we want to know, according to the objectives and variables

we identified earlier?

Is questioning the right technique to obtain all answers, or do we need

additional techniques, such as observations or analyses of records?

Are our informants mainly literate or illiterate? (if illiterate, the use of self-
administered questionnaires is out of the question.)

How large is the sample that will be interviewed? Studies with many
respondents often use shorter, highly structured questionnaires while smaller
studies allow more flexibility and may use interview guides or questionnaires
with a number of open-ended questions.
Points to be considered in designing a questionnaire

 Write out the objectives of your study.

 Write out information to be collected that relates to
the objectives.
 Review the current literature to identify already
validated questionnaires that measure our specific
area of interest.
 write a draft of your questionnaire.
 Revise the draft.
 Assemble final questionnaire.
 Questionnaire Introduction:
State the purpose of the questionnaire
why it is being conducted
who is sponsoring the research/
the agency responsible for the questionnaire.
In essence, a short summarization of some of the information
included in the cover letter.
Give clear instructions
on how to answer the questions. For example, will the answers
be circled or will a check mark be used? Will the respondent be
expected to fill in a blank?
If there are open-ended questions, is the question written so
that the respondent needs to answer with more than a “yes” or
“no” response?
Are there clearly written instructions that tell the respondent
to skip to a particular section on a designated page?
 Grouping Questions:
Group questions with similar topics together in a logical
flow.
Use a transition statement when moving to a new topic
within the questionnaire.
For example, state: “Next we would like to ask you several
questions about
Demographic Questions:
Place all demographic questions at the end of the
questionnaire. Demographic questions include asking a
person’s age, gender, amount of formal education, ethnic
group, etc.
 Ask only the demographic information you need to know
for analyzing data
 Other Comments:
 Allow space on the questionnaire to ask respondents
to share any other comments.
Thank You:
Remember to thank the respondent for completing the
questionnaire.
What to do with the questionnaire:
At the end of the questionnaire,
 repeat the deadline for returning the completed
instrument, and
the name and address of the person it should be
mailed to.
Always include the “mail to” address in case the
enclosed envelope is misplaced by the respondent.
 The Questionnaire Design Process
Data
Implementation Collection
Method
Question
response
Format

Final copy
Study Question
Wording
objective

Pre-test &
Revise Flow &
layout
Obtain Evaluate
approval Layout
Determine the Question Format
Close-ended questions: are questions in which

respondents will be given the opportunity to

choose answers from the list of possible responses
developed by the researcher.
Open-ended questions: are questions in which

respondents in which will be given the opportunity

to respond as they wish
Choice between open-ended and closed-ended
question
To make choice consider factors including:

 Knowledge of the investigator about the

subject matter
 Depth of information required

 Sample size (for small size-open-ended, large

size-closed ended)
 Length of questionnaire

 Skills on methods of existing data analysis

technique
 Time available
 Determine the Question Wording

Keeping it simple
Questions must be straightforward
Find synonyms for multi-syllable words
The number of syllables is rough indicator of the
complexity of words
 Avoid Two-in-one Questions

 Two-in-one questions: asking about more than one

topic.

 Do you think that women and men headed households

should be given equal agricultural inputs?

‘Have you experienced productivity loss, shortage of

input supply or shortage of human power?

 Better to ask different separate questions

 Avoid Leading Questions


Make one answer more likely than the others.

Puts words onto the respondents’ mouth
e.g., don’t you think -------------
wouldn’t you agree that……….

Can also be caused by supplementing information.
e.g., as you probably know, improved seed varieties produced through terminator
technology are effective for better agricultural productivity. Do you think that it
should be made available to farmers?
Minimize Recall Problems

Memory questions are difficult.
Bounded recall:
•Addresses seeing beyond reference period
•Refer to baseline survey
Narrow the reference period:

Avoid Ambiguous Wording
 Avoid Dangling Alternatives
 Sometimes, response options/alternatives need to be provided
 If question starts with the response options, it is more difficult
to remember them.
eg/. Would you say that you always, often, sometimes, or never
used training to boost employees development ?
 Better: How often did you use training in the past month to
boost your employees development:
1. always, 2. often, 3. sometimes, 4. never?

Avoid Sensitive Questions

Try to avoid embarrassing questions.
Word them as tactfully as possible.
Train the interviewers!
 Avoid asking sensitive questions at the beginning of the interview.
 Establish Questionnaire Flow and Layout

The order of the questions is also important.

Some general rules are:
Go from general to particular.
Go from easy to difficult.
Go from factual to abstract.
Start with closed format relevant to the main subject.
Do not jump from one subject to other

A data collection form has two sections: The header and The body
 The header should contain

- A form code
- A unique identifier corresponding to the participant about whom data is
collected
 Cont…………………………..

 Contents (questions): Questions on the same

topic should be grouped together, and when the
topic of the questions changes, a short transition
statement should be included
Closing: give thanks for the respondent

Date of data collection and signature of data

collector and principal investigator/supervisor

 Body of the basic data collection has three
elements:
1. The questions,
2. The responses, and
3. The directions (skip)
 Evaluate the Questionnaire and Layout

Look for problems with introductions, instructions, or

explanations from the respondent’s point of view

Determine if there are problem with assumptions made or the

underlying logic


Assess questions for sensitive nature or wording, and for bias


Assess the adequacy of the range of responses to be recorded
 Pre-test
Purpose of pre-test
 Check the clarity of instruments
 Are questions easily understood by the study participants?

Correction of the survey instruments before the actual survey

What was the challenge during the pre-test?

What changes could be made to ensure the quality of the data

collection?
 To estimate the time and budget needed for the actual data

collection
how many days will it take to collect data?
 Field pre-test
Before using a questionnaire it is essential to make sure
that it’ works

Steps in pre-testing:
1. An expert in the field should review the data collection

forms. This expert should be able to identify any content

omissions

2. The review by non expert colleagues can be useful to give

overall impressions, to identify troublesome questions, and
to determine if the patterns flow logically
 Pre-test……..
Test the entire data collection instruments with a small number of people

In this phase of pre-testing, one can identify:

Questions that don’t work;
Whether the needed information is indeed available from the
intended data sources;
Any ambiguous questions;
Closed questions that cause trouble, because a possibility has
been overlooked;
Any questions that you have forgotten to ask
 Questionnaire development summary

In questionnaire development remember to:-


Use simple language;


Avoid two elements to be collected through one question;


Pre code the responses to facilitated data processing;


Avoid embracing & painful question;


Do not overload your interview, start with simpler question;


Ask the same question to all respondents
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