4

Objectives
• Describe:
• Primary and secondary sources of data
• Methods of judging and ensuring the reliability of data
• The characteristics and implications of methods of collecting
data and opinions including: surveys, questionnaires, focus
groups and interviews
• The characteristics and implications of user interfaces for data
collection and processing systems, including: ease of use,
accessibility, error reduction, intuitiveness, functionality,
performance and compatibility
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Starter
• A sports company is close to releasing a new trainer
• They are about to research the most popular colour
and have two choices:
• Visiting a running track and asking 50 people
• Analysing the results of a survey of 100,000
people which looks at the colour of
sportswear people prefer, but not
specifically trainers
• What are the limitations
of using each of
these methods?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Research
• 50 people at a running track:
• The people asked will be regular users of trainers
• 50 people is a very small sample
• They may have different views about the product to the
general market
• Larger survey:
• A large sample with a wide range of opinions
• Sportswear and trainer colour may not be the same – e.g.
people may like bright trainers, but not bright sportswear
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Primary and secondary data

• Primary sources of data are those which are
collected first-hand by the researcher, such as:
• Surveys
• Interviews

• Secondary sources of data have been collected by

others, and is available from places such as:
• Office for National Statistics (ONS)
• Research companies

• What other methods are

used to collect primary data?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Primary data collection

• Other methods used for collection of primary data:
• Questionnaires
• Focus groups
• Polls
• Observation
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Surveys
• Surveys are a research method for
collecting data to gain information
about a certain topic
• Analysis of the data will be
carried out
• Surveys usually have a large
number of participants to help
make the analysis and results
reliable
• What data collection method is
commonly used in surveys?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Questionnaires
• Questionnaires can be used for
a number of purposes such as:
• Gaining feedback about a product
• Investigating a trend

• Questions should be carefully

designed so that they are easy
to understand and can be
easily analysed later
• What types of questions can
be used on a questionnaire?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Question types
• Common closed question types:
• Select one option – often used for categories
• Select a number of options
• Rate something – known as a Likert scale
• Yes/no questions – to see if people agree with statements
• Textboxes with a fixed answer such as someone’s age

• Common open question types:

• Text or comment boxes that encourage free writing about
opinions
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Effective design
• There are a number of techniques to make
questionnaires less overwhelming and encourage a
better response rate:
• Splitting into sections/pages
• Showing a progress bar of completion
• Reducing the number of questions
• Keeping questions short
• Not asking for personal or sensitive information – or if you
have to then waiting until the end when it’s less off-putting
• Giving an incentive for completion such as a prize draw
• Use appropriate validation checks
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Interviews
• Interviews are used to gain a deeper understanding
of a topic
• The person being interviewed will have a chance to elaborate
on an answer and explain ‘why’ they think the way they do
• They are often used for qualitative
research (used to gather data that isn’t numeric)
• This may reveal ideas or opinions that the researcher did not
know existed
• How can interviews be analysed?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Focus groups
• Focus groups will bring together a small group of
carefully selected people
• They may be paid or receive another incentive to participate

• The researcher will ask questions to establish how

the people in the group feel
• Focus groups are often used for market research of new
products or to test opinions on new policies that might be
made into laws
• Are focus groups and interviews mainly used to
gather quantitative or qualitative data?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Case study: Coca-Cola

• In 2004, Coca-Cola created a new drink
called C2
• Secondary research of sales data showed
that men weren’t buying Diet Coke because
the perception was that it was for women
• The new drink was aimed at men aged 20-40
and very similar to Diet coke, but
branded differently
• Do you think that the research around
Diet Coke was accurate?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Worksheet 4
• Now complete Task 1 and Task 2 on
Worksheet 4
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Leading questions

• Why is this a leading question?

Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Reliability of data
• Data collected may be unreliable because of a
number of factors:
• Sample size – has enough data been collected to accurately
represent the people being studied?
• Representative sample – are the people asked representative
of those being studied?
• Conditions of the data collection – conditions such as time of
day, who is asking or even the weather may all have an affect
on answers
• Question quality – are the questions fair and unbiased? Are
the questions leading in any way?
• What else can affect the reliability of data?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Case study: Ford

• Ford released the a new car called the Edsel in 1958
• Production of the car stopped in 1960 due to very low sales
• Ford lost $350 million, equivalent to around
£2 billion in todays money
• The product is today thought of as a marketing
disaster in part due to:
• Building an ideal product, but not asking real people what
they thought of the designs and price
• Basing the ideas for the product on a vision that was outdated
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Polling
• Polling companies ask a sample of a population their
opinion of certain questions
• They are often used to predict voting habits in elections

• Results can also show

trends over time
• In the first half of 2019,
which parties had
declining support and
which had
increasing support?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Case study: EU referendum

• In 2016, the UK faced an referendum on its
membership of the European Union
• The last five polls released the day
before the referendum were:
• 50.6% Remain
• 46.6% Leave
• 2.8% Undecided

• Leave won by more than

one million votes
• What caused so many polls
to be wrong?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Worksheet 4
• Now complete Task 3, Task 4 and Task 5 on
Worksheet 4
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Ease of use
• There are a number of ways
that user interfaces can be
made easy to use
and intuitive
• The Employees database
shown has clearly labelled
fields
• How could the user interface
be further improved?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

User interfaces
• The field sizes do not match
the information entered
• The width of house number and
post code could be reduced
• Some of the heights could
be reduced
• Buttons could be used to
make accessing the next
and previous records easier
• Buttons could also be used to
access searches and reports
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Error reduction
• When entering data into IT systems it is important
that it can be entered quickly and accurately
• When completing a survey, inaccurate data will lead to
inaccurate results
• If inaccurate data is put into a database then searches and
processing will not work correctly
• How can errors
be reduced when
collecting data?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Error reduction
• Give help messages in the user interface
• Validation – checking the data entered is
reasonable by checking it follows a given set of rules
• Verification – asking a user to enter the same data
twice to avoid an error in typing (double entry) or by
checking against the original documents or
other sources
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Accessibility
• Data entry systems need to be
accessible by the people who are
going to use them
• An important survey may give the option
for those with sight problems to have a
large print version sent to them
• Online surveys may change the text size
or be responsive to different screen
sizes and orientations
• Database forms may allow users to
adjust the text size or have certain parts
read out with text-to-speech software
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Performance
• The performance of data collection and processing
systems is important
• A website that is slow to order products from
will result in lower sales or lost customers
• When databases are used in
organisations any delays in
processing or data collection will
result in inefficiency and losses
• What happens to the completion or
response rates of online questionnaires if
the performance of the server is slow?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Compatibility
• Organisations need to make sure that their websites
or IT services are compatible with the devices they
are to be used with
• This includes:
• Screen size and orientation
• Browser or other software versions
• Operating system
• Custom hardware such as touchscreens
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Functionality
• The functionality or data collection and processing
systems can vary
• User interfaces can help users by including buttons
to the features they are most likely to use
• Database structures need to
be well thought out before
they are implemented
• This allows new features and
data sets to be added to them
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Worksheet 4
• Now complete Task 6 on Worksheet 4
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Plenary
• A 6th form college is considering whether they will
start the day later
• There are arguments both for and against
their proposal
• What methods of data collection
should be used to help in the
final decision?
• How can errors be reduced
in the data gathered to
make the results more
reliable?
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

Plenary
• Some suggestions to how the data collection
could happen:
• A survey could be carried out of students, staff and parents
• This could include a questionnaire completed online by
students and staff in school
• A paper copy could be offered for accessibility to parents who
don’t have access to the Internet / computers
• A unique link could be given to each student/parent to make
sure that the survey is only completed once and improve
reliability
• A focus group or interviews could be given with parents, staff
and students to establish views
Sourcing and collecting data
Learning Aim E Impact of IT systems

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