Lecture 5:

The Sources and Methods

of Data Collection

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 Sources of Data
1. Secondary source of data
2. Primary source of data

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 1. Secondary data
• Secondary data means data refer to the data which
have already been collected and analyzed by some
one else.
• Secondary data are collected by others and used
by others.
• Any data that has been collected earlier for some
other purpose are secondary data in the hands of an
individual who is using them.
 Published and unpublished material

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Why a researchers use data from
secondary sources?
 Search costs are lower than primary sources
 It helps to define & solve problem
 It helps formulate hypothesis
 It help to plan the collection of primary data
 It help to define the population and select the
sample in primary data collection

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 Secondary data may be obtained either from:
1. Internal (with in the company or organization)
 All companies/organizations
 Any other organs keep record of the every course of
conducting business
2. External sources (outside sources)
 Government (federal, state, local)
 Trade association and trade press
 Periodicals
 Institution (research, academic)
 Commercial services and the like
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 Evaluating Secondary Data
1. Availability of Secondary Data
2. Relevance/suitability of the data
• Relevance means that the data available
must fit the requirements of the problem.
3. Reliability of the data
4. Accuracy
5. Sufficiency

03/29/23 Business Research Methods

 Sources of document
 Personal document
 Public documents

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 1. Personal document
• The published and unpublished information document by
the individuals for different purpose
• Are not written in scientific manner (style) nor do
they have an objective basis.
• They generally represent some ideas, values and
feeling
• Four types Personal documents
• 1. Biography / Autobiography
• 2. Diaries
• 3. Letters
• 4. Memories
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 Limitations of personal
documents
• Difficult to collect
• They are rarely recorded
• There is no criteria to judge their validity
since they are written from subjective view
point.
• It is not possible to arrive at some definite
conclusion on the basis of personal
document.

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 document
• Public documents are information gathered
from some governmental/non-governmental
institutions.
• Public document can be either unpublished
or published documents.
• Unpublished documents are like reports of
some big companies, confidential records of
government departments and non-
governmental organization.
• Published document are those published in
the general interest of the public.
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Common public documents are
 Records
 Census report and statistics
 Journals and magazines
 Newspapers
 Other documents

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 Choices between Primary and Secondary
Data
• The Choice between primary and
secondary data mainly depends up on
 The nature of investigation
 Objectives of investigation
 Scope of investigation
 Availability of time and money
 Degree of accuracy desired
 The status of the investigator

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 2. Primary data
• Collected & Gathered by researcher
her/himself
• Primary data come from the original sources in
nature
• Primary data are Original observations
collected by the researcher or his agents for the
first time for any investigation and used by them
in the statistical analysis.
• Sources: individuals and the incidence around
them
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Methods of Primary Data
Collection
Commonly Used Methods
1. Observation method
2. Interview
3. Questionnaires
4. Schedule
5. Focus Group Discussion (FDG)
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 1 Observation Method
• Observation the researcher personally and
directly observe the conditions and
incidences
• Observation is the technique which involves
systematic collection, watching, and
recording of behavior and characteristics of
objects or other phenomena other senses of
through hearing, smelling, touching, and
tasting.

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Advantages
• The direct observational technique enables the
investigator to record the behavior as it occurs.
• It can be used regardless of whether the respondent is
willing to report or not.
• It can be used even when it pertains to those who are
unable to respond, such as an infants and animals.
Limitation
• The observational method is very slow
• Expensive
• Limited information
• Unforeseen factors may interfere in the task
• Some people or phenomenon are rarely accessible

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 Participant Vs Non-participant Observation
• Participant observation: The observer Actively participates
in the group or in the community as a member of it
Advantages of this approach
• Enable to record natural behavior of the group
• Enable to gather data that may not easily be obtained
• The research can verify the truth of the statement made by
informant
Limitation of this method
• Loss of objectivity to the extent of participation
• The problem of observation control is not solved
• It may narrow down range of experience

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• Non-participant observation: the observer remain
as an external spectator and unknown to the
subjects
Advantages
• Check and control is possible
• Less subjectivity
• Wider range of experience can be obtained
Limitation
• Internal information can not be obtained
• It is very hard to observe the natural behavior of
the observed object

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 Unstructured
• A) Structured Observation: is characterized
by has standardize and pre-planned format
recording the observed information.
• Such observation is appropriate in
descriptive research
 Subject of observation (women, adult, etc)
 Conditions of observation (time of
observation, place of observation,
approaches of observation

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B) Unstructured observation
Takes place without the characteristics
Without standardized format and plan
for recording the observed information.
No specification of subject of
observation,

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 Uncontrolled Vs Control
observation
• Uncontrolled observation:
• Is the observation, which takes place in natural
setting
• Here no attempt is made to use precision
instruments
• The main aim of this type of observation is to
get a spontaneous picture of life or person
• The main weakness of uncontrolled observation
is that of subjective interpretation.

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 Controlled observation
• Observation takes place according to definite
pre-arranged plans, including experimental
procedure.
• We use mechanical (or precision) instruments as
aids to accuracy and standardization.
• Controlled observation takes place in various
experiments that are carried out in a laboratory or
under controlled condition.

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 6.2.2 Interview Method
• Interviews are the researcher meets people and discusses his
social economic or some other problem with them - gathers
facts.
• Interviews are the process of interaction or communication
in which a sample subject gives the needed information
verbally in a face to face situation, it is intended to get
information.
• An interview is different from Schedules (interview
questionnaires). There are various types of interviews, and
person administered interviews such as,
A.The in-home interview
B. The mall intercept interview
C. The in-office interview
D.The telephone interview
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 Basic principles of Interviewing
 Ask only one question at a time
 Ask question properly and completely, Repeat the
question if necessary
 Listen carefully to the subjects answer
 Observe the facial-expression, gesture & tone of
the voice
 Allow the sufficient time to answer the question
 Create friendly atmosphere of trust & confidence
 Interviewer should be honest, sincere,
hardworking, impartial and possess the technical
competence
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 Types of interview
A. Personal Interviews
• A case where the Interviewer asks the questions
face-to-face with contact to respondent.
Advantages Personal Interviews
1. It has the highest response rates.
2. Quick response can be attained.
3. Personal contacts are involved
4. Follow up questions can be asked.
5. It permits the longest questionnaire.
6. Higher flexibility.

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Disadvantages Personal Interviews
1. Interviews can be very time consuming
2. Interviews are resource intensive or very
expensive as training, travel, supervision
cost are added.
3. Interviewer bias is greatest.
4. The interviewer’s wording, tone of voice,
appearance may matter.

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B. Telephone Surveys: This method collecting
information involves contacting respondents on
telephone itself.
Advantages
1. Telephone interviews enable to gather information
rapidly.
2. They allow some contact between the interviewer and the
respondent.
3. They allow the interviewer to ask follow-up questions.
4. They are cheaper than the personal interview.
5. No field staff is required.
6. Representative and wider distribution of sample is
possible.
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Weakness
1. Many people don't have publicly-listed telephone
numbers. Some don't have telephones.
2. People often don't like the intrusion of a call to their
homes.
3. Telephone interviews have to be relatively short or
people will feel imposed upon.
4. Noise may interrupt the process.
5. Possibility of the bias of the interviewer is relatively
more.
6. It is not suitable for intensive surveys where
comprehensive answers are required to various questions.
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Interview
• In structured interview method the researcher makes some
procedures before conducting the interview.
• The interviewer has no freedom to rephrase or modify the
questions, to add extra ones or to change their order.
• Structured interview may also present to the interview questions
that do have alternative responses.
• Have you ever had any disagreement with either of your parents
(father or Mother) because of
A. Drinking?
B. Too many friends ?
C. Dating with opposite sex?
D. Smoking ?

lecture note Biru Desta 29

• Unstructured interview, like open-ended
questionnaire, provides greater flexibility-
Although the series of questions to be asked
and the procedure to be followed are decided
before hand
• He can thus rephrase the questions, modify
them, and add some new questions to his list
while conducting the interview 
• It permits much freedom to the interviewees to
talk about the problem under investigation.

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 Questionnaires
• A questionnaire a list of structured questions,
which will be presented, mailed or e-mailed to
selected respondents to obtain reliable response
from them
• A questionnaire is an instrument consisting of a
series of questions about the topic of the research.
• A questionnaire is a highly structured method of
data collecting tool.
• A questionnaire is a format containing a list of
questions sequentially ordered to obtain
information relevant to the objective of the study.
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• It may be defined as an instrument for collecting
information from a number of persons, supposed to
posses it by making them record their replies to a
number of questions.
• In this approach a questionnaire
• Sent to the informants by mails or delivered at
hand
• Answer the question and give back

The informant’s sent back the questionnaire (ideas,

preference, motive).

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 Steps in preparing Questionnaire
• 1. Determining Questionnaire Contents, the researcher should consider the
problem he wants to investigate the objectives or the hypothesis to be
tasted.
• 2. Developing Items to be Used, They can be in the form of (a) structured or
non-structured question, (b) rank-ordered questions, (C) rating Scales, and
(d) attitude scales
• 3. Preparing the First Draft, This phase used a trial and error approach with
regard to the sequencing or arranging of items or questions and reviewing
and revising until the researcher feels that the items are appropriate.
• 4. Pre – Testing, The revised questionnaire should be pre-tested to determine
how well it serves the purpose of obtaining needed data.
• 5. Revising and writing the final Questionnaire
• After the test questionnaire is revised, the researcher should prepare the final
questionnaire. In preparing the final questionnaire, the researcher must take
in to account every aspect of the criticism of the initial draft and the results
of pre-testing.

lecture note Biru Desta 33

 THE Contents of a questionnaire
• There are three portions of a questionnaire
 the cover letter,
 the instructions, and
the questions

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 The cover letter
• It should explain to the respondent the
purpose of the survey and motivate him to
reply truthfully and quickly.
• it should explain why the survey is
important to him
• how he was chosen to participate
• who is sponsoring the survey (the higher the
level of sponsorship the better).
• The confidentiality of the results should be
strongly stressed.
• It should identify the survey as official.
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Appendix 1 Questionnaire
CPU COLLEGE
FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA)
• Dear Respondents, I would like to thanks in advance for your
cooperation in filling the questionnaire.
• I am working a research entitled on -----------as required for the
fulfillment of BA Accounting.
• This questionnaire will aim at identifying and obtain information about
their --------------and its outputs will be used to fill the information gap
and inform decision makers, planners, researchers and practitioners.
• Finally, I would like to confirm that all the information provides in this
questionnaire will be confidential and will exclusively be used for
research purpose.
 

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• The instructions
• It explains how to complete the survey and where to
return it.
The questions
• The third and final part of the questionnaire is the set of
questions.
• The section consists of two parts, each representing a
different component of the data collection process. The
questionnaire was organized into section A demographic
variables, section B --------

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• In all there will 45 items/questions on the questionnaire
using a five point Likert scale.
• The Likert scale was used whereby the respondents
were asked to rate a particular issue on a scale that
ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
• The rating scale had an even number of choices ranging
from a scale of one to five. The scales used in the
questionnaire were based on a 5-point Likert scale with
• 1= strongly disagree,
• 2= disagree
• 3= no opinion
• 4=agree
• 5= strongly agree) for each close-ended question.
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• The questionnaire will prepared in ANY language they
could easily understand the questions
• The instrument used in the study was a standard
questionnaire adapted from “-----------).
• The physical questionnaires will administered to the
respondent in their lecture rooms at the conclusion of
their lectures, whereby questionnaires will handed out
to respondents for self completion and returned to the
researcher immediately.
• Their participation will anonymous. voluntary and
completely
• It took approximately 20 to 30 minutes to complete the
questionnaires.
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 Types of Questionnaires
1. Interview Questionnaires (Schedules)
2. Mail Questionnaires (Self administered
questionnaires)
3. Questionnaires through Internet (Through
electronics media)
4. Household Drop-off

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 1. Schedules
• A schedule includes some predetermined
questions asked by the researcher in a
definite order with out change. But the
interview has no such definite form or order
of question.
• The researcher may ask any question on the
basis of his insight into the problem.
• Schedules are questionnaires filled by the
enumerators.

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 Advantages
1. It can be adopted informants are illiterates.
2. It eliminates to a great extent the problem of
non-response
3. The enumerator can explain the significance of
the inquiry
4. the questions in the questionnaire personally to
the informants and thus ensuring collection of
accurate and reliable information.

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 Limitations
1. The enumerator might be biased one
2. may not enter the answers given by the respondents
truthfully.
3. Enumerators may interpret various terms in the
questionnaire according to their own understanding
of the terms.
3. The bias might be arising due to the state of mind of
the informant or the environment in which he is
placed.
4. It is some what costly and time consuming.

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 2. Mail Questionnaires
• is very popular especially for large study
• The questionnaires are sent by post to the
person concerned with a request to answer
the question and return them back.
• Questionnaires are mailed to respondents
who are expected to read and understand the
question and write down the answer.

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• Advantage Mail Questionnaires
• Low cost even for larger sample size
• widely spread geographically
• It is free from bias of the interviewer
• Respondents have adequate time to give answers
• Respondents, who are not approachable
• Limitations Mail Questionnaires
• Low rate of return
• Used only for literate respondents
• Questionnaire may be lost once it is sent
• There is inbuilt inflexibility
• The slowest method of all

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 Difference between questionnaires and Schedules

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3. Self –administred Questionnaires:
• Are of two types:
– The first type is the group
administered questionnaire.
– A sample of respondents is brought together
and asked to respond to a structured sequence
of questions.

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 4.Household Drop-off
– A less familiar type of questionnaire is the
household drop-off survey.
– In this approach, a researcher goes to the
respondent's home or business and hands
the respondent the instrument.

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 2. Types of questionnaire based on
Variable of structure or response format
• It is how the answer from the
respondent is collected.
• Accordingly, we have
• Structured/ standardized questionnaire
• Unstructured/ non-structured questionnaire.

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 Structured questionnaires/response
formats

• are those in which there are definite, concrete

and preordained questions.
• Includes:
a) Fill- In-The-Blank.
b) Check The Answer.
c) Circle The Answer.

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 Guide to question construction
• A) Forms of questions
1.Open-end questions: The respondent is
asked to provide his own answer to the
question. His answer is not in any ways
limited.
• Open-ended questions require the
respondents to answer in her / his own
words
• What is your favorite television
program?

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2. Closed ended questions called restricted or structured type.
The respondent is asked to select his answer from among a list
provided by the researcher (yes, no, I don’t know, etc).
• Closed ended questions are very popular in survey research
since they provide a great uniformity response and because
they are easy to process.
• Closed-end questions ask the respondents to choose from a
list of responses
Is the Dean doing
A. very good
B. Good
C. Fair
D. Poor
3. job in your opinion
• Factual questions elicit objective information from the
respondents - Sex, age, marital status, education,
income and professionlecture note Biru Desta 52
 Were you born in Australia?
[ ] Yes (go to Q2)
[ ] No
a. What country were you born in? _______
b. How many years have you lived in Australia?_____
Now go to Q2
• Skip or Contingency questions apply only to a sub-
group of respondents
– Whether a respondent should answer or not a contingency
question is determined by his/her answer to a preceding
question i.e. Filter question
• Double-barreled question is a question that combines
two or more questions into one – often confusing
• Leading questions direct or influence the response
toward one point of view
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 Questionnaire Construction/ Wording Decision
1. Keep the language simple.
2. Keep the questions short.
3. Keep the number of questions to a minimum.
4. Limit each question to one idea or concept.
5. Do not ask leading questions.
6. Use subjective terms such as good, fair, and bad sparingly/economically
7. Allow for all possible answers.
8. Avoid emotional or morally charged questions and too direct questions
9. Formulate your questions and answers to obtain exact information and to
minimize confusion.
10. Include a few questions that can serve as checks on the accuracy and
consistency of the answers as a whole.
12. Organize the pattern of the questions appropriately
13. Pretest (pilot test) the questionnaire.
14. Have your questionnaire neatly produced on quality paper.
15. Be realistic in assuming about the respondents.
16. Finally, make your survey interesting!
54
1. Evokes the truth and produces variability of
responses
• Questions must be non-threatening
• When a respondent is concerned about the
consequences of answering a question in a
particular manner, there is a good
possibility that the answer will not be
truthful
• Anonymous questionnaires that contain no
respondent identifying information are likely to
produce honest responses

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• State your policy on confidentiality
– If the questionnaire does contain sensitive items
– People give more honest answers when
answering questions on a computer. Mail
surveys are in-between.

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• If scaled answers are used, be sure to follow the
precepts of using a Likert Scale as options
– The Likert Scale is a measurement scale popular
in surveys to not only measure direction of
opinions, but also the magnitude or levels of
beliefs
– The more popular scales use 5- or 7-points
– The most common scale ranges from “extremely
satisfied” to “extremely unsatisfied” with the
middle option as “neither satisfied nor
unsatisfied.”
– It is important to keep the scale balanced
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• There need to be as many positive options as
negative options and the middle option is neutral
• If the Likert Scale is used properly, it can be
considered interval data for statistical purposes,
and offers many more sophisticated analysis tools
• Interval data is continuous data where differences
are interpretable, but where there is no "natural"
zero
– A good example is temperature in Fahrenheit
degrees
– Ratios are meaningless for interval data
• You cannot say, for example, that one day is
twice as hot as another day
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2. Asks for an answer on only one dimension
• Avoid to ask questions that needs a response on more
than one dimension
• A double-barreled question consists of two or more
questions joined together
"Do you like the texture and flavor of the snack?"
____ Yes
____ No
– If a respondent answers "no", then the researcher
will not know if the respondent dislikes the texture
or the flavor, or both
"Do you have or have you ever had a physical, mental, or
other health condition which has lasted over six months
and which has limited the kind of work you could do on
your job?"
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3. Accommodate all possible answers
• Asking a question that does not accommodate all
possible responses can confuse and frustrate the
respondent. For example, consider the question:
What brand of computer do you own? _
A. IBM PC
B. Apple
• What brand of computer do you own? (Check all that
apply)
__ Do not own a computer
__ IBM PC
__ Apple
__ Other
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4. Has mutually exclusive options and balanced
response categories
• There should be only one correct or appropriate
choice for the respondent to make
– Where did you grow up? __
A. country
B. farm
C. city
• What kind of job is the mayor doing?
a. Outstanding
b. Excellent
c. Very good
d. Satisfactory
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5. Avoid questions that make an unwarranted
assumption
Are you satisfied with your current auto insurance?
» Yes
» No

– This question will present a problem for someone who

does not currently have auto insurance
• Thus, write your questions so they apply to everyone
• This often means simply adding an additional response
category
Are you satisfied with your current auto insurance?
___ Yes
___ No
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___ Don't have auto insurance
lecture note Biru Desta 62
6. Follows comfortably from the previous
question
• Writing a questionnaire is similar to writing
anything else
– Transitions between questions should be smooth
– Grouping questions that are similar will make the
questionnaire easier to complete, and the
respondent will feel more comfortable
– Questionnaires that jump from one unrelated
topic to another feel disjointed and are not likely
to produce high response rates

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7. Do not imply a desired answer
• To maintain objectivity must be careful not to lead
the respondent into giving the answer we would like
to receive
• Leading questions are usually easily spotted because
they use negative phraseology
Examples:
• Wouldn't you like to receive our free brochure?
• Don't you think the Congress is spending too much
money?

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• Leading questions can also be of a different kind
"Do you favor an increase in the federal minimum
wage to $8.00?"
• A negative response may appear stingy or mean-
spirited toward the poor, and this may bias the
survey toward too many affirmative responses

• A better method is to phrase such policy options in

the form, "Some people favor X, while other people
are opposed to X. What is your opinion?"

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8. Do not use emotionally loaded or vaguely
defined words
• Quantifying adjectives (e.g., most, least, majority)
are frequently used in questions
• These adjectives mean different things to different
people
"Do you lean more toward the pro-life or toward
the pro-abortion position on issue of termination of
late-term pregnancies where the health of the
mother is threatened?"
– This example is biased because one position is
labeled with its most favorable label (pro-life,
rather than anti-abortion)
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9. Does not use unfamiliar words or abbreviations or
ambiguous words
• Consider your audience and write your questionnaire for
them
– Do not use uncommon words or compound sentences
– Write short sentences
– If there is any doubt at all, do not use the abbreviation
• What was your AGI last year? ______
• Questions should be specific, avoiding generalities
Ex.: "On a scale from 1 to 10, how popular is President
Clinton at this time?"
– This example begs the question, "popular with whom?"
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• Items often need to be anchored in one or more of the
familiar journalistic dimensions: who, what, when,
where, why, and how?
• If it is possible for respondents to interpret questions in
dissimilar terms, they will
"Have you participated in a political rally?"

– is ambiguous because participation is undefined and some will

answer affirmatively due to passing within earshot of a
political speaker, while others will answer negatively because,
while they attended rallies, they were not the organizers

• In general all pronouns, nouns, and noun-phrases

should have a clear referent

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– Questions such as 'What is your income?' are vague
and one is likely to get many different responses with
different dimensions
– Respondents may interpret it in different terms
For example:
» hourly pay?
» weekly pay?
» yearly pay?
» income before tax?
» income after tax?
» income in kind as well as cash?
» income for self or family?
» all income or just farm income?

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10. Minimizes recall items and avoid
hypothetical items and double negatives
• People's ability to recall the past is limited
– The more current and specific the question
reference, the better

– If recall is necessary, the time frame should be as

recent as possible and not over six months unless
the reference is to major events (ex., marriage,
changing jobs, buying a car)

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• Hypothetical items (ex., "What would you do if ...")
creates a difficult challenge for respondents
– Seriously considering such items requires time for
imagination and consideration
– People tend to base responses to such items on their
most-related actual experiences, and it may be
better to ask about such experiences directly
• Double negatives can be confusing.
e.g. Students should not be required to take a
comprehensive exam to graduate.
Yes/No

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11. Includes “comments” or open-ended (free-
text) questions
• Open-ended questions allow the respondent to express
him/herself freely and provide details or nuances to a
response which may not be provided in more limited-
choice questions and can be a rich source of information
• Free-text must be carefully reviewed and coded to
transform the information into data which can be
counted, analyzed, and interpreted
• It is common practice to include at least one “comments”
question at the end of the survey to allow respondents to
express any additional insight or opinions
• Often, these “comments” questions illuminate, explain,
and validate the findings of the closed-choice questions
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12. Avoids asking second hand information,
complex questions and causation
• A questionnaire gets people to express their
feelings, perceptions, behaviors, and experiences,
both past & present; therefore, avoid:
– Asking for second hand information
– Asking hypothetical questions
– Asking about causation
– Asking for solutions to complex issues
• Make sure that every respondent will be answering
the same thing, so avoid:
– Using terms for which the definition can vary
– Being ambiguous about the time period the respondent
should consider
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Focus group discussions
• Is a group of individuals selected and assembled by
researchers to discuss and comment on, from personal
experience, the topic that is the subject of the research
• A form of group interviewing
• Rely on interaction within the group based on topics
that are supplied by the researcher
• It requires
– Participants to have a specific experience of or opinion
about the topic under investigation
– an explicit interview guide to be used
– the subjective experiences of participants are explored in
relation to predetermined research questions
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a) Why use focus groups and not other methods?
• Its main purpose of is to draw upon respondents’
attitudes, feelings, beliefs, experiences and reactions
• focus groups elicit/draw out a multiplicity of views
and emotional processes within a group context
• Compared to observation, a focus group enables the
researcher to gain a larger amount of information
in a shorter period of time

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b) The role of focus groups
• Can be used at the preliminary or exploratory stages of
a study
• during a study to evaluate or develop a particular
programme of activities or after a programme has been
completed, to assess its impact or to generate further
avenues of research
• Focus groups can help to explore or generate
hypotheses
• They are however limited in terms of their ability to
generalize findings to a whole population, mainly
because of the small numbers of people participating
and the likelihood that the participants will not be a
representative sample
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