DATA COLLECTION

METHODS:
QUANTITATIVE AND
QUALITATIVE
DATA COLLECTION: AVAILABLE
DATA, MAKING DATA AND
CREATING DATA.
1.AVAILABLE DATA
-are the document prepared by various
government agencies, other organizations and
researchers
- -Example: you have government budget,
national plan, statistics, UN data, scholarly
articles, etc.
• Government producing document is a primary
data, information given by various ministry is
primary, election results produced by
government agencies is primary data.
• Available data also includes other secondary
sources such as scholarly articles, newspaper,
manuscripts, theses, etc.
• If you find election results in newspaper or any
other articles, these are secondary data.
2. MAKING DATA
- Data is ready and available, you look for the
available material then make new data.
-You can generates new data using content
analysis technique. The content can be
articles, newspaper, speeches, letter, website
and then you content analyze the data.
• You can use both primary and secondary
sources in making a new data.
• -Example: internet-you content analyze the website to see
how political parties campaign through internet.
• This method can be quantitative method if you count-
example: newspaper-you look at how much space
devoted by opposition party towards government (ruling
party)
• It can also be qualitative-if you just read the materials and
try to make sense and find meaningful phrases and explain
it (document analysis techniques)
• Making data based on available resources means using
secondary data/ primary data in doing research.
• When you are making a new data using
information generated from others
(primary or secondary), therefore the
entire data collection can be considered
as using secondary data in research.

• Secondary data analysis thus refers to the

methods for studying research problems
based on data collected by others.
• Example of existing data that can be used are:
1. The Census
Data collected by the bureau of the census: current population survey, housing survey,
consumer expenditure survey.
2. The Internet
- Internet has expanded accessibility to sources of information.
-Governments and international agencies, such as the World Bank, are steadily making more
of their official internal documents, publications, and collected data available through the
Internet.
-Online articles and books also growing at commensurate pace
3. Archival Records
-Archival records include public records-electoral and judicial records, government
documents, the mass media, as well as private records- autobiographies, diaries, and
letters.
- Legislative and Governmental documents-contains major items of legislation, tabulations of
roll-call votes, data on inequalities in income distribution and various government policies.
3. CREATING DATA (Primary Data)
-There is no data , we have to create one.
-Generate new data based on the assumption
you made in research paper.
-There are several different techniques that can
be employed in creating data.
i) Questionnaire
ii) Interview
QUANTITATIVE METHODS
• Is the collection and analysis of numerical data to
describe, explain and predict phenomenon of interest.
• Quantitative: concerned with counting and
measurement
• Preoccupations of quantitative researchers: measuring
concepts, establishing causality, generalizing,
replicating and focus on individuals.
• Quantitative data collection : questionnaire, and
content analysis of concepts.
HOW TO COLLECT DATA?
• Quantitative methods in the form of questionnaire can be used in these three
styles of research: survey, correlational and causal-comparative studies.
HOW TO DESIGN QUESTIONNAIRE?
• A questionnaire is a pre-formulated written set of questions to which
respondents record their answer.
1. Content of Questions
-Most questions can be classified in one of two general categories: factual
questions and questions about subjective experiences.
- Factual question is the background question: gender, age, marital status,
education, etc.
- Example: What was the last grade you completed in school?
- Questions about subjective experiences involves the respondents’ beliefs,
attitudes, feelings and opinions.
- Example: Please tell me whether or not you think it should be possible for a
pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion if there is a strong chance of
serious defects in the baby.
A. Yes B. No c. Don’t Know

2. Types Of Questionnaire
2 a)Close-ended Question
• In this type of questionnaire you ask questions and provide answers.
• Example What is your age, you provide the range then select

A- (5-15) B –(16-20) C- (21-25)

• Likert scaling could be used in close-ended question.
2 b) Open-ended Question
• Where you ask question but you do not provide the
answer.
• Example: What aspect of Malaysia you like most?
Then leave it open.
• Open questionnaire, you will have variety of opinions
and hard for you the specify the answers precisely.
• If you have all open-ended questions and you can
convert it into quantitative by grouping answers
based on specific category.
3. Avoiding Bias: Pitfalls in Questionnaire Construction
3a) Wording
- The question must be worded so that the respondent
understands it.
-If the respondents come from all walks of life, the researcher
should use words that can be understood by the average
sixth reader (Nachiamas, 2008).
-Avoid threatening questions usually deal with behaviors that
are illegal. Such questions may inquire about such subjects
as drinking, drug abuse, etc.
-threatening questions lead to response bias-respondents
either deny the behavior.
3b) Doubled-Barreled Questions
-DBQ combine two or more questions in one.
Example: Domestic Violence and AIDS are the most
serious problems facing America today (1-Strongly
Disagree to 5-Strongly Agree)
-The problem with such a question is that it might
confuse respondents who agree with one aspect of
the question-say, domestic violence but disagree with
the other, AIDS.
QUALITATIVE METHODS
• Is the collection and analysis of narrative/ non-numerical data
to gain insight into a particular phenomenon.
• Qualitative: concerned with producing discursive descriptions
and exploring social actors’ constructions and interpretations.
• Preoccupations of qualitative researchers: using social actors’
points of view, describing and focusing on social processes.
• Qualitative data collection: participant observation, focused
and in-depth interview, life histories and content analysis of
documents.
HOW TO COLLECT DATA?
• Qualitative methods in the form of interview and observation
can be used in different qualitative research design.
1. INTERVIEW
- In-depth interviewing can get close to the social actors’.
Respondents are free to say whatever he want. The
researcher initiate the question and stimulate the respondent
to talk.
- The use of this method allows researcher to gather in-depth
information from interviewee.
- There are three types of interview: unstructured, semi-
structured and structured interview.
• Unstructured interview-the objectives may be very
general, the discussion may be wide ranging and
individual questions will be develop spontaneously in
the course of the interview.
• Semi-structured interview-set of questions are ready
to prompt discussion, but researcher does not strictly
followed the list of questions.
• Structured interview- standardized interview in which
objectives are very specific, all questions are written
beforehand and asked in the same order for all
respondents. Data derived from structured interview
can be converted into quantitative data.
MIXED METHODS
WHAT IS MIXED METHODS RESEARCH?
• A mixed methods research design is a procedure for
collecting, analyzing and mixing both quantitative and
qualitative methods in a single study to understand a
research problem.
• You engage in a mixed methods study when you want to
follow up a quantitative study with a qualitative one to
obtain more detailed specific information that can be
gained from the results of statistical tests.
• There are types of mixed method design: triangulation
design, explanatory design and exploratory design.
1. TRIANGULATION DESIGN
• The purpose of a triangulation design is to simultaneously collect both
quantitative and qualitative data, merge the data and use the
results to understand a research problem.
• For instance, quantitative data provides broad information about
the research problem and qualitative data generates in-depth and
rich information to offset the weaknesses of quantitative data.
• How does the process of triangulation work?
The researcher gather both quan and qual data,
compares results from the analysis of both data and
makes interpretation as to whether the results from both
data support or contradict each other
How to triangulate your findings?
i) The QUAL+ quan model
ii) The QUAN+ qual model
iii) The QUAL+ QUAN model
+ indicates the concurrent collection of
quantitative and qualitative data.
-The method in uppercase letters is weighted
more heavily than the method in
lowercase letters
-They are in balance when both methods are
in uppercase.