[SH – PR2 / Practical Research 2]

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[Data Gathering Procedure]

Data Gathering Procedure

You want to satisfy your curiosity about a certain subject matter. The only
way to do this is to link yourself with people, tings, and other elements in
your surroundings because, by nature, research involves interdependence or
interactions among people and things on earth. The answers to your
investigate acts about the topic you are interested in come from people you
get to communicate with and from things you subject to observation.
Research is an act of gathering opinions, facts and information to prove your
point or to discover truths about your research problem or topic.
At the end of the topic the students should be able to:
1. Discuss the observation method;
2. Discuss the interview method;
3. Discuss the questionnaire method; and
4. Discuss the psychological test method

Quantitative data collection methods rely on random sampling and

structured data collection instruments that fit diverse experiences into
predetermined response categories.
They produce results that are easy to summarize, compare, and generalize.
Quantitative research is concerned with testing hypotheses derived from
theory and/or being able to estimate the size of a phenomenon of
interest. Depending on the research question, participants may be randomly
assigned to different treatments. If this is not feasible, the researcher may
collect data on participant and situational characteristics in order to
statistically control for their influence on the dependent, or outcome,
variable. If the intent is to generalize from the research participants to a
larger population, the researcher will employ probability sampling to select
participants.
A probability sampling method is any method of sampling that utilizes some
form of random selection
(http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampprob.php).
In order to have a random selection method, you must set up some process
or procedure that assures that the different units in your population have
equal probabilities of being chosen.
Simple examples of random selection are picking a name out of a hat or
choosing the short straw. Computers are used for generating random
selection in more complex projects.

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 Typical quantitative data gathering strategies include:
 Administering surveys with closed‐ended questions (e.g., face‐to face and
telephone interviews, mail questionnaires, etc.)
(http://www.achrn.org/quantitative_methods.htm)
 Experiments/clinical trials.
 Observing and recording well‐defined events (e.g., counting the number of
patients waiting in emergency at specified times of the day).
 Obtaining relevant data from management information systems.

Interview Method
In Quantitative research (survey research), interviews are more structured
than in Qualitative research.
http://www.stat.ncsu.edu/info/srms/survpamphlet.html
In a structured interview, the researcher asks a standard set of questions and
nothing more. (Leedy and Ormrod, 2001)
5 Telephone interviews
Advantages:
 Less time consuming
 Less expensive
 Researcher has ready access to anyone who has a landline
telephone.
 Higher response rate than the mail questionnaire.
 Can be fully automated using CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone
Interviewing) saving data processing time.

Disadvantages:
 The response rate is not as high as the face‐to‐face interview.
 The sample may be biased as only those people who have landline
phones are contacted (excludes people who do not have a phone, or only
have cell phones).

Face‐to‐face interviews (Leedy and Ormrod, 2001)

Advantages:
 Enables the researcher to establish rapport with potential
participants and therefore gain their cooperation.
 Yields the highest response rates in survey research.
 Allows the researcher to clarify ambiguous answers and when
appropriate, seek follow‐ up information.
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[Data Gathering Procedure]

Disadvantages:
 Impractical when large samples are involved
 Can be time consuming and expensive.
Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI): is a form of personal
interviewing, but instead of completing a questionnaire, the interviewer
brings along a laptop or hand‐held computer to enter the information
directly into the database.
Advantages:
 Saves time involved in processing the data.
 Saves the interviewer from carrying around hundreds of questionnaires.
Disadvantages:
 Can be expensive to set up.
 Requires that interviewers have computer and typing skills.

Questionnaires Method
Questionnaires often make use of checklist and rating scales. These devices
help simplify and quantify people's behaviors and attitudes. A checklist is a
list of behaviors, characteristics, or other entities the researcher is looking
for. Either the researcher or survey participant simply checks whether each
item on the list is observed, present or true or vice versa. A rating scale is 6
more useful when a behavior needs to be evaluated on a continuum. They
are also known as Likert scales. (Leedy and Ormrod, 2001)
Mail questionnaires
Advantages:
 Can be sent to a large number of people.
 Saves the researcher time and money compared to interviewing.
 People are more truthful while responding to the questionnaires regarding
controversial issues in particular due to the fact that their responses are
anonymous.
 Allow the respondent to answer at their leisure.
Disadvantages:
 In most cases, the majority of people who receive questionnaires don't
return them. Therefore: o Over‐sampling may be necessary if doing a one‐
time mail out in order to get enough completed questionnaires to be
generalizable to the population. o Follow‐up reminders to participants
encouraging them to complete the questionnaire may be necessary, thereby

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 increasing the time and cost to conduct the study. o May need to offer
incentives to increase response rate.
 Time – mail surveys take longer than other types of surveys.
Web‐based questionnaires: A new and inevitably growing methodology is
the use of Internet based research. This would mean receiving an e‐mail on
which you would click on an address that would take you to a secure web‐
site to fill in a questionnaire.
Advantages:
 This type of research is often quicker and less detailed.
 Very cost effective.
Disadvantages:
 Excludes people who do not have a computer or are unable to access a
computer.
 Need to have access to email addresses.
 Many worksites have screening mechanisms in place blocking access to
employee emails.
 The validity of such surveys may be in question as people might be in a
hurry to complete it and so might not give accurate responses.
(http://www.statcan.ca/english/edu/power/ch2/methods/methods.htm)
Observation Method
One of the most common methods for qualitative data collection, participant
observation is also one of the most demanding. It requires that the
researcher become a participant in the culture or context being
observed. Participant observation often requires months or years of
intensive work because the researcher needs to become accepted as a
natural part of the culture in order to assure that the observations are of the
natural phenomenon.
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/qualmeth.php
Psychological Testing Method
Psychological testing refers to the administration of psychological tests. A
psychological test is "an objective and standardized measure of a sample of
behavior". The term sample of behavior refers to an individual's performance
on tasks that have usually been prescribed beforehand. The samples of
behavior that make up a paper-and-pencil test, the most common type of
test, are a series of items.
Performance on these items produce a test score. A score on a well-
constructed test is believed to reflect a psychological construct such as
achievement in a school subject, cognitive ability, aptitude, emotional
functioning, personality, etc. Differences in test scores are thought to reflect
individual differences in the construct the test is supposed to measure. The
technical term for the science behind psychological testing is psychometrics.
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Glossary
Interview - i s the verbal conversation between two people with the objective
of collecting relevant information for the purpose of research
Observation - involves studying the spontaneous behaviour of participants in
natural surroundings.
Psychological testing - - is the foundation of how psychologists better
understand a person and their behavior
Questionnaire - are the most frequently used data collection method in
educational and evaluation research. Questionnaires help gather information
on knowledge, attitudes, opinions, behaviors, facts, and other information.

References
Baraceros, Esther L. (2017), Practical Research 2, Rex Book Store, Inc., First
Edition
Baraceros, Esther L. (2017), Practical Research 1, Rex Book Store, Inc., First
Edition
Sarno, Emerlita G. (2010), Tips and Techniques in Writing Research, Rex
Book Store, Inc.

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