Engineering Data Analysis

1.1 Methods of Data Collection

1.2 Planning and Conducting Surveys
1.3 Planning and Conducting
1.4 Experiments: Introduction to Design of
Experiments.

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Objectives:
At the end of the topic, students will be able to:
1. Discuss the different methods in collecting
data.
2. Identify the benefits of designed experiments
over other data collection techniques.
3. Understand the value of data collection.

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CONCEPT OF DATA COLLECTION
 Data collection is the process of gathering and measuring information on
variables of interest, in an established systematic fashion that enables one to
answer stated research questions, test hypotheses, and evaluate outcomes.
 The data collection component of research is common to all fields of study
including physical and social sciences, humanities, business, etc. While methods
vary by discipline, the emphasis on ensuring accurate and honest collection
remains the same.
 The goal for all data collection is to capture quality evidence that then translates
to rich data analysis and allows the building of a convincing and credible answer
to questions that have been posed.
 Regardless of the field of study or preference for defining data (quantitative,
qualitative), accurate data collection is essential to maintaining the integrity of
research.
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CONCEPT OF DATA COLLECTION
 Data collection needs thorough planning, hard work, patience,
perseverance and more to be able to complete the task successfully.

 Data collection starts with determining what kind of data required

followed by the selection of a sample from a certain population. After
that, you need to use a certain instrument to collect the data from
the selected sample.

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TYPES OF DATA
1) Qualitative Data:
Qualitative data are mostly non-numerical and usually descriptive or nominal in
nature. This means the data collected are in the form of words and sentences.
Often (not always), such data captures feelings, emotions, or subjective
perceptions of something.
Qualitative approaches aim to address the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of a program and tend
to use unstructured methods of data collection to fully explore the topic.
Qualitative questions are open-ended. Qualitative methods include focus groups,
group discussions and interviews.
Qualitative approaches are good for further exploring the effects and unintended
consequences of a program. They are, however, expensive and time consuming to
implement. Additionally the findings cannot be generalized to participants outside
of the program and are only indicative of the group involved.

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TYPES OF DATA
1) Qualitative Data:
Qualitative data collection methods play an important role in impact
evaluation by providing information useful to understand the processes
behind observed results and assess changes in people’s perceptions of
their well-being.
Furthermore qualitative methods can be used to improve the quality of
survey-based quantitative evaluations by helping generate evaluation
hypothesis; strengthening the design of survey questionnaires and
expanding or clarifying quantitative evaluation findings.

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TYPES OF DATA
1) Qualitative Data:
The methods are characterized by the following attributes:
 they tend to be open-ended and have less structured protocols (i.e., researchers
may change the data collection strategy by adding, refining, or dropping
techniques or informants);
 they rely more heavily on interactive interviews; respondents may be
interviewed several times to follow up on a particular issue, clarify concepts or
check the reliability of data;
 they use triangulation to increase the credibility of their findings (i.e.,
researchers rely on multiple data collection methods to check the authenticity of
their results);
 generally their findings are not generalizable to any specific population, rather
each case study produces a single piece of evidence that can be used to seek
general patterns among different studies of the same issue.
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TYPES OF DATA
2) Quantitative Data:
 Quantitative data is numerical in nature and can be mathematically
computed.
 Quantitative data measure uses different scales, which can be classified as
nominal scale, ordinal scale, interval scale and ratio scale. Often (not
always), such data includes measurements of something.
 Quantitative approaches address the ‘what’ of the program. They use a
systematic standardized approach and employ methods such as surveys
and ask questions.
 Quantitative approaches have the advantage that they are cheaper to
implement, are standardized so comparisons can be easily made and the
size of the effect can usually be measured.

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TYPES OF DATA
2) Quantitative Data:
 Quantitative approaches however are limited in their capacity for the
investigation and explanation of similarities and unexpected differences. It
is important to note that for peer-based programs quantitative data
collection approaches often prove to be difficult to implement for
agencies as lack of necessary resources to ensure rigorous
implementation of surveys and frequently experienced low participation
and loss to follow up rates are commonly experienced factors.
 The 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. If the intent is to generalize from the
research participants to a larger population, the researcher will employ
probability sampling to select participants.
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TYPES OF DATA
2) Quantitative Data:
Typical quantitative data gathering strategies include:
 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.
 Administering surveys with closed-ended questions (e.g., face-to
face and telephone interviews, questionnaires etc).

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TYPES OF DATA
2) Quantitative Data:
 Typical quantitative data gathering strategies include:
 In quantitative research (survey research), interviews are more structured
than in Qualitative research. In a structured interview, the researcher asks a
standard set of questions and nothing more. Face -to -face interviews have a
distinct advantage of enabling the researcher to establish rapport with
potential participants and therefore gain their cooperation.
 Paper-pencil-questionnaires can be sent to a large number of people and
saves the researcher time and money. People are more truthful while
responding to the questionnaires regarding controversial issues in particular
due to the fact that their responses are anonymous.

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TYPES OF DATA
3) Mixed Methods:
 Mixed methods approach as design, combining both qualitative and
quantitative research data, techniques and methods within a single research
framework.
 Mixed methods approaches may mean a number of things, i.e. a number of
different types of methods in a study or at different points within a study or
using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods.
 Mixed methods encompass multifaceted approaches that combine to
capitalize on strengths and reduce weaknesses that stem from using a single
research design. Using this approach to gather and evaluate data may assist
to increase the validity and reliability of the research.

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TYPES OF DATA
3) Mixed Methods:
 To gather and evaluate data may assist to increase the validity and reliability of the
research. Some of the common areas in which mixed-method approaches may be
used include:
• Initiating, designing, developing and expanding interventions;
• Evaluation;
• Improving research design; and
• Corroborating findings, data triangulation or convergence.
 Some of the challenges of using a mixed methods approach include:
• Delineating complementary qualitative and quantitative research questions;
• Time-intensive data collection and analysis; and
• Decisions regarding which research methods to combine.
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CLASSIFICATION OF DATA
PRIMARY DATA
Data that has been collected from first-hand-experience is known as primary data.
Primary data has not been published yet and is more reliable, authentic and objective.
Primary data has not been changed or altered by human beings; therefore its validity is
greater than secondary data.
Importance of Primary Data: In statistical surveys it is necessary to get information from
primary sources and work on primary data. For example, the statistical records of female
population in a country cannot be based on newspaper, magazine and other printed
sources. A research can be conducted without secondary data but a research based on
only secondary data is least reliable and may have biases because secondary data has
already been manipulated by human beings. One of such sources is old and secondly
they contain limited information as well as they can be misleading and biased.
Sources of Primary Data: Sources for primary data are limited and at times it becomes
difficult to obtain data from primary source because of either scarcity of population or
lack of cooperation.

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CLASSIFICATION OF DATA
Sources of primary data:
Experiments  Experiments require an artificial or natural setting in
which to perform logical study to collect data. Experiments are more
suitable for medicine, psychological studies, nutrition and for other
scientific studies. In experiments the experimenter has to keep control
over the influence of any extraneous variable on the results.
Survey  Survey is most commonly used method in social sciences,
management, marketing and psychology to some extent. Surveys can
be conducted in different methods.

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CLASSIFICATION OF DATA
Sources of primary data:
Questionnaire  It is the most commonly used method in survey.
Questionnaires are a list of questions either open-ended or close-ended for
which the respondents give answers. Questionnaire can be conducted via
telephone, mail, live in a public area, or in an institute, through electronic
mail or through fax and other methods.
Interview  Interview is a face-to-face conversation with the respondent. In
interview the main problem arises when the respondent deliberately hides
information otherwise it is an in depth source of information. The
interviewer can not only record the statements the interviewee speaks but
he can observe the body language, expressions and other reactions to the
questions too. This enables the interviewer to draw conclusions easily.

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CLASSIFICATION OF DATA
Sources of primary data:
Observations  Observation can be done while letting the observing person
know that s/he is being observed or without letting him know. Observations
can also be made in natural settings as well as in artificially created
environment.

Advantages of Using Primary Data

The investigator collects data specific to the problem under study. There
is no doubt about the quality of the data collected (for the investigator).
If required, it may be possible to obtain additional data during the study
period.

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CLASSIFICATION OF DATA
Disadvantages of Using Primary Data
1. The investigator has to contend with all the hassles of data collection
• deciding why, what, how, when to collect;
• getting the data collected (personally or through others);
• getting funding and dealing with funding agencies;
• ethical considerations (consent, permissions, etc.).
2. Ensuring the data collected is of a high standard
• all desired data is obtained accurately, and in the format it is required in;
• there is no fake/ cooked up data;
• unnecessary/ useless data has not been included.
3. Cost of obtaining the data is often the major expense in studies.

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CLASSIFICATION OF DATA
SECONDARY DATA
 Data collected from a source that has already been published in any form
is called as secondary data. The review of literature in any research is
based on secondary data. It is collected by someone else for some other
purpose (but being utilized by the investigator for another purpose).
 For examples, Census data being used to analyze the impact of education
on career choice and earning. Common sources of secondary data for
social science include censuses, organizational records and data collected
through qualitative methodologies or qualitative research.
 Secondary data is essential, since it is impossible to conduct a new survey
that can adequately capture past change and/or developments.

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CLASSIFICATION OF DATA
Sources of Secondary Data:
The following are some ways of collecting secondary data:
 Books
 Records
 Biographies
 Newspapers
 Published censuses or other statistical data
 Data archives
 Internet articles
 Research articles by other researchers (journals) Databases, etc.

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CLASSIFICATION OF DATA
Importance of Secondary Data:
Secondary data can be less valid but its importance is still there. Sometimes
it is difficult to obtain primary data; in these cases getting information from
secondary sources is easier and possible. Sometimes primary data does not
exist in such situation one has to confine the research on secondary data.
Sometimes primary data is present but the respondents are not willing to
reveal it in such case too secondary data can suffice.
For example, if the research is on the psychology of transsexuals first it is
difficult to find out transsexuals and second they may not be willing to give
information you want for your research, so you can collect data from books
or other published sources.
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CLASSIFICATION OF DATA
A clear benefit of using secondary data is that much of the background work
needed has already been carried out.
For example, literature reviews, case studies might have been carried out,
published texts and statistics could have been already used elsewhere,
media promotion and personal contacts have also been utilized. This wealth
of background work means that secondary data generally have a pre-
established degree of validity and reliability which need not be re-examined
by the researcher who is re-using such data.
Furthermore, secondary data can also be helpful in the research design of
subsequent primary research and can provide a baseline with which the
collected primary data results can be compared to. Therefore, it is always
wise to begin any research activity with a review of the secondary data

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CLASSIFICATION OF DATA
Advantages of Using Secondary Data
• No hassles of data collection.
• It is less expensive.
• The investigator is not personally responsible for the quality of data (‘I didn’t do it’).
Disadvantages of Using Secondary Data
• The data collected by the third party may not be a reliable party so the reliability and
accuracy of data go down.
• Data collected in one location may not be suitable for the other one due variable
environmental factor.
• With the passage of time the data becomes obsolete and very old.
• Secondary data collected can distort the results of the research. For using secondary
data a special care is required to amend or modify for use.
• Secondary data can also raise issues of authenticity and copyright

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METHODS OF PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION
In primary data collection, you collect the data yourself using qualitative and
quantitative methods. The key point here is that the data you collect is unique to
you and your research and, until you publish, no one else has access to it. There are
many methods of collecting primary data.
Questionnaires Activity Sampling Technique
 Interviews Memo Motion Study
 Focus Group Interviews Process Analysis
 Observation  Link Analysis
 Survey  Time and Motion Study
Case-studies  Experimental Method
Diaries  Statistical Method
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Activity: Methods of Collecting Primary Data
G1 Selected Individual Activity: Choose and define one
method in collecting primary data.
G2 Selected Individual Activity: Choose and discuss the
process of conducting each of the methods of collecting
primary data.
G3 Selected Individual Activity: Choose and assess the
process of conducting each of the methods of collecting
primary data.

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