Data Collection Techniques

1. Questionnaires
2. Scales
3. Psychological Tests
4. Interviews
 Questionnaire
the primary research instrument in survey research.
Constructed and used properly: a questionnaire is a
powerful scientific instrument for investigating behavior.
frequently measure demographic variables.
Demographic variables allow researchers to describe the
characteristics of the people who complete the survey
e.g., race, ethnicity, age, religious affiliation,
occupation, and socioeconomic status.
 Questionnaire
Is a list of written questions to be answered
by marking a correct response
Self administered tool
Inexpensive to administer
No experience is required for adminstration
Used for large sample survey
Group administration
Easy to construct
Two Types of
Questions:

1. Open-ended

2. Closed-ended
 Two Types of Questions:

Open-ended Questions = place no

constraints on respondents who are
free to answer in their own words.

Closed-ended Questions =
respondent is given the option of
choosing from a number of
predetermined answers.
 Examples of Open-ended Questions:

 What do you think about your Mental

health issues?

 Which mutual funds have you been

investing in for the past year?

 Why do you think airport security is

better now than since six months
ago?
 Open-ended Questions:

• Typically used in exploratory/qualitative studies.

• Typically used in personal interview surveys
involving small samples.

• Allows respondent freedom of response.

• Respondent must be articulate and willing to
spend
time giving a full answer.

• Data is in narrative form which can be time

consuming and difficult to code and analyze.
• Possible researcher bias in interpretation.
• Narrative analyzed using of content analysis.
Softwares are available (e.g., Nvivo, NUD*IST).
Closed-ended Questions:

Single Answer
 Multiple Answer
 Rank Order
 Numeric
 Likert-Type Scales
 Semantic Differential
 Closed-ended Questions

• Typically used in quantitative studies.

• Assumption is researcher has knowledge to
pre-specify response categories.
• Data can be pre-coded and therefore in a form
amenable for use with statistical packages
(e.g., SPSS, SAS) – data capture therefore
easier.
• More difficult to design but simplifies
analysis.
• Used in studies involving large samples.
• Limited range of response options.
Questionnaire Construction
 Broad Considerations
• Sequencing of questions.
• Identification of concepts.
• How many questions are required to
capture each concept.
• Question wording.
• Overall length of questionnaire.
• Placing of sensitive questions.
• Ability of respondents.
• Level of measurement.
• Open-ended versus closed-end
questions.
 Concept Identification
Conceptual definition – e.g.,
depression, coping Styles,
Psychological distress……a perceived by
person, it is the extent of stress faced
by any individual due to some trauma.

Working Definition for Concept

 Decompose definition into components
Search for items that are measurable.
measurable
Preparing and Presenting Good
Questions

• Use Simple Words.

• Be brief.
• Avoid Ambiguity.
• Avoid Leading Questions.
• Avoid Double-Barreled Questions.
• Check Questionnaire Layout.
• Prepare Clear Instructions.
• Watch Question Sequence.
 A Survey UNO
was conducted by the United Nations using a sample from several
different countries. The question asked was:

" Would you please give your opinion about the

food shortage in the rest of the world?"

The survey was a huge failure. Why?

• In Africa they did not know what 'food' meant.

• In Western Europe, they did not know what 'shortage'
meant.
• In Eastern Europe they did not know what 'opinion'
meant.
• In South America they did not know what 'please' meant.
• And in the U.S., they did not know what 'the rest of the
world' meant.
 Identify response bias for below
questions
1. Do you advocate a lower speed limit to save human
lives?”
2. “When you visited the museum, how many times did
you read the plaques that explain what the exhibit
contained?”
3. “How important is it for stores to carry a large variety of
different brands of this product?”
4. “Don’t you see some danger in the new foreign policy?
5. “What small appliance, such as countertop appliances,
have you purchased in the past month?”
6. “When you buy ‘fast food,’ what percentage of the time
do you order each of the following types of food?”
 Comments on Questions
1. Loaded question:
Because everyone wants to save lives. Also, it
presumes that lower speed limits saves lives.
2. Double barreled because respondents likely
cannot remember the exact number of times.
3. Not specific enough about types of stores.
4. Leading question because uses “danger” in
sentence.
5. Ambiguous : Answers likely to relate only to
countertop appliances and not all small
appliances.
6. Over generalization because does not specify
time period.
Scales & Scale Construction
Scale Construction: basic
steps
 Scale Construction: basic steps
Start with a knowledge base
1. Decide what information would be sought?
2. Decide what type of scale should be used?
3. Write the first draft of the scale?
4. Keep the objectives in mind while compiling
the first draft
5. Reexamine and revise the questions/items
6. Decide the Response categories
 To Prepare a Questionnaire
7. Pretest/ Try out the scale: collect some data and
use of simple statistical procedures.
8. Edit and finalize the questionnaire
9. Specify the procedures for its use ---Instruction &

Choosing the question Format

Open ended questions: no limit for response
 Closed ended questions
responses are given on 2 to 7 point rating scales
Example item:

One of the reasons to get married is to have children

Strongly Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly

agree disagree
 Closed ended questions
Example 2
I fee that the meeting time was used effectively.
1 2 3 4 5 6
Strongly disagree Strongly Agree

Example 3
5 4 3 2 1
Very somewhat neither somewhat very
Satisfied Dissatisfied
 Pre-testing Questionnaires:

• Objective: to identify possible shortcomings of

questionnaire.
• Approaches – informal or formal.
• Can assess:
• clarity of instructions
• cover letter
• clarity of questions
• adequacy of questions
codes/categories for pre-coded
questions
• likely response rate
• ability to perform meaningful
analyses
• time to complete the questionnaire
• cost of data collection
• which questions are relevant
• whether key questions have been
overlooked
• sources of bias
Example
 Dimensions of Psychological Stress
The
Theappearance
appearanceof
ofphysical
physicalsymptoms
symptoms
physical
physical headaches,
headaches,Palpitations,
Palpitations,heart
heartbeat
beatetc.
etc.
Their confidence, belief system

psychological
psychological Fear,
Fear,apprehension
apprehensionfeeling,
feeling,stress,
stress,tension
tension

Affect on their routine functioning

Functioning
Functioning

Coping their
theirability
abilityto
tocope
copewith
withstress
stressand
andtrauma
Coping Styles
Styles trauma

Coping
Coping strategies
strategies Their
Theirconfidence,
confidence,belief
beliefsystem,
system,religiosity
religiosity
INTERVIEWS
 Common Features
Face to face interpersonal situation
Questions are presented to the candidate orally
Individual administration.
More flexible: question can be reworded if not
understood by the respondents.
A well trained interviewer can obtain useful
information.
 Interview
Behavioral observation & assessment.
New areas of interest can be explored
Expensive
More effort
Time consuming
Especially used for admissions and recruitments
Two main types of interview

Structured Interviews

Unstructured Interviews
 Structured interviews
Questions, its wording and sequence of items is
fixed
Carefully prepared questions
interview schedules pertaining to a particular
research problem are used.
3 types of interview schedules
1. Open ended
2. Closed ended
3. Scale type items with fixed alternatives
 Unstructured interviews

• More flexible
• Open
• Research objective governs the questions
asked
• Wording, sequence and content is not
fixed
• entirely in the hand of interviewer
 Personal Interview
Questionnaires
• Approaches can vary from very informal to
very formal.
• Expensive in terms of interviewing and
travel costs.
• Expensive in time to complete the process.
• need to gain access.
• training of interviewers.
• co-ordination and supervision of
fieldwork.
• time for interview.
• Unlikely to be used with large samples.
• Problem of lack of anonymity.
• Opportunity to probe complex questions.
 Interviewer-Assisted
Instructions
• How to increase respondents’ participation.
• How to screen out respondents that are not
wanted and still keep them happy.
• What to say when respondents ask how to
answer a particular question.
• When concepts may not be easily understood,
how to define them.
• When answer alternatives are to be read to
respondents (aided response) or not to be
read (unaided response).
• How to follow branching or skip
patterns.
• When and how to probe.
Thank you for your attention