What Is Data Collection: Definition, Methods, Techniques & Examples

What Is Data Collection: Definition

Before we jump into tips and methods of research and gathering information, let’s define a data collection term. In a nutshell, before you will make a business decision, answer a research question or test your hypothesis, you need collected data. It is the information to analyze and outline answers to your questions. 

There are a lot of approaches to gathering information. They depend on the project's purpose and aims. For example, for academics, this process will depend on a type of research methodology — will they use qualitative or quantitative analysis, and what field are they working in? Next, we will focus on how to know what information you need to collect for valuable analysis.

Questions to Ask Before You Collect Data

The most important question before collecting data is to outline what exactly you need to gather to answer your research question or business analytic needs. It may look relatively easy, but before launching this process, ask yourself those questions:

• What is my research aim and goal?
• What type of info do I need to answer research questions?
• What analysis will I apply to this outcome?
• How will I store and manage collected information?
• How to ensure accuracy when I gather data?

Why Collecting Data Is Important?

You may wonder why we pay so much attention to data collection as valuable insights for our research we will get from an analysis process. However, you won’t be able to conduct a proper analysis if you collect data that is irrelevant or unclear. Your whole research project can fail because your data gathering techniques were compromised. 

Here are a few reasons why this process is important and why you need to consider the best ways to collect data:

1. Accurate results Choosing the right methods is critical to obtaining accurate results and meaningful insights. Incorrect methods can lead to wrong data and inaccurate conclusions.
2. Clear analysis Effective data collection helps define the analysis process and ensures that research questions are answered fully and coherently.
3. Informed decision-making Gathering the right data is essential for making informed decisions and making the best choices.
4. Preventing errors Mistakes could lead to wrong predictions or misinterpretations.
5. Problem-solving A properly planned strategy helps identify the optimal directions to solve issues outlined in the problem statement.

Hopefully, you already have an understanding of why it is so essential to go deeper into gathering information. In the following paragraphs, we will guide you through methodology and techniques to help you choose one that fits your research.

Types of Data Collection Methods

As you already may know, there are different types of data collection in research. The whole process will depend on a set of variables, project goals, and questions you want to answer in this work. 

First and foremost, there are two main types of information:

• Primary Primary information is first-hand data collected by the researcher that was not analyzed before.
• Secondary Secondary collection of data is organized by a third party and has already been analyzed for other purposes.

Second, you need to define methods of data collection in research. Two key types of collected information for the research are listed below.

• Quantitative data Quantitative information involves numbers that can be used for statistical analysis.
• Qualitative data Qualitative data includes transcript of an interview, focus group, or in other words – everything that is related to letters instead of numbers.

Let’s delve deeper into each type of data you may need for testing hypotheses or answering research questions.

Primary Data Collection Methods

Let’s start with the most frequently used type of information gathering for any analytical work. Primary data collection methods in research focus on raw outcomes you may extract or collect. It can be both qualitative or quantitative info, but a crucial element is that this information was not analyzed before by other researchers. 

Here is how you can collect information for conducting this type of analysis. It can be:

• Survey research
• Interview
• Projective data gathering
• Focus group
• Questionnaires
• Observation
• Experiment
• Ethnography
• Delphi data collection technique.

Next, we will delineate the specifics of each method.

Surveys

These research data collection methods are used in case you need to find general characteristics or opinions on something. You can use it for both types of research. For example, run a correlation for some questions and content analysis for others. Surveys can be done online, by phone, or in person. However, it can also be a way to distribute data by formulating the survey questions.

Interviews

This data collection method will help to go deeper into the understanding of a topic or issue. This is a one-to-one conversation based on questions you derive from a theoretical ground. Researchers use interviews for a qualitative study when they need to discuss some issues. It must be open-end questions to ensure that the recipient will go deeper into the topic. Interviews can also be online or offline, the responses should be recorded and transcribed later.

Projective Data Gathering

This data gathering method allows respondents to project their opinion or subjective beliefs on other people. Then this information will help researchers to understand real behavioral reasons better. It can be used during your interviews in small groups. Often you will find that political researchers use it. For example, if people do not want to say how they voted, they can be asked if they can guess how their neighbors voted. Research responses still will tell more about responders than about their neighbors.

Focus Groups

In this case, researchers conduct a discussion in a small group to collect data and analyze it later. Those 5-7 people can be representatives of one or different social groups. Researchers ask questions and can determine how answers from other people affect each one in a group. It helps to understand the issue better and get some insights on the topic. However, a list of questions for your focus group should be defined previously.

Questionnaires

One of the data collection strategies is to get a set of straightforward answers to simple questions. It can be structured questionnaires for quantitative research or unstructured for qualitative. Also, there can be various types of questions — open-ended, yes/no, multiple choice, and others. The aim of this type of gathering information is to have as much information about responders as possible.

Observation

This method of data collection can be used to research something in natural circumstances without affecting a situation. In other words, researchers can observe the behavior of someone in a specific situation without mentioning that this is research. However, the data should be collected or noted through surveys or journals. All details should be carefully fixed for future analysis.

Experiment

This way of collecting data involves testing hypotheses to get the information for analysis. Researchers usually manipulate variables and measure their effect on each other. In other words, to gather the information, you need to launch a few tests and then use the results for analytics. This method can be applied to test hypotheses. You can understand how the variables can change any situation.

Ethnography

This is quite a popular technique to gather data. This method means the observation of a community, culture, or group of people first-handed. It is often applied to expeditions for learning the cultural or social specifics of the researched group. You must record all the observations (audio or text) and also add some reflection that will help to understand the phenomenon better.

Delphi Data CollectionTechnique

This data collection method is most frequently used in economic research to gather expert opinions on research questions and get a consensus on them. In this case, the question is asked of a group of experts, and as a result, they provide a consolidated opinion on the topic. The aim is to collect an expert judgment on an issue that can open a new perspective on understanding and researching the topic.

Secondary Methods of Data Collection

As opposed to primary data collection methods, there are no specific ways of gathering the information in case of secondary data. All the data are already collected by other researchers. For example, someone researched the influence of metals on soils and already has test results. If you are also working on this topic, you can use the data collected by others to run your own analysis. (For instance, look at some correlations that were not previously observed.) 

As there are no techniques for secondary info gathering, here are some sources that can be used for further analysis:

• Sales reports
• Business statements
• Statistics
• Government reports
• Customer personal information, etc.

Research Data Collection Tools

In this article, we already discussed why we should collect data and what method to use in each situation. However, it is also essential to be aware of the best data collection tools. In other words, you need to understand what you may use for accurate information gathering. Let’s briefly discuss a popular data collection tool you may apply in your research. 

• Online survey One of the most frequently used types of survey. It allows researchers to find a lot of responders. You may use some paid (like Qualtrics) or free versions (like Goggle forms) to construct surveys. However, be careful with possible fake responders.
• Checklists You may use it while speaking with a responder — printed or online version.
• Role-Playing With this data collection tool, responders pretend to be in a specific imaginary situation to answer your questions.
• Offline survey You may also use the old-school tool of in-person surveys. It means asking people to respond to your questions and marking the answers in your printed forms.
• Case studies Case study allows us to research variables in a specific situation and analyze the influence of circumstances.

Data Collection Examples

To be more specific with all the research methodology and tools we outline in this text, let's look at examples of data collection. It will definitely help to understand what technique you need to apply to each situation and research case.

Data collection example 1

Let’s pretend you are looking at how bots and trolls in social media influence public opinion about the presidential election. To understand it, you need to measure how each of the fake news shared and pushed by bots change people’s view on the political situation. To analyze it, you may run a survey with a questionnaire you developed based on the theoretical ground. After you have your responses, you can use descriptive statistics or content analysis to get insights from this information.

Data collection example 2

You are going on an expedition and want to write an academic paper on wedding traditions in tribes. Using the ethnographic techniques, you will observe the actual wedding, make notes, notice some personal reflections, and write it down in the journal. After you start writing the text, you will use these notes as a base for your research.

Why Is It Important to Use Accurate and Appropriate Data Collection Techniques?

To answer this question, you need to imagine how the wrong data can influence the whole research. An accurate data collection procedure is a guarantee that your paper or analytical work will bring valuable and practical insights. For instance, the decision-making should often rely on the results section of your analyses, and incorrect data collecting will ruin the whole study. It will cause wrong predictions and will manipulate the final conclusion section. 

Why may you be wrong with gathering the info for analysis?

1. Choosing wrong collection methods.
2. Do not understanding the aims of your project.
3. You did not consider the limitations of the study.
4. You choose the wrong tool that does not work with a specific type of data
5. Methodology can’t help to answer your research question.

You definitely don’t want to be a researcher whose studies do not work and never help to solve a practical problem. That is why academics need to put maximum effort into the accuracy of gathering information before analysis.

How to Collect Data for Research Step-By-Step

If you are already afraid to start the research, we got a guide with detailed steps in data collection process. In most grad schools, students have a few classes on research and usually learn what method or technique can be used for their work. It is not rocket science to complete accurate and valuable research. You can use our advice for your concrete case. Let’s discuss each step in detail! 

1. Determine the Goal of Your Research

Before you start to collect and analyze data, you need to define critical questions. Why do you conducting this research, and what do you want to achieve? You may think that it's a piece of cake and there is no need to spend a lot of time on this step. However, we would say that you can start to gather data only when you understand why and for what purpose. What does it mean? 

First, your research goal will determine data collection techniques. For instance, you can answer research questions with qualitative data and test hypotheses with quantitative research. Second, accuracy with a final goal will help to define what type of information you need for analysis.

2. Choose a Data Collection Strategy

After you are clear with the research aims, you need to choose the strategy to collect data. It can be an experiment or survey, ethnographic method, or focus group. The gathering strategy should fit the analytical planning. In other words, you need to understand what technology and tools will help you to get the information you need for your research design. 

For instance, you are looking for the influence of social media on vaccination information campaigns. In this case, you will need to decide on a referral group and launch the survey. That is how you will measure the theory of change and role of social media strategies for this kind of campaign.

3. Plan Your Data Collection Process

Outline goals of your paper and define the strategy for collecting data for research. What’s next? We would recommend focusing on detailed planning of data collection procedures for your work. This process can take some time and can be divided into a few phases.

1. Define your dependent and independent variables. Determine independent and dependent variables to see the relationship between them. Maybe you need to measure variables that can’t be directly observed, and you will need to design a survey. In other cases, you will need to access data without interaction with responders, like age or place of living.
2. Design your sampling. In case you run a survey, interview, questionnaire, or focus group, you need to outline proper questions that will lead you to future valuable analysis. All questions should derive from the theory you are using for this research.
3. Delineate data management plan. Researchers need to plan how they will store data. It can be a transcript of the interview (paper form or voice recording), video, or audio for the focus groups. The way to manage and save data will rely on your methodology.

4. Collect Data

The final step is to collect data – implement a tactic and strategy you defined before. It is essential to be accurate and follow all steps in gathering data. You can check various examples of this research stage. 

For instance, researchers can collect tweets for analysis using R or Python code and then convert them into Excel for further analysis. Or you can have interviews with experts, recode the audio, transcribe it, and then code as a part of the content analysis methodology. 

The other example is launching an online survey. You will need to send links to people you want to get responses from. If the researcher uses the automated tool, it is possible to get the whole information in tables or convert it into the form you need

Be sure that all the numbers you have are reliable and validated. This is the core of valuable outcomes.

Now that you have collected your data, it's time to start analyzing and interpreting your results. However, this can be a daunting task, especially if you are new to the world of academic writing. That's where our dissertation writing services might help you.

5. Analyze and Interpret Gathered Data

The last step you will conduct is analyzing collected data to outline insights. After you have an excel file or transcribed interview, you can apply the methodology to get results. Collecting and analyzing data processes should be planned together, as they are highly related. 

The analytical approach you use to obtain results depends on the type of outcomes you gather. For instance, if you conduct a survey, you might require measuring standard deviation or correlation for specific data points. Therefore, it is crucial to have clear research objectives to ensure successful work.

Data Collection Tips & Suggestion

We went through each question in data collecting very carefully, and we hope you are ready to launch your own research and ensure the quality of results. However, if you need just a short overview of best practices before you start to collect data, you are in the right place. Let’s look at the essential tips and tricks you may use for your practices!

1. Be clear with data collection techniques for concrete research. It may happen that you do not understand the aim of the work, and then you will have a problem in the information analysis step.
2. Ensure that your data collection strategies are in line with an analysis methodology. It can save you a bunch of time.
3. Think about all limitations you may have. Gather information that will answer your questions or test your hypothesis.
4. Be aware of pricing for adding additional information points into the research. A lot of tools for sampling gathering are chargeable, and you need to plan the whole research process first to avoid extra payments in the future.
5. Have in mind the research goals all time. You may make a lot of mistakes in analysis, in case you change the research goal. Follow the one goal you determined at the beginning of your research.

Bottom Line on Data Collection

We are sure that after reading a whole text, you are ready to conduct valuable research! In this blog, our team explained what data collection in research is, how data is collected and recorded, and the best examples of collecting data. We prepared a detailed guide on methods and tools researchers can use in their work. You may wonder if all information is applicable to the different disciplines in academia, the same as in business decision-making analysis. The answer is yes. We delineate technologies that can be useful for each type of research. Just check our guide in case you still have questions.