12. types of data

Question 1

subjective data

Answer 1

data that is influenced by a persons personal thoughts, feelings, or opinions. requires a researcher to interpret it

eg. aggressive acts observed,
reported feelings of happiness

more likely to be QUALITATIVE

Question 2

objective data

Answer 2

data that is unbiased, factual and not influenced by a person’s personal thoughts, feelings, or opinions. should be more consistent between researchers, as nothing is up to interpretation

eg. the number of times that someone gambles,
adrenaline levels in the blood

more likely to be QUANTITATIVE

Question 3

quantitative data

Answer 3

numerical data about the quantity of a psychological measure
normally obtained through objective sources that need little or no interpretation

eg. “how many” or “how often”

Question 4

features of quantitative data

Answer 4

statistical, structured, objective, concise, closed questions

Question 5

PROS AND CONS of quantitative data

Answer 5

PROS:
- more objective, no interpretations
- increases validity
- lower risk of researcher bias
- more reliable and replicable
- easy to analyse statistically

CONS:
- don’t always investigate the reasons behind responses
- can limit validity
- gives less in-depth or rich data

Question 6

qualitative data

Answer 6

descriptive, in-depth, non-numerical data indicating the quality of a psychological characteristic.

eg. “why”, words, images, etc

Question 7

features of qualitative data

Answer 7

non-statistical, unstructured, semi-structured, subjective, open questions

Question 8

PROS AND CONS of qualitative data

Answer 8

PROS:
- more representative
- ppt can fully express themselves
- important but unusual responses are less likely to be ignored

CONS:
- risk of subjectivity
- researcher has to interpret ppt
responses
- can limit validity
- detailed data may not be generalisable to a wider population
- time consuming and expensive to interpret to analyse statistically