Also very important Flashcards
Qualitative data
Qualitative data is non-numerical, comes in words, texts, pictures. It can be collected through questionnaires, interviews, observations.
Qualitative data example
- Interview transcript
- Video
- Photo
Qualitative data specific feature
gathered by talking or observing
- subjective, subject to interpretation OR analyzed through coding, by reducing rich data into themes or categories
Quantitative data
Quantitative data is numbers that can come from analytical tools, it comes in different types (ratio, interval, ordinal nominal) and can be discrete and continuous
Quantitative data example
- Score on a scale
- Sales of a company
- Quantifiable survey responses
Quantitative data specific feature
gathered by measuring and counting – so objective OR analyzed statistically
Primary data
Primary data is collected by the researcher for the first time, for the purpose of own research and particular problem in mind
Primary data advantage
higher quality (more relevant, necessary variables are present)
Primary data disadvantage
time-taking and thus expensive to collect OR smaller data sets then in secondary
Secondary data
Secondary data was already collected by someone else for another purpose, but is used (reused) by a researcher for own research project/problem
Secondary data advantage
Often cheap and fast access
Secondary data disadvantage
possibly lower quality as perhaps not all relevant variables are present in the existing dataset
Simulated data
Create a model that can be manipulated logically to determine how the ‘real’ physical world works, is used to check if a method or a proposed simulation works, or to study alternative solutions
Simulated data advantage
- Often faster and cheaper to obtain than empirical data
- Predicts future events
Empirical data
Information acquired by scientists through experimentation and observation can be historical or real-time
