data analysis: kinds of Data

Question 1

what are the different types of data

Answer 1

Qualitative data

Quantitative data

Primary data

secondary data

Question 2

how qualitative data expressed

Answer 2

Qualitative data is expressed in words rather than numbers or statistics and may take the form of a written description of he thoughts, feelings and opinions or participants ( or a written account of what the research saw in the case of an observation)

Question 3

what are some examples of qualitative data

Answer 3

some examples of qualitative data are:

• extracts form a diary
• notes recorded within counselling

Question 4

how do we collect the data produced from qualitative data

Answer 4

Qualitative methods of data collection are those concerned wit the interpretation of language from e.g. an interview or an unstructured observation

Question 5

how is quantitative data expressed

Answer 5

quantitative data is expressed numerically on the form of individual scores from participants such as the number of worse a person was able to recall in a memory experiment for example

data is open to being analysed statistically an can be easily converted into graphs, charts e.t.c

Question 6

which form of data is better: qualitative and or quantitative

Answer 6

It depends on the purpose and the aims of the research

there is also a significant overlap between the two

Question 7

what is primary data

Answer 7

sometimes called field data, refers to original data that has been collected specifically for the purpose of the investigation by the research

the data arrives first hand from the participants themselves

Question 8

how is primary data collected

Answer 8

it is gathered by conducting an experiment, questionnaire, interview or observation.

The data produced from these would be classed as primary data

Question 9

what is secondary data

Answer 9

secondary data is collected by someone other that the person who is conducting the research

In other words, it is data that already exists before the psychologists begins their research or investigation

It is sometimes referred to as “desk research” and is often the case that secondary data has been subjected to statistical testing and therefore the significance is known

Question 10

what are some examples of secondary data

Answer 10

secondary data includes:

• articles
• books
• websites
• statistical info data held by the government e.g. employee records within an organisation

Question 11

what are some strengths of qualitative data

Answer 11

a strength of qualitative data is that it offers researcher’s much more richness of detail than quantitative data

• much broader in scope and gives the participant/ respondent more licence to develop their thoughts, feelings and opinions on a subject. This is why qualitative data tends to have greater external validity

Question 12

what are some limitations of qualitative data

Answer 12

• tends to be difficult to analyse

tends not to lend itself to being summarised statistically so that patterns and comparisons within and between data may be hard to identify
Therefore the data often rely on the subjective interpretations of the researcher and these may be subjected to bias particularly if the researcher has preconceptions about the results they are expecting to find

Question 13

what are some advantages of quantitative data

Answer 13

basically the opposite to qualitative data:

-comparisons between groups can be easily drawn

Question 14

what is a disadvantage of quantitative data

Answer 14

-data is much narrower in scope and meaning than qualitative data. This means the data fails to represent real life

Question 15

what is a strength of primary data

Answer 15

• data is authentic data obtained from the participants themselves for the purpose of a particular investigation
  e. g. questionnaires and interviews can be designed in such a way that they specifically target the info that the researcher requires

Question 16

what is a limitation of primary data

Answer 16

primary data requires time and effort on the researcher’s behalf
e.g. conducting an experiment, for instance, requires considerable planning, preparation and resource, and this is a limitation compared to secondary data which may be accessed in a matter of minutes

Question 17

what is a strength of secondary data

Answer 17

secondary data may be inexpensive and easily accessed therefore requiring minimal effort. In fact, when examining secondary data, the researcher may found that the desired data info already exists and so there is no need to conduct a primary data collection. This ultimately saves even more money and time

Question 18

what is a limitation of secondary data

Answer 18

in secondary data, there may be substantial variation in the quality and accuracy of secondary data

e.g. info might appear to be valuable and promising but actually be outdated or incomplete. The content of data may not match the researchers needs or objectives.
Therefore, at this point they might as well collect the data themselves