types of data Flashcards
what is qualitative data?
data that is expressed in words and non-numerical (but may be converted to numbers for the purpose of analysis)
what is quantitative data?
data that can be counted, usually given as numbers
is qualitative data better than quantitative data?
- no, it depends on the purpose and aims of the research
- also significant overlap between the two; researchers collecting quantitative data as part of an experiment may often interview participants as a way of gaining more qualitative insight into their experience of the investigation
- similarly, there are a number of ways in which qualitative information can be converted to numerical data
evaluation of qualitative data: more richness in detail so greater external validity
- much broader in scope
- gives participant / respondent the opportunity to more fully report their thoughts, feelings and opinions on a given subject
- greater external validity because it provides the researcher with a more meaningful insight into the participant’s worldviewew
evaluation of qualitative data: 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
evaluation of qualitative data: less valid conclusions
- due to the difficulty of analysing qualitative data, conclusions often rely on the subjective interpretations of the researcher
- these may be subject to bias, particularly if the researcher has preconceptions about what they are expecting to find
evaluation of quantitative data
essentially the opposite of qualitative data:
+ relatively simple to analyse so comparisons between groups can easily be drawn
+ data in numerical form tends to be more objective and less open to bias
- narrower in meaning and detail so may fail to represent ‘real life’
what is primary data?
- original data that has been collected specifically for the purpose of the investigation by the researcher
- arrives first-hand from the participants themselves
- includes data which is gathered by conducting an experiment, questionnaire, interview or observation
what is secondary data?
- data that has been collected by someone other than the person who is conducting the research
- it is often the case that secondary data has already been subject to statistical testing so significance is known
where can secondary data come from?
- journal articles
- books
- websites
- information held by the government (eg. census)
- population records
- employee absence records within an organisation
what is meta-analysis?
- a form of research method that uses secondary data where a number of studies are identified which have investigated the same aims / hypothesis
- the results of these studies can be pooled together and a joint conclusion produced
what is the purpose of meta-analysis?
- in the case of experimental research, where the independent variable has been measured in the same way, it is possible to perform a statistical analysis and calculate an effect size (DV of a meta-analysis)
- this gives an overall statistical measure of difference or relationship between variables across a number of studies
evaluation of meta-analysis: useful
allows us to create a larger, more varied sample and results can then be generalised across much larger populations, increasing validity
evaluation of meta-analysis: prone to publication bias
- researcher may not select all relevant studies, choosing to leave out those with negative or non-significant results
- therefore, conclusions from the meta-analysis will be biased because they only represent some of the relevant data
evaluation of primary data: fits the job
- primary data is authentic data obtained from the participants themselves for the purpose of a particular investigation
- questionnaires and interviews (eg.) can be designed in such a way that they specially target the information that the researcher requires
