Types of data Flashcards
What are the 4 types of data?
- Qualitative data
- Quantitative data
- Primary data
- Secondary data
What is quantitative data?
scientific and objective, Numeric measures are used and data can be statistically analysed. Data is high in reliability. However, quantitative data may lack detail and are often collected in contrived settings.
What is qualitative data?
Rich and detailed and often collected in real-life settings. Data are high in validity. However, qualitative data may be subjective and an imprecise measure and may be low in reliability.
What are some strengths of quantitative data?
Quantitative data are easy to analyse, using descriptive statistics and statistical tests. This enables conclusions to be easily drawn.
Quick, usually cheap and easy to obtain.
Objective, less open to bias
What are some limitations of quantitative data?
Such data may oversimplify reality. For example, a questionnaire with closed questions may force people to tick answers that don’t really represent their feelings. Therefore, the conclusions may be meaningless.
What are some strengths for qualitative data?
Provide rich and detailed information about people’s experiences. This can provide unexpected insights into thoughts and behaviour because the answers are not restricted by previous expectations.
What are some limitations of qualitative data?
The complexity makes it more difficult to analyse such data and draw conclusions.
Subjective and open to bias, inaccuracies, and
inconsistency.
What is primary data?
This is data collected first hand by the researcher.
What are the most common types of primary data?
Experiments
Survey
Observations
Non-participant observation
What is a strength of primary data?
The control the researcher has over the data. The data collection can be designed so it fits the aims and hypothesis of the study.
What is a limitation of primary data?
It is a very lengthy and therefore expensive process. Simply designing a study takes a lot of time and then time is spent recruiting participants, conducting the study and analysing the data.
What is secondary data?
Information that was collected for a purpose other than the current one. The researcher could use data collected by themselves but for a different study, or collected by another researcher.
What are some strengths of secondary data?
It is simpler and cheaper to just access someone else’s data because significantly less time and equipment is needed.
Such data may have been subjected to statistical testing and thus it is already known whether it is significant.
What is a limitation of secondary data?
The data may not exactly fit the needs of the study.
What is a meta analysis?
Refers to a research strategy where instead of conducting new research with participants, the researchers examine the results of several previous studies.
