Types Of Data Flashcards
What is quantitative data?
- data that is numerically expressed
- Usually in the form of individual scores from p’s
- Data is open to being analysed statistically
- can be easily converted into graphs, charts, et
What is qualitative data?
- data that is expressed in words and may take the form of a written description of the thoughts, feelings and opinions of participants
- mostly concerned with the interpretation of language from an interview or an unstructured observation
What are the strengths of quantitative data?
- Simple to analyse- comparisons between groups can be easily drawn.
- Numerical data is more objective- less open to bias.
What are the weaknesses of quantitative data?
- Much narrower in meaning and detail than qualitative data- may fail to represent real life
- Less detail
What is a strength of qualitative data?
-Large amounts of detail
What is a weakness of qualitative data?
- hard to analyse
- subjective data
What is primary data?
- Original data that has been collected for the purpose of the investigation by the researcher.
- It is data that comes firsthand/ directly from the participants themselves.
- data gathered from experiments, interviews, observations etc
What is secondary data?
- data that has been collected by somebody else , not specifically for the aim of the study, and then used by researcher
- data that already exists before the psychologist begins their research
- includes data that may be located in journal articles, books, websites
What is a strength of primary data?
- obtains data for a specific purpose, so targets the information that the researcher requires.
- Up to date information
What is a weakness of primary data?
- Time-consuming
- Considerable planning, preparation and resources necessary
What is a strength of secondary data?
- Inexpensive and easily accessed requiring minimal effort
- There may be no need to conduct primary data collection
What is a weakness of secondary data?
- May lack quality and accuracy
- Information may be outdated or incomplete.
- The content of the data may not quite match the researcher’s needs or objectives. This may challenge the validity of any conclusions
What is meta analysis?
The process of combining the findings from a number of previously conducted studies on a particular topic. The collated research is reviewed together. Combined data is often statistically tested to provide an overall conclusion.
What is a strength meta analysis?
It allows us to create a larger, more varied sample and results can then be generalised across
much larger populations, increasing validity.
What is a weakness meta analysis?
may be prone to publication bias where the researcher may not select all relevant studies i.e. leaving out negative results.
