Selected Common Methods and Tools for Data Collection in Research.

Abstract

It is impossible to conceive of research without implying the existence of data collection methods and its subsequent data. Corbin and Straus (2015: 37) noted that “one of the virtues of grounded theory studies and qualitative research in general is that there are many different sources of data”. The various sources of data can be collected using two modes of inquiry vis-à-vis qualitative research and quantitative research (Gupta & Gupta, 2011). Qualitative data collection methods, on one hand, involve mainly subjective forms of data predominantly emphasised by the post-positivism research paradigm. The data in qualitative research mode of inquiry can be collected using various methods including interviews, observations, artifacts, textual analysis, focus groups, applied ethnography, visual methods and documents analysis (Denzin & Lincoln, 2013). Quantitative data collection methods, on the other hand, are those methods mainly from the positivism paradigm that emphasises objective measurements which are usually in quantities and its data is analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Quantitative data collection tools and/or methods include survey questionnaires or schedule, class tests, national standardised assessments and polls. Gupta and Gupta (2011:13) note that “quantitative approach involve the generation of data in a quantitative form which can be subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis in formal and rigid fashion” The focus of this chapter is to discuss selected qualitative and quantitative methods and/or tools of data collection and analysis in research.