Data Collection
- Data which records quantities is quantitative data
- Examples of quantitative data are:
- Numerical data collected in questionnaires
- Traffic counts
- Environmental quality surveys
- River data: velocity, discharge
- Weather data
- Data which records descriptive information is qualitative data
- Examples of qualitative data:
- Field sketches and photographs
- Non-numeric questionnaire data
- Interview answers
Questionnaires and interviews
- When collecting data via questionnaires or interviews a number of questioning types can be used:
- Closed questions where answers are limited to single words, numbers or a list of options
- Statements which use a scale to gauge people's views. For example, strongly agree/agree
- Open questions where the respondent can give any answer
- Questionnaires can be used to gather a large sample of data
- Interviews are more in-depth and tend to be used to gather a smaller data sample
Environmental quality surveys
- These are used to collect data about the environmental quality of different sites
- They use the judgement of the person conducting the survey to assess environmental quality against a range of indicators
- Using a sliding scale (1 -5) or bipolar scale (-3 to 3)
- Usually, the lower the score the more negative the assessment of the environmental quality
- They are subjective because they are based on the opinion of the person completing them
- This can be reduced by:
- Completing in small groups to reach a consensus regarding the score
- Using the mode of EQS completed by a number of students
- They produce quantitative data
Data Types - Strengths and Limitations
Strengths | Limitations | |
Quantitative Data |
Possible to have a larger sample size Information can often be collected quickly Data collection can be duplicated More objective than qualitative data More reliable than qualitative data |
The meaning behind the results is not clear Human error or equipment error can lead to mistakes in measurement |
Qualitative Data |
More in-depth than quantitative data More valid than quantitative data |
Often a small sample size Enquiries are not easy to duplicate Difficult to make comparisons Low reliability Time-consuming |