Data Collection Methods – Types, Uses and Steps
Big Data is still the buzzword of 2022. The buzz isn’t expected to fade anytime soon. Big Data is the study and analysis of large amounts of data. This is the age of data revolution, where information alone can determine the success or failure of businesses. Industries have recognized the importance data and are continually striving to improve their data management techniques.
These days, organizations are spending a lot of time and money to acquire data about their customers. They use this data to better understand their customers and create better products or services that will help them succeed. Data collection is the first step.
How do you gather such a large amount data? Data Management Platform is a widely used software tool to collect, store and analyze data. Let’s talk about the various methods and ways of data collection in this blog.
Learn more about the Guide to Data Science.
What are the Different Types Of Data?
First, we must distinguish the data into primary, secondary, or tertiary data from a collector’s perspective in order to begin the process of collecting data. Let’s take a closer look at the different types.
Primary Data – This is the data that you get directly from your audience. Or data that is first-hand from a researcher. These data are extremely accurate and relevant to the business. These data are sometimes called raw data or first-party information.
Second-party Data – Second-party information is data that has been acquired or brought to you by a first-party who has performed the data collection. The first-party is typically an organization or marketplace that specializes on different types of data collection. The second-party data can be trusted for accuracy and provides insight that primary data cannot.
Third-party data – These types are typically gathered from a variety sources. These data can be purchased and sold on data forums. Third-party data is more scalable than other types of data.
You can choose from different data types and data collection methods depending on your requirements. Each type of data can provide different aspects of the same problem. You can combine different types of data to make your study more interesting. You can also divide data into quantitative and qualitative depending on how it was extracted. Let us now discuss qualitative and quantitative data.
Quantitative Data – Quantitative data can be represented in numbers or percentages. You can see the number of customers who buy a product, the percentage of customers who return to the brand, and so forth. Quantitative data can be easily analyzed and derived insights because they are represented in quantifiable values. They are reliable and provide objective and unambiguous results.
Qualitative data – These are customer experiences that are expressed in phrases or opinions. Customer reviews are one of the most powerful examples of qualitative data. It is difficult to measure qualitative data and it is less concrete. They serve the purpose of highlighting intangible aspects of the product/service and aid in assigning weights for quantitative data.
What are the steps involved in data collection?
There are many ways to collect data. We will focus here on Quantitative Data Collecting methods. Regardless of the different methods used to collect data, the process remains the same. Let’s now discuss the key steps involved in Data Collection.
How to determine what type of information you want to collect
The first step in data collection is to identify the type of information you want and to choose the details you want. What source do you want to collect data? What is the desired amount of data? What is the ultimate goal of data collection? These questions must be answered in the first stage.
If you want to collect data about videos topics for your YouTube channel then you will first need to find the video. Next, filter by age, geography, number of people watching, etc.
Establishing a timeline to collect data –
A timeline will help you set short goals and achieve your data collection goals. This should be included in the data collection plan. Different timeframes are suitable for different types and types of data collection processes, such as continuous data collection or fixed-time interval data collection.
Selecting the data collection mode
This is the time to choose the best