Data Collection Methods: Survey, Qualitative, and Unobtrusive

Closed vs. Open Questions (Surveys)

Closed (Fixed-Choice): Provides preformatted response choices.

• Pros: Quick, easy to compare.

• Cons: Restrictive range.

Open-Ended: Respondent replies in their own words.

• Pros: Unexpected responses, exploratory.

• Cons: Time-consuming, difficult to code

Response Options Quality

Must be Mutually Exclusive (only one choice applies) and Exhaustive (covers all possible responses)

Response Biases (Surveys)

• Social Desirability Bias: Tendency to respond favorably or acceptably to society.

• Fence-Sitters: Choosing neutral responses to avoid taking a side.

• Floaters: Choosing a substantive answer when they truly don't know (avoided by explicit "don't know" options or forced-choice questions)

Multi-Item Questionnaires/Index

Combining answers to several questions to measure a concept; reduces idiosyncratic variation (individual reaction to specific words). Increases reliability

Qualitative Research Focus

Focus on meaning of words/observations. Emphasizes subjective experience, social context, and uses an adaptive research design (design develops as research progresses)

Qualitative Methods

• Case Study: Holistic, in-depth understanding of one unit (organization, group).

• Thick Description: Conveying what something is like from the perspective of actors in that setting.

• Ethnography: Immersive study of a culture or group over an extended period.

• Intensive Interviewing: Open-ended, unstructured questioning seeking in-depth feelings/experiences.

• Focus Groups: Unstructured group interviews led by a moderator, studying interaction and opinion formation

Field Notes

• Jottings: Brief notes made during observation.

• Field Notes: Detailed descriptive and reflective notes often written after observation

Unobtrusive Methods

Research where data is collected without the knowledge or participation of the individuals who generated the data. Goal is to minimize self-presentational concerns and increase ecological validity

Secondary Data Analysis (Archival)

Using pre-existing data (collected by others) to answer a different research question.

• Pros: Saves time/money, allows for large/diverse/longitudinal samples.

• Cons: No control over original measures/sample; need to verify data quality

Big Data

Massive data sets reflecting human activity, available digitally. Characterized by Volume, Velocity, and Variety

Content Analysis

Systematic, quantitative analysis of recorded human communication (books, articles, speeches, media). Requires clearly specified constructs. Key measurement issue is Inter-coder Reliability (agreement between coders)