types of data

what is qualitative data?

data that is expressed in words

what are the strengths of qualitative data?

• provides more detail by explaining ‘why’ and not just stating ‘what’

• allows participants to include details researcher may not have considered

what are the weaknesses of qualitative data?

• more time consuming to collect

• harder to make comparisons

• harder to analyse

• can’t be represented in graphs / visual representations

what is quantitative data?

data that is expressed numerically

what are the strengths of quantitative data?

• easy and quicker to collect

• comparisons are easier to make

• simpler to analyse

• easy to represent in graphs / visual representations

what are the weaknesses of quantitative data?

• lacks details as tells us ‘what’ but not ‘why’

• restricts the amount of info participants can provide

what is primary data?

original data that has been collected by the researcher from participants specifically for the purpose of the investigation

what is the strength of primary data?

it is created with the specific aims and hypothesis in mind so is more relevant and accurate

what is the weakness of primary data?

it is more time consuming and expensive - takes longer to produce, collect and analyse

what is secondary data?

data that has been collected by someone other than the person who is conducting the research

what is the strength of secondary data?

it costs less time and money to produce and analyse as someone else has already collected the data

what are the weaknesses of secondary data?

• there’s a higher chance the research is not suited exactly to your research question so is less accurate to your study

• can often be outdated so is less accurate

what is a meta-analysis?

a systematic review that involves identifying an aim then searching for research studies which have addressed similar aims/hypotheses

what is the strength of meta-analyses?

it increases the conclusions’ validity as they’re based on a wider range

what is the weakness of meta-analyses?

research designs in studies can vary, so they’re not truly comparable