types of data

what are primary data

data that a researcher has gathered themselves in their own study

what are secondary data

data that researcher has obtained from elsewhere or another piece of research to use of inform them un their own research

what is qualitative data

data that is meaningful, insightful data in the form of words. (written data)

what is quantitative data

data that is numerical which can be counted

strength of quantitative data

1. easy to compare and analyse finding

2. can be easily replicated

strength of qualitative data

1. gives insight and detail as to why a behaviour might be happening

2. high construct validity (whether a test measures what it claims to measure)

strength of primary data

1. high vaidity (whether a test measures what it claims to measure)

2. higher reliability (able to standardize procedure and replicate}

strength of secondary data

1. less time consuming- no need to gather data or conduct experiment

2. ethical- using someone else data doesn’t require consent and as such is ethical.

weakness of quantitative data

1. lacks insight or detail into why the behaviour is happening- lacks internal validity

2. low construct validity- not measuring all behaviour, just a numerical score of behaviour

weakness of qualitative data

1. harder to compare and analyse responses

2. harder to replicate

weakness of primary data

1. time consuming- as conducting it yourself may take more time

2. risk of researcher bias- (you have a hypothesis and may interpret things in that way- lowers validity)

weakness of secondary data

1. low control- as not conducting it yourself, less control over variable within the experiment

2. less reliable-didn’t conduct yourself so cannot standardize, as such no longer reliable.