Types of data

What is Quantitative data? Example?

Data expressed in numbers

example: students were asked to rate their opinions on methods from 1-10

What is qualitative data? Example?

Data expressed in many words (descriptions, feelings and opinions)

example: a patient describes his his experience of suffering with schizophrenia

What is primary data? Example?

Original data collected by the researcher, directly from the participants

example: when people come out of a cinema and a researcher stands by to ask if they feel more violent after the film

What is secondary data? Example?

Data that already exists but is used by a researcher

example: a researcher searches through newspapers to see if there is a relationship between daily temp and the total number of incidents

Quantitative strengths and limitations

Strengths - easy to analyse and are less bias

Limitations - data lacks detail and meaning

Qualitative strengths and limitations

Strengths - provides more detailed information, participants can depend on opinions and data

Limitations - difficult to analyse data and draw conclusions of patterns are hard to identify

Primary strengths and limitations

Strengths - researcher has control over the data (as they conduct study themself)

Limitations - producing this data take a lot of time and effort

Secondary strengths and limitations

Strengths - easier to access someone else’s data and is less effort ( much quicker)

Limitations - data may vary in quality as it isn’t being collected directly by the researcher