Choose the one that suits your research the best as per the data collection technique followed.

Today the article begins with a powerful example to explain how crucial a role data collection plays in not just research but our day-to-day lives. Let's assume you are arrested under the criminal offense of theft by a police official.

You are now subject to a court hearing and a case against you which decides whether or not you are guilty or innocent. Now suppose the people related to you come up with various theories and possible scenarios as to how you could or could not be a criminal.

A rumor spreads and the media start framing you as a criminal. Now imagine if the court of law was to give a verdict to your case purely based on the rumors and theories they heard about you and declare you to be guilty of theft.

False information, rumors, and made-up statements had the power to declare you a criminal simply because this data was accepted by the court of law and believed even if it wasn't true.

But in reality, if there was a court case against you, the court of law will conclude only and only based on “Facts' '.

Each piece of information related to you and the crime you've committed will be closely inspected and introspective even if it be a rumor, and only the most “factually correct” piece of information will be used by the court to give a judgment on your case. 

In both of these cases mentioned above, which case do you have a stronger possibility of getting a judgment that is truthful and real? The latter one.

This is because you are assured about the fact that the court will only decide based on factual data and evidence against or in favor of you.

This is the power of accurate factual data collection. Your entire life can be on the line simply because of an incorrect piece of data collected and applied to your case.

Let's take a simpler academic example, if you are a student, chances are you surf the internet a lot for information related to your projects and assignment help.

You go through many websites and links and find the most relatable data to your assignment. But what if the data published by the site you used to do your project was incorrect? Or false? Or made up?

Your entire assignment suffers because of faulty data. Data Collection Methods and Techniques are the surety, the safety net you trust in terms of the information you collect for your projects and assignments.

When you have a proper procedure and tried and tested method of collecting data, you improve the accuracy and quality of your data by using such methods. 

Data Collection Methods suggest a clear path to follow while collecting and analyzing data and handpicks carefully every piece of information that is the most relevant to your study.

Only the most scientific, factual, proven, and verifiable pieces of data will be collected by using these research data collection methods.

What is Data Collection and What are its Types?

Data Collection as the name suggests is simply about collecting accurate and precise Data for your Research. There are 2 types of Data Collection Methods- Primary Data Collection and Secondary Data Collection. 

Primary Data Collection Deals with Data that is collected first-hand by the researcher, especially for their research purposes. This is authentic, raw data, which is curated and collected only for serving the purpose of research.

The researcher here is involved in the process of data collection and collects all the information and specially curated data suitable for the research work. 

In Secondary Data Collection, the data is already existing and is just referred by the researcher for their study.

For example, finding previously worked scholarly articles and papers, any knowledge that might be helpful to the research and is borrowed from other sources, falls under secondary data collection.

In Research, Secondary Data Collection Methods are not the first preference for conducting research. Secondary Data could be great supporting information but your entire research cannot be driven by secondary data in most cases.

This is because the information is only partially relevant to your study and is not as precisely related as primary data. Therefore, when we study Data Collection methods in research the focus is always on Primary Data Collection Techniques.

This by no means means that secondary data is not crucial for research. Secondary data helps set the background of the research and develops a strong foundation for the primary data to be collected and studied.

It is only when it comes to conclusive evidence in research that secondary data is overlooked.

Secondary Data Collection Methods Deal with Data that is readily available on the internet, in scholarly texts and articles, in books published, or previously written dissertations and theses, etc.

Secondary Data can be any records or surveys maintained by the government and other medical or field-specific institutions and organizations as well.

Population surveys, polls, votes, social commentary previously made, etc can also count as secondary data.

The vastness of Secondary Data makes it difficult to generalize the findings to the specific area of the research the student or professional is conducting.

And therefore it is advised that students should have some element of primary data collection in their research to add conclusive facts or evidence to the study. 

So what are primary data collection methods in research? Let's find out:

Primary Data is Original Data collected first-hand by the researcher, especially for the research. The researcher is adamant about finding data that is directly going to help prove the purpose or aim of the study. The methods of collecting primary data are as follows:

• Observation

• Experimentation

• Focus Group Discussions

• In-Depth Interview

• Survey

1. Observation Method: observation method has helped make many social observations in terms of consumer behavior, analyzing behavioral patterns of individuals, and making social commentary. We see so many examples of observational social commentaries in which the researcher closely observed the day-to-day behavior of the people with whom the research was concerned. For example, when we talk about how India has adopted the western culture, we see observable facts, patterns, and behaviors followed by the masses that give evidence that support this theory. Westernization of dressing sense, cuisines, and practices such as listening to western pop music, watching western movies, etc are all observable trends in society. Observation is the art of interpreting social patterns and behaviors and analyzing a similarity in those patterns amongst a large number of people or maybe differences. Here, the researcher does not have to interact with the people being observed and can just quietly keep a close eye on the behavioral patterns of the people being observed. Usually, people are not concerned about being observed from a distance as they do not realize that they are being observed for a study.  We make so many observations about people in our daily lives and they help us interpret what people say with their body language, without using any verbal, or direct communication, etc. The researcher must ensure however that the information he/she wishes to attain or achieve is observable and does not need any interaction with the people, the behavior being observed must be obvious, easily observable, real, and also frequent to interpret it as a part of an every time reaction. Types of observation include people watching people, people watching an activity, or machines monitoring behavior.

2. Experimentation Method: unlike the observation method, where the researcher is in a completely independent environment that cannot be controlled or manipulated, experimentation gives the researcher the power to create a controlled environment to study how participants behave in a controlled environment. Here the researcher can manipulate any factor that influences or has an impact on the participant and see and observe the kind of behavior the participant showcases. For example, if you observe a person without a mobile phone for 24 hours in a natural setting where the person being observed is free, the person may be a lot calmer and can take up other activities to keep busy. But if you put this person in a room to observe their behavior without their mobile phone for 24 hours without giving them access to the outer world and other activities to keep busy, the individual may react aggressively or may lose control. In the latter, the researcher was able to put the person observed in a controlled manipulated environment and make the person behave in a way that would bring out their deeper feelings. This is how experimentation works in research. Here the participants are very well aware that they are being studied for research purposes and only with their consent can the researcher put them in lab or field experiments. Three types of experimentation are Lab Experimentation, Field Experimentation, and Continuous Research Experimentation where the participants keep coming back to the researcher to check how the observed behavior has changed over the period. 

3. Focus Group Discussions: In Observation and Experimentation methods of data collection the person observed or the participant can engage in false behaviors just because they are well aware of being observed in a natural or controlled setting. This could affect the study negatively. However, if you ask the participants to engage in a discussion and express their views as a part of a group, chances are you will get more honest and real views and expressions from participants. This is where focus group discussions come into the picture. When your participant does not wish to engage in a one-on-one interview or is more comfortable doing mass discussions this method can come in handy. Or if you as a researcher want the opinions of a group and want to see how the views of some people affect the views of others by the back and forth of ideas in the group, even then focus group discussions are a great idea. A focus group discussion is a small group of 8-12 people and no more. These 8-12 people engage in a 2-3 hour-long discussion on a particular topic that the researcher would want their views on. It's completely up to the participants as to how much they want to engage in this discussion, however, the researcher can probe a bit by giving certain pointers to give some needed direction to the research. The group is led by a moderator who makes sure that the group feels comfortable expressing their views and pushes the group into a focused meaningful conversation.

4. In-Depth Interviews: in-depth interviews come into the picture when you want to engage with each of your respondents individually and understand their viewpoints and beliefs as an individual and not as a part of a collective mass. In-depth Interviews bring a sense of comfort for both the researcher and the respondent and are mostly used in qualitative research methods. The respondent can answer questions as per their comfort and consent without any pressure from the researcher while the researcher can also modify and ask questions and does not have to rely on a predetermined bunch of questions to follow and get answers to. In-depth interviews attempt to get a deeper understanding of the why and how questions in the life of the respondent and allow flexibility like no other data collection method can provide. These interviews last about 30-45 minutes. The researcher wants to understand individual behavior and belief systems and does not want to generalize the findings to a larger population unnecessarily. Even though the responses are subject to interpretation the researcher must not bring in the element of bias into interpreting these responses. 

5. Surveys: Survey is a large-scale data collection method. Here the researcher curates a detailed set of predetermined questions in a questionnaire format and sends it across to respondents who will have the needed information to respond to it. This survey can be sent via email or can be conducted via telephone or personal interviews as well. It is usually believed that telephonic interviews and personal interviews are the best survey methods. 

Therefore, if you are a research student or professional, you must know the right tool or method of data collection to collect data accurately.

Choosing one precise data collection method can save you a lot of time and also can give a much-needed direction to your research.