Designed and written by:

Adi Hakim Talib

FSKM, UiTM Melaka
 By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
 Explain different methods of collecting data and
sustainable to their tasks
 Design questionnaires
 Data collection is the process of gathering and measuring
information on variables of interest, in an established systematic
fashion that enables one to answer stated research question
hypotheses, and evaluate outcomes.
 Four major techniques of data collection:
 Personal (face-to-face) interview is a data collection
technique in which an interviewer asking questions to one or
more respondents in a face-to-face situation
 Telephone interview is a technique in which an interviewer
asking question to one or more respondents through telephone
 Direct questionnaire or mail/postal questionnaire a
technique in which information is obtained from respondents
based on questions
 Observation is a technique in which trained observers or
interviewers are assigned at a strategic location to observe
and record respondents behavior, actions or events at the time
of their occurrence
 Isa technique that is primarily used to gain an
understanding of the underlying reasons and
motivation for people’s attitudes, preference and
behavior
 Interview can be conducted on a personal 1-to-1
basis or in a group
 The procedure usually requires the interviewer to
ask questions and to record the respondent’s
answer
 Advantages & disadvantages of personal interview
Advantages
Very high response rate
Interviewer can clarify any terms
that are not understood by
respondents
A well-trained interviewer can
detect if the respondents give
false information
Interviewer can note specific
reactions and the environment
surrounding the respondent
Can display the visual exhibits
(such as new product sample,
sketches of proposed advertising)
to the respondents
Disadvantages
Very costly & time consuming
Any movement, facial expression
or statement by the interviewer
can affects the response rate
Errors in recording the responses
can lead to erroneous results
A personal interviewer will usually
conduct field interviews alone
unaccompanied by his superior.
Short of direct supervision, an
insincere interviewer is prone to
cheating in questionnaire
completion
 Is a technique in which an interviewer asking questions from a
prepared questionnaire to one or more respondents through
telephone and are normally short in duration
Advantages Disadvantages
Inability to present visual aids to
Cheaper than personal interview
the respondents
A telephone interview has to be
Faster results (there is no travel
kept brief and short since many
time between consecutive
people cannot tolerate with
interviews)
lengthy interview
Respondents can be reached easily Interviewer cannot see the
regardless of where they are respondents (cannot tell whether
located as long as they have the respondents are giving the
telephone facilities correct information)
Only limited to respondents who
have telephone facilities
 Direct questionnaire
 The researcher will greet respondents & explain
briefly before giving the questionnaires to the
respondents
 The researcher will wait for the respondents to
complete the questionnaire
 Mail (or postal) questionnaire
 Is sent to each respondent with a stamped addressed
envelope attached
 The respondents will be asked to answer the
questionnaire and return it to the researcher within
a certain period of time
 Many researcher used this method as it is the
cheapest & easiest compared to other methods
 Advantages & disadvantages of postal questionnaire
Advantages
Cheaper than personal or
telephone interview
Researcher coverage is wider
No interviewer influence
Respondent can take their time
to complete the questionnaire
Disadvantages
Low response rate that leads to
non-response rate
Longer time to gather data
Only simple question can be
asked
May be bias since only
particular type of people will
reply
Interviewer can’t provide
explanations & clarification
when needed
Respondents may send in
fictitious answer
 The most commonly method used in collecting
statistical data
 Direct observation is used in work, studies and
organizations
 Also used by social scientist to learn about the
customs and habits of people or communities
 Advantages & disadvantages of observations
Advantages
Avoids interviewer –
interviewee bias
Produces greater accuracy of
data than direct questioning
Faster results (interviewers
are not questioning
respondents but observing
respondents and records
whatever he observed)
Disadvantages
Fails to record an important
aspect of consumer action
Inability of observers to
record all details
Observers may wrongly
interpret what the
respondents are doing
 A well-designed questionnaire can ensure the accuracy of data
that are collected
 Types of questions than can be used in a questionnaire
 Open-ended questions: questions asking about
respondents’ opinion concerning some issue related to the
study
Example: What do you think about UiTM?
 Closed-ended questions: consist of dichotomous and
multiple choice questions
Example: Are you married? Yes No
Your parents monthly income
 Less than RM1000
 RM1000 to RM2000
 RM2001 to RM3000
 RM3001 to RM4000
 More than RM4000
 Scaled type of question
Example:Do you agree that teaching Maths & Science in
school being taught in English?
 Strongly disagree

 Disagree

 Neutral

 Agree

 Strongly Agree
 The following factors can be considered when designing a
questionnaire
 Questions is short & simple
 Questions are easily understandable
 Avoid vague & ambiguous questions
 Avoid leading question (For example, Which train company
do you use most often? presumes that the respondent
travels by train. If they don’t, they can’t answer)
 Avoid double-barreled questions
 Questions must be in order
 Avoid confusing questions
 Avoid very personal questions
 Minimized the use of open-ended questions (more difficult
to analyse and categorize)
 Questions must be related to the study
 Pejabat HEP of UiTM Melaka wants to find out the
backgrounds and family income of the students in UiTM
Melaka. They have prepared written questionnaires to
distribute to the students. The students are divided into
programs which they attend. The students are then
selected randomly from each program. Number of
samples chosen from each program is proportional to the
number of student in the program.
 State the sampling technique used
 Give 1 advantage of this method
 The total number of student is 5000 and the required number
of samples is 500, how many sampling units from Diploma in
Business Studies Program if the total number of the srudent in
the program is 600?
 Give 1 advantages of the data collection method used in the
study