Types of data

Question 1

What is qualitative data?

Answer 1

Data that is expressed in words and non-numerical form.

Question 2

Give examples of qualitative data.

Answer 2

A transcript from an interview, extract from a diary or notes recorded in a counselling session.

Question 3

Are yes/no answer questions qualitative or quantitative?

Answer 3

Qualitative.

Question 4

What is quantitative data?

Answer 4

Data that can be counted, usually given as numbers.

Question 5

Strengths of qualitative data.

Answer 5

Offers a researcher much more richness of detail than quantitative data. It gives the participant/respondent the opportunity to fully report their thoughts, feelings and opinions on a given subject. The data tends to have greater external validity than quantitative data.

Question 6

Limitations of qualitative data.

Answer 6

Can be difficult to analyse. Tends to not be statistically summarised so patterns and comparisons within and between data may be hard to identify.
More time-consuming to gather the data.

Question 7

Strengths of quantitative data.

Answer 7

Relatively simple to analyse therefore comparisons can easily be drawn. Tends to be less open to bias.

Question 8

Limitations of quantitative data.

Answer 8

Much narrower in meaning and detail. May fail to represent ‘real life’.

Question 9

What is primary data?

Answer 9

Information that has been obtained first-hand by a researcher for the purposes of a research project.

Question 10

Give some examples of primary data.

Answer 10

Questionnaire
Interview
Observation

Question 11

What is secondary data?

Answer 11

Information that has already been collected by someone else and so pre-dates the current research project.

Question 12

Give some examples of secondary data.

Answer 12

Journal articles
Books
Wbsites

Question 13

Strength of primary data.

Answer 13

Authentic data obtained from the participants themselves for the purpose of a particular investigation.

Question 14

Limitation of primary data.

Answer 14

Producing primary data requires time and effort on the part of the researcher. E.g planning an experiment requires considerable planning, preparation and resources.

Question 15

Strength of secondary data.

Answer 15

Inexpensive and easily accessed with minimal effort as the desired information already exists.

Question 16

Limitation of secondary data.

Answer 16

Information used may be outdated or incomplete. The content of the data may not quite match the researchers needs or objectives.

Question 17

What is meta-analysis?

Answer 17

The process of combining the findings from a number of studies on a particular topic in order to produce an overall statistical conclusion based on a range of studies.

Question 18

What type of data does meta-analysis use?

Answer 18

Secondary

Question 19

Strength of meta analysis

Answer 19

Allows us to create a larger, more varied sample and results can then be generalised across much larger populations.

Question 20

Limitations of meta-analysis.

Answer 20

May be prone to publication bias. The researcher may choose to leave out those studies with negative or non-significant results. Therefore the conclusions from the meta-analysis will be biased because they only represent some of the relevant data.