Types Of Data Flashcards
(5 cards)
Qualitative and quantitative data
Qualitative:
- expressed in words, written description of thoughts, feelings and opinions of pts
- e.g. from an unstructured observation or an interview
Quantitative:
- expressed numerically, individual scores from pts
- data is open to being analysed statistically
Primary and secondary data
Primary:
- original data that has been collected for the purpose of the investigation by the researcher
- arrives first hand from the pts themselves
E.g. observation
Secondary:
- data that has been collected by someone other than the person conducting the research
- secondary data that has already been subject to stats testing and the significance is known
E.g. in journal articles, books or websites, info held by the government
Evaluate quantitive and qualitative data
Qualitative:
-> more detail than quantitative
-> pts can fully report all their feelings = greater external validity
-> difficult to analyse and compare - not stats
-> conclusions often reply on subjective opinions of the researcher - open to bias
Quantitative:
-> simple to analyse
-> more objective and less open to bias
-> less detail and meaning - fails to represent ‘real life’
Evaluate primary and secondary data
Primary:
-> authentic data obtained from the pts themselves for the purpose of the investigation
-> requires time and effort
Secondary:
-> inexpensive and minimal effort - data already exists
-> variation in quality of the data…. Not what the experimenter needs = lower validity
Meta analysis
A number of studies are identified which have investigated the same hypothesis
Results are pooled together and a joint conclusion is produced
+ larger more varied sample and results can be generalised to a wider population = validity
- publication bias; researcher may choose to leave out studies with negative or non-significant results