Types of data

• Quantitive Data

  • represents how much or how long or how many of something (behaviour is measured in numbers or quantities
  • the dependent variable in an experiment is quantitive
  • closed questions in questionnaires collect quantitive data
• Qualitative data

  • data that expresses the quality of things
  • can’t be counted
  • about what people think and feel
  • open questions collect qualitative data
• Quantitive data

  • Easy to analyse using descriptive statistics and statistical tests this enables conclusions to be easily drawn
  • however data may oversimplify reality for example questionnaire with closed quest may force people to tick answers that don’t really represent their feelings
• Qualitative data

  • provide detailed information which provide unexpected insights into thoughts and behaviours because the answers are not restricted by previous expectations
  • complexity makes it more difficult to analyse such data and draw conclusions
• Primary Data

  • information observed or collected from first hand experience
  • data being collected by researcher for the study currently being undertaken involved designing study gaining ethical approval
  • study might be an experiment possibly with a questionaire / observation to measure dependent variable
• Secondary data

  • researcher could use data collected by themselves but for a different study or collected by another researcher
  • might use government status statistics such as information about treatment of mental health
  • correlation 


  study often uses secondary data and so do review studies