Types of data

    Cards (8)

    • Quantitative- expressed numerically, such as gathering scores form participants, to be analysed statistically and easily converted into graphs. 
      -Simple to analyse, comparisons can easily be drawn, is objective and less open to bias. But narrower detail and may fail to represent real life. 
    • Qualitative- expressed in words, may be a written description of thoughts and feelings, or a transcript from an interview, maybe in an unstructured observation. 
      -Rich in detail, greater external validity as it provides a more meaningful insight. But is hard to analyse and compare, means that subjective conclusions are made which may be open to bias. 
    • Primary data- original data collected specifically for the study by the researcher, gathered by an experiment such as questionnaire or observation. 
      -Authentic data, very specific to the investigation. But it takes time and effort to gather data. 
    • Secondary data- collected by someone other than the researcher, already exists before the experiment. Usually already gone through statistical testing and therefore significance is shown. May be located in journal articles/books/websites/government. 
      -Easy to find, it is also inexpensive requiring minimal effort. But data may not be accurate or specific, as it could be outdated or incomplete. Challenges validity of conclusions ad data doesn't exactly match the researchers' objectives. 
    • Meta-analysis- when a number of studies with the same aims or hypothesis are pooled together by a researcher and a joint conclusion is made.  
      -Large sample, more varied results that can be generalised across large populations, increasing validity. But it may be prone to publication bias where the researcher doesn't select all relevant studies, leaving out negative or insignificant results. Conclusions may be bias as they only represent some data. 
    • Nominal- data can be categorised 
    • Ordinal- data can have categorised and ranks 
    • Interval- categorised and ranked and measures in evenly spaced intervals