Topic 32 - Gathering data

Question 1

Why do organisations need to gather data?

Answer 1

Organisations need to gather data for a wide variety of reasons.

• One of the most common reasons is to find
  out what their customers want and what they
  are prepared to buy

Question 2

What are the 2 different sources when gathering data we can collect it from?
(Source of data)

Answer 2

• Primary
• Secondary

Question 3

What is Primary?
(Source of data)

Answer 3

Primary = Data is gathered

Question 4

What is Secondary?
(Source of data)

Answer 4

Secondary

Question 5

What is Primary data?
(Source of data)

Answer 5

Primary - Data is gathered directly from the source, for example using a survey or from sensor readings

Question 6

What secondary data?
(Source of data)

Answer 6

Secondary - This is data that already exists, for example from previous research, books, journals or reports. It could also be data on shopping trends (brought from a market research company).

Question 7

What must data be so it is useful?
(Data realiablility)

Answer 7

For data to be useful, it must be realiable

Question 8

What are the 2 ways in which data can be judged realiable?
(Data realiablility)

Answer 8

• Complete
• Accurate

Question 9

What does complete mean?
(Data realiablility)

Answer 9

Complete - All the data must be there.
For example, salses data that misses a month’s results could lead to incorrect decisions

Question 10

What does Accurate mean?
(Data realiablility)

Answer 10

Accurate - The data must be correct and truthful. This is easier to achieve from primary sources; secondary data must be from a trustworthy source

Question 11

What is an excellent method of gathering data?
(Collecting primary data)

Answer 11

Surveys are an excellect method of gathering primary data.
The organisation gathers the data itself, so can be sure it is reliable

Question 12

What are the 3 ways of carrying out a survey?
(Collecting primary data)

Answer 12

1 - Questionnaire

2 - Interview

3 - Focus group

Question 13

What are Questionaire?
(Collecting primary data)

Answer 13

(Questionaire)

• This comprises a series of questions, usually close - ended with checkbox answer options.
• Traditional paper formats or electronic questionaire websites can be used

Question 14

What are the 2 advantage of Questionnaire?
(Collecting primary data)

Answer 14

• Allows you to gather information from a large audience in a short space of time
• All respondents get asked the same questions, giving consistency to data

Question 15

What are the 2 Disadvantage of Questionnaire?
(Collecting primary data)

Answer 15

• The traditional closed questions don’t offer
  any explanation of answers, while remote
  questionnaires may be misinterpreted by
  users resulting in less reliable data
• Response rate is usually very low

Question 16

What are Interview?
(Collecting primary data)

Answer 16

(Interview)

• This is a focused one-to-one meeting with an
  individual where an interviewer asks
  questions.
• This could be face-to-face, over the phone or
  online using video conferencing.

Question 17

What are the 2 advantage of Interview?
(Collecting primary data)

Answer 17

• Follow-up questions can be asked, giving
  more detailed understanding of answers
• Personal contact can elicit greater honesty
  from the respondent

Question 18

What are the 2 Disadvantage of Interview?
(Collecting primary data)

Answer 18

• It takes a significant amount of time to
  gather data from a range of people
• Data is less quantitative than from
  questionnaires and so harder to analyse

Question 19

What are Focus group?
(Collecting primary data)

Answer 19

This type of survey involves a group of people who are invited to take part.

• The participants answer questions and share
  ideas by engaging in conversation

Question 20

What are the 2 advantage of Focus group?
(Collecting primary data)

Answer 20

• It is quicker to gather information from a large group than from individuals
• Respondents react to each other’s answers,
  providing very detailed data

Question 21

What are the 2 Disadvantage of Focus group?
(Collecting primary data)

Answer 21

• Assembling a group of people at the same time can be difficult
• As with interviews, the qualitative data can be hard to analyse