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Quantitative Techniques-II
Notes 3. ………………………is a part of the company’s record, for which research is already
conducted.
4. In ………………….the main problem arises when the respondent deliberately hides
information otherwise it is an in depth source of information.
7.2 Data Collection Methods
Observation and questioning are two broad approaches available for primary data collection.
The major difference between the two approaches is that, in questioning process, respondent
play an active role, because of interaction with the researcher.
7.2.1 Observation Method
In observation method, only present/current behaviour can be studied. Therefore many
researchers feel that this is a great disadvantage. A causal observation can enlighten the researcher
to identify the problem. Such as length of the queue in front of a food chain, price and advertising
activity of the competitor etc. observation is the least expensive of data collection.
Example 1: Suppose a safety week is celebrated and public is made aware of safety
precautions to be observed while walking on the road. After one week, an observer can stand at
a street corner and observe the No. of people walking on footpath and those walking on the road
during a time period.
This will tell him whether the campaign on safety is successful or unsuccessful. Sometimes
observation will be the only method available to the researcher.
Example 2: Behaviour or attitude of children, and also of those who are inarticulate.
Types of Observation Methods
There are several methods of observation of which, any one or a combination of some of them,
can be used by the observer. They are:
Structured or unstructured observation methods
Disguised or undisguised observation methods
Direct-indirect observation
Human-mechanical observation
1. Structured-unstructured Observation Methods: Whether the observation should be
structured or unstructured depends on the data needed.
Example 1: A Manager of a hotel wants to know “How many of his customers visit the
hotel with family and how many visits as single customer”.
Here observation is structured, since it is clear “what is to be observed”. He may tell the waiters
to record this. This information is required to decide the tables and chairs requirement and also
the layout.
Suppose, the Manager wants to know how single customer and customer with family behave
and what is their mood. This study is vague, it needs non-structured observation.
It is easier to record structured observation than non structured observation.
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