Data Collection PDF

DATA COLLECTION DATA COLLECTION STRATEGIES No one best way : decision depends on: What you need to know: numbers or stories Where the data reside: environment, sties, people Resources and time avail...

DATA COLLECTION DATA COLLECTION STRATEGIES No one best way : decision depends on: What you need to know: numbers or stories Where the data reside: environment, sties, people Resources and time available Complexity of the data to be collected Frequency of data collection Intended forms of data analysis STRUCTURED APPROACH  All data collected in the same way  Especially important for multi-site and cluster evaluations so you can compare  Important when you need to make comparisons with alternate interventions Use Structured Approach When:  Need to address extent questions  Have a large sample or population  Know what needs to be measured  Need to show results numerically  Need to make comparisons across different sites or SEMI-STRUCTURED APPROACH  Systematic and follow general procedures but data are not collected in the same way every time  More open and fluid  Does not follow a rigid script: may ask for more detail & people can tell what they want in their own way Use semi-structured approach when  Conducting exploratory work  Seeking understanding, themes, and/ or issues  Need narratives or stories  Want in-depth, rich information  Seek to understand results of data that are unexpected QUANTITATIVE APPROACH  Data in numerical form  Data that can be precisely measured age, cost, length, height, area, volume, weight, speed, time, and temperature  Harder to develop  Easier to analyze QUALITATIVE APPROACH  Data that deal with description  Data that can be observed or self-reported, but not always precisely measured  Less structured, easier to develop  Can provide ''rich data'' - detailed and widely applicable  Is challenging to analyze  Is labor intensive to collect  Usually generates longer reports