Collection and Presentation of Data

 

Welcome to class! 

In today’s class, we will be talking about the collection and presentation of data. Enjoy the class!

Collection and Presentation of Data

Collection and Presentation of Data classnotes.ng

Data handling is gathering and recording information and then presenting it in a way that can be understood easily and used by other people.

The data handling cycle

The process of data handling is summarised in the diagram below:

GEO

We show the process of data handling as a cycle, because once we have summarised, represented and analysed the results, we may have new questions that we need to research. Then we will need to start the cycle again.

Different ways of collecting data

The first step in any statistical process is data collection, which is gathering the facts and figures (the data).

What we are researching affects the way we collect the data. Four methods of collecting data are shown in the diagram.

DATA

  • Observation and measurement:

Collecting data using observation or measurement involves looking at something that happens, and then measuring and recording it. An example of observation is counting the number of cars passing the gate of your school every hour. An example of measurement is measuring the masses of all the students in your class.

  • Interview:

An interview usually takes place between two people. One of the people is called the interviewer and the other is the interviewee or respondent. We use interviews when we can talk to the respondents directly. For example, we could interview people leaving a shop to find out whether they were happy with the way they were treated by the people working in the shop. Job and parent-teacher interviews are examples of interviews that are also for collecting data, but this data is used in a way that is different from statistical use.

  • Questionnaire:

A questionnaire is a set of questions given to many people to complete. A questionnaire is useful for getting information from many people, as it can be handed out and then collected later, and does not need an interviewer. It is the best method of collecting data when you want to ask a large group of people what they think about a specific issue. A questionnaire should have a short explanation of what your research is about. A very special kind of questionnaire is used for a national population census, which last took place in 2012 in Nigeria.

  • Database:

A database is an organised collection of data that someone else has already organised and presented. Databases can be stored on a computer or the internet, or presented in publications such as books, newspapers and magazines.

Data collection is gathering the facts and figures needed for the research.

Example: Choosing the best way to collect data.

Amaka wants to answer the following question: Is my baby crying too much? Consider which of the following would be the best method for her to use.

  1. Should Amaka interview people one-on-one to find out the answer to her question?
  2. Should Amaka use a questionnaire to give to groups of people to find the answer to her question?
  3. Should Amaka observe her baby to find the answer to her question?
Step 1:

Decide whether Amaka should interview people one-on-one to find the answer to her question.

An interview is a formal or informal conversation with another person. Another person might have an opinion, but will not be able to give a definite answer.

Answer: Interviews would not be the best method.

Step 2:

Decide whether Amaka should give a questionnaire to a group of people to find the answer to her question.

A questionnaire has a set of clear questions, usually with a choice of answers, that is given to many people. A group of people outside the home would not be able to answer Amaka’s question.

Answer: A questionnaire would not be the best method.

Step 3:

Decide whether Amaka should observe her baby to find the answer to her question.

Observation is the best method of collecting data when you need information about the behaviour of people.

Answer: The question about Amaka’s baby is better answered by watching its behaviour. So she should observe her baby and then make an informed judgement about whether it is crying too much.

 

In our next class, we will be talking about Calculation of Mean, Median and Mode of Grouped Data.  We hope you enjoyed the class.

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