Methods of data collection

Methods of Data Collection

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The following are the Methods of Data Collection:

1. Warranty cards: Warranty cards are usually postal sized cards which are used by dealers of consumer durables to collect information regarding their products. The information sought is printed in the form of questions on the ‘warranty cards’ which is placed inside the package along with the product with a request to the consumer to fill in the card and post it back to the dealer.

2. Distributor or store audits: Distributor or store audits are performed by distributors as well as manufactures through their salesmen at regular intervals. Distributors get the retail stores audited through salesmen and use such information to estimate market size, market share, seasonal purchasing pattern and so on. The Methods of Data Collection are obtained in such audits not by questioning but by observation. For instance, in case of a grocery store audit, a sample of stores is visited periodically and data are recorded on inventories on hand either by observation or copying from store records. Store audits are invariably panel operations, for the derivation of sales estimates and compilation of sales trends by stores are their principal ‘raison detre’. The principal advantage of this method is that it offers the most efficient way of evaluating the effect on sales of variations of different techniques of in-store promotion.

3. Pantry audits: Pantry audit technique is used to estimate consumption of the basket of goods at the consumer level. In this type of audit, the investigator collects an inventory of types, quantities and prices of commodities consumed. Thus in pantry audit Data Collection are recorded from the examination of consumer’s pantry. The usual objective in a pantry audit is to find out what types of consumers buy certain products and certain brands, the assumption being that the contents of the pantry accurately portray consumer’s preferences. Quite often, pantry audits are supplemented by direct questioning relating to reasons and circumstances under which particular products were purchased in an attempt to relate these factors to purchasing habits. A pantry audit may or may not be set up as a panel operation, since a single visit is often considered sufficient to yield an accurate picture of consumers’ preferences. An important limitation of pantry audit approach is that, at times, it may not be possible to identify consumers’ preferences from the audit Data Collection alone, particularly when promotion devices produce a marked rise in sales.

4. Consumer panels: An extension of the pantry audit approach on a regular basis is known as ‘consumer panel’, where a set of consumers are arranged to come to an understanding to maintain detailed daily records of their consumption and the same is made available to investigator on demands. In other words, a consumer panel is essentially a sample of consumers who are interviewed repeatedly over a period of time. Mostly consume panels are of two types viz., the transitory consumer panel and the continuing consumer panel. A transitory consumer panel is set up to measure the effect of a particular phenomenon. Usually such a panel is conducted on a before-and-after-basis. Initial interviews are conducted before the phenomenon takes place to record the attitude of the consumer. A second set of interviews is carried out after the phenomenon has taken place to find out the consequent changes that might have occurred in the consumer’s attitude. It is a favourite tool of advertising and of social research. A continuing consumer panel is often set up for an indefinite period with a view to collect data on a particular aspect of consumer behaviour over time, generally at periodic intervals or may be meant to serve as a general purpose panel for researchers on a variety of subjects. Such panels have been used in the area of consumer expenditure, public opinion and radio and TV listenership among others. Most of these panels operate by mail. The representativeness of the panel relative to the population and the effect of panel membership on the information obtained after the two major problems associated with the use of this method of data collection.

5. Use of mechanical devices: The use of mechanical devices has been widely made to collect information by way of indirect means. Eye camera, Pupilometric camera, Psychogalvanometer, Motion picture camera and Audiometer are the principal devices so far developed and commonly used by modern big business houses, mostly in the developed world for the purpose of collecting the required information. Eye cameras are designed to record the focus of eyes of a respondent on a specific portion of a sketch or diagram or written material. Such information is useful in designing advertising material. Pupilometric cameras record dilation of the pupil as a result of a visual stimulus. The extent of dilation shows the degree of interest aroused by the stimulus. Psychogalvanometer is used for measuring the extent of body excitement as a result of the visual stimulus. Motion picture cameras can be used to record movement of body of a buyer while deciding to buy a consumer good from a shop or big store. Influence of packaging or the information given on the label would stimulate a buyer to perform certain physical movements which can easily be recorded by a hidden motion picture camera in the shop’s four walls. Audiometers are used by some TV concerns to find out the type of programmes as well as stations preferred by people. A device is fitted in the television instrument itself to record these changes. Such data may be used to find out the market share of competing television stations.

6. Projective techniques: Projective techniques (or what are sometimes called as indirect interviewing techniques) for the Data Collection have been developed by psychologists to use projections of respondents for inferring about underlying motives, urges, or intentions which are such that the respondent either resists to reveal them or is unable to figure out himself. In projective techniques the respondent in supplying information tends unconsciously to project his own attitudes or feelings on the subject under study. Projective techniques play an important role in motivational researches or in attitude surveys.

7. Depth interviews: Depth interviews are those interviews that are designed to discover underlying motives and desires and are often used in motivational research. Such interviews are held to explore needs, desires and feelings of respondents. In other words, they aim to elicit unconscious as also other types of material relating especially to personality dynamics and motivations. As such, depth interviews require great skill on the part of the interviewer and at the same time involve considerable time. Unless the researcher has specialised training, depth interviewing should not be attempted. Depth interview may be projective in nature or it may be a non-projective interview. The difference lies in the nature of the questions asked. Indirect questions on seemingly irrelevant subjects provide information that can be related to the informant’s behaviour or attitude towards the subject under study. Thus, for instance, the informant may be asked on his frequency of air travel and he might again be asked at a later stage to narrate his opinion concerning the feelings of relatives of some other man who gets killed in an airplane accident. Reluctance to fly can then be related to replies to questions of the latter nature. If the depth interview involves questions of such type, the same may be treated as projective depth interview. But in order to be useful, depth interviews do not necessarily have to be projective in nature; even non-projective depth interviews can reveal important aspects of psycho-social situation for understanding the attitudes of people.

8. Content-analysis: Content-analysis consists of analysing the contents of documentary materials such as books, magazines, newspapers and the contents of all other verbal materials which can be either spoken or printed. Content-analysis prior to 1940’s was mostly quantitative analysis of documentary materials concerning certain characteristics that can be identified and counted. But since 1950’s content-analysis is mostly qualitative analysis concerning the general import or message of the existing documents. “The difference is somewhat like that between a casual interview and depth interviewing.” Bernard Berelson’s name is often associated with. The analysis of content is a central activity whenever one is concerned with the study of the nature of the verbal materials. A review of research in any area, for instance, involves the analysis of the contents of research articles that have been published. The analysis may be at a relatively simple level or may be a subtle one. It is at a simple level when we pursue it on the basis of certain characteristics of the document or verbal materials that can be identified and counted (such as on the basis of major scientific concepts in a book). It is at a subtle level when researcher makes a study of the attitude, say of the press towards education by feature writers.

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