Data Collection

Wendy Olsen is Senior Lecturer at Manchester University, Institute for Development Policy & Management and Cathie Marsh Centre for Census & Survey Research.

PART ONE: DATA COLLECTION: AN INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH PRACTICES Research and Data Collection Findings Data Causes Sampling Further Reading for Part One PART TWO: COLLECTING QUALITATIVE DATA Interviews Transcripts Coding Meaning Interpretation Observer Bias Representations Focus Groups Document Analysis Accuracy Ethical Clearance Further Reading for Part Two PART THREE: OBSERVATION AND INVOLVED METHODS Participation Praxis Action Research Observation Methods Online Data Collection Further Reading for Part Three PART FOUR: EXPERIMENTAL AND SYSTEMATIC DATA COLLECTION Questionnaire Design Handling Treatment Data The Ethics of Volunteers Market-Research Techniques Creating Systematic Case Study Data Further Reading for Part Four PART FIVE: SURVEY METHODS FOR DATA COLLECTION Operationalisation Measurement Causality Data Cleaning Data Extraction Outliers Subsetting of Data Survey Weights Further Reading for Part Five PART SIX: THE CASE STUDY METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION Case Study Research Comparative Research Configurations Contingency Causal Mechanisms Further Reading for Part Six PART SEVEN: CONCLUDING SUGGESTIONS ABOUT DATA COLLECTION CONCEPTS Facts Reality Retroduction Further Reading for Part Seven

'Good data collection is the foundation on which good research is built, but most texts in social research methods focus more on data analysis than the many issues involved in obtaining the data to analyze. Wendy Olsen's lively and wide-ranging work does much to fill the gap' - W. Paul Vogt , Professor of Research Methods and Evaluation, Illinois State University 'Written with freshness and energy, with copious examples drawn from research in the UK, USA, India and South Africa, this lively guide to data collection includes excellent sections often under-played by methods textbooks, such as the comparative method; data cleaning; survey weights; and secondary analysis. The seriousness and mission of the dedicated researcher shines through its approachable narrative, providing an outstanding example of what a balanced mixed methods perspective has to offer' Geoff Payne Professor of Sociology, Newcastle University, UK