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Research Study On Data Collection Instruments

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2.4 Research instruments

Interviews, surveys, in-depth interviews, case studies, fieldwork, simulations and experiments are all examples of data collection instruments that researchers may use to collect qualitative and / or quantitative data (Saunders et. al, 2006; Crotty, 1998). Surveys as indicated in section 2.2 are mostly used in quantitative research and interviews in qualitative research but researches can use an instrument or a combination of instruments that are best suited for and / or aligned to the philosophical position of the research enquiry or project (Salehi & Golafshani, 2010).

Data collection instruments can be more effective if used to collect the right type of data (Abowitz & Toole, 2010), for instance in-depth interviews are effective if they are used in a qualitative study to collect in-depth information about the phenomenon being studied (Kimberlin, & Winterstein, 2008, Saunders et al., 2009, Crotty, 1998) compared to unobtrusive experimental methods for instance but researches do sometimes use more than one data collection instrument where one is limited in some way (Leahey, 2008). An example is the study by Ryan and Golden (2006) where use of surveys followed by interviews led to completeness of information collected.

A choice of data collection instrument (s) and how it is administered has other advantages and disadvantages in data collection and in research, for example a researcher may choose to send a survey by post only and not personally

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