ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the various approaches to data collection. It explains the difference between ‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’ research. The chapter explains the two main approaches to data collection known as ‘fieldwork’ and ‘desk study’, and discusses the survey approach, the case study approach, action research and archival data collection. Quantitative research is an inquiry into a social or human problem, based on testing a hypothesis or a theory composed of variables, measured with numbers and analysed with statistical procedures, in order to determine whether the hypothesis or the theory holds true. Qualitative research emphasises meanings, experiences, descriptions and so on. Attitudinal research is used to ‘subjectively’ evaluate the ‘opinion’, ‘view’ or the ‘perception’ of a person, towards a particular object. Surveys are used to gather data from a relatively large number of respondents within a limited time frame. There are two types of surveys available: the descriptive survey and the analytical survey.
