ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces students to some common data collection methods used in undergraduate dissertations: surveys, observations, interviews and experiments. There are many ways of gathering students' own quantitative and/or qualitative data in a systematic, rigorous and accountable way. Data required for students' dissertation can be generated through field surveys. Field surveys often involve collecting a sample of data relating to any human activity or social phenomenon using questionnaires or through a structured interview, though most rely on questionnaires. Data relating to dependent variables could be collected at a later point in time than the independent variables. The main advantage of using field surveys is that many variables can be collected during surveys thereby making it suitable for a dissertation that deals with complex issues requiring multiple perspectives. Interviews are a very flexible data collection technique, which can be used to collect different kinds of data.
