Data collection

Question: What is an approximate volume of your data?

Considerations:

• The quantity of your data, separated by each data type (e.g. quantity of audio files, quantity of transcripts)
• The size of each individual file of your digital data
• Calculating an overall estimated value

Example answer:

The researchers will be collecting image, audio, video, spreadsheet, and text data. Below is an estimated breakdown of the maximum volume of each type of data collected by this research study.

Images

• Map scans (15 PDFs, 100 MB in size each; total volume: 1.5 GB)
• Photographs (150 JPEG, 123 KB in size each; total volume: 18.45 MB)
• Estimate volume of all image files: 1.51 GB

Audio

• Interview recordings (15 1 hour WAV files, 635 MB in size each; total volume: 9.52 MB)
• Focus group recordings (3 120 minute WAV files, 1.27 GB in size each; total volume: 3.81 GB)
• Estimate volume of all audio files: 13.33 GB

Video

• Interview recordings (15 1 hour mp4 files, 900 MB in size each; total volume: 13.5 GB)
• Focus group recordings (3 2 hour mp4 files, 1.8 GB in size each; total volume: 5.4 GB)
• Estimate volume of all video files: 18.9 GB

Spreadsheets

• Participant mapping file (1 XLS file, 300 KB in size)
• Statistical analysis file (1 XLS file, 800 KB in size)
• Estimate volume of all spreadsheets files: 1.1 MB

Text

• Interview questions file (1 PDF file, 7 MB in size)
• Interview transcript files (15 Doc files, 113 KB in size each; total volume: 1.6 MB)
• Interviewer protocol sheet (1 PDF file, 277 KB in size)
• Estimate volume of all text files: 8.88 MB

Total estimated volume of all research data

• 33.74 MB

Question: What is the format of your data?

Considerations:

The file formats of each relevant data type (e.g. mp3 for audio files, Doc for transcripts).

Example answer:

The researchers will be collecting image, audio, video, spreadsheet, and text data.

• Image data will be PDF and JPEG files
• Audio data will be WAV files
• Video data will be mp4 files
• Spreadsheet data will be XLS files
• Text data will be PDF and Doc files

Question: How can you describe your data?

Considerations:

• Quantitative or qualitative?
• Where data was collected from?
• How the data is transformed? (e.g. audio data transform to mathematical numeric data)

Example answer: 

This study will use a mixed method approach involving both quantitative (statistical analysis on instances of themes) and qualitative data (textual data) collected from interview and focus group studies on participants using video and audio recording equipment. 

Audio data is collected from interviewing participants, then transcribed manually into a text file. After, written quotes are extracted and placed onto a spreadsheet file, and then themes are quantified into a different spreadsheet file containing numerical data. 

Question: What is the method of the research?

(e.g. what procedures and processes are being followed?)

(alternatively: How will the data be collected or created?)

Considerations:

• What technical tools and/or techniques are used?
• What actions the researchers take to collect the data?
• Are all experimental processes which produce information, forming research data in its own right?

Example answer:

(NB: This example is not complete and without further details describing the full processes behind data collection and creation is unlikely to be accepted.)

An interview methodology will be employed. The methodology of choice for these will be an adapted version of the Schema-World-Action-Approach (SWAA) that was developed based on Neisser's (1976) Perceptual Cycle Model (PCM).

The researchers will be collecting image, audio, video, spreadsheet, and text data.

Image data is collected by.....

Audio data is collected by.....