The main purpose of Data collection is to capture quality content that seeks to answer all the required questions that have been posted.
There are several ways to categorize data collection methods, in which most are falling into the fields of qualitative or quantitative data collection:
- Primary Data Collection vs. Secondary Data Collection:
The data which are collected first hand are referred to as Primary Data Collection. This is generally done through surveys and group discussions that you or your company run. Secondary Data Collection Method refers to the data which are extracted from some other source such as newspapers, magazines, and other media sources. For example., if your company wants to know if running a grocery shop in a particular area would be beneficial or not, you should use a secondary method to get an idea. - Quantitative Data Collection:
Any data that contains numbers or represents a value are known as Quantitative Data Collection. It can be expressed as number figures and is used to represent things like timeframes, size, prices, amounts, etc. Quantitative data collection is usually cheaper when compared to qualitative because it takes less time and effort to gather the required information. - Qualitative Data Collection
Qualitative data collection methods usually deal with descriptive information rather than dealing in numbers. Collecting this kind of data gives a lot of valuable insight into your customer behavior and their individual needs. The most common qualitative data collection methods which are used nowadays are surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews.