Sampling and Data Collection in Research Paper
Nykia Alford-Devezin
BSHS 435
April 5, 2016
Dr. Nicole Harris
Sample and Data Collection in Research Paper
In many ways, all research relies on observation. Research is empirical and by definition is perceived through the senses meaning, observed. Observation as a data collection method is underutilized in the human service field. In most cases, the person whose traits are being observed and the person performing the observation are different people. This deems observation less biased than other methods of data collection. Anastas (1999) brought to light that "we live in an age where observations are often a preferred form of evidence" (p.327). Observation provides data that some people are reluctant to supply through other methods. The observation way of data collecting includes researchers' direct observations of relevant people, situations, and actions, sometimes without permission of the participants (Martin, 2016). An example of this is a researcher sitting on an early morning subway train watching rider behavior. Riding a metro train is a modern way of observing human behavior, positive or negative. As a researcher observes particular behaviors and actions of participants in an environment, another process called measurement is used as an assessment tool along with observation.
Measurement is the process of describing abstract concepts regarding specific indicators by assigning numbers or other symbols to the indicators according to the rules. Measurement is more complex and involves assessing how much, or what degree of a variable is present (Monette, Sullivan, & Dejong, 2011). An example of measurement is a mental health tech assessing how many groups a patient has attended on the dayshift in a psychiatric hospital. Now along with observing and recording the observations, there are fundamental ideas involved in measuring data. Nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio are levels of...