Monday, April 09, 2007

Data Collection and Market Research_

Data Collection And Statistics Provide Important Information



There are some people who absolutely live for numbers and information and just about anything else that can be compiled and analyzed, and that makes data collection and statistics a good occupation. More than just numbers data can be collected to provide important statistics to support many decisions.

One type of data collection and statistics that most people are aware of is the national census. Most of this information is gathered through personal interviews, although many citizens can fill out forms with the same information to allow the government can plan for many social programs as well as plan for the future. For example, if the census in a certain community shows the number of pre-school age children has grown dramatically, that community can start planning for more space in schools as well as teachers for the future.

Commercial uses for this information can be helpful for companies planning events such as advertising campaigns and product development. For instance if a trend appears through the data collection and statistics analysis that a certain community will have the majority of its population over the age of 70, it can plan an advertising campaign geared more towards senior citizens. Retailer can also set their product mix for seniors more towards the percentage of the older residents to meet the anticipated demographics.

Trends Revealed Through Data Analysis

There is much to be gained with data collection and statistics and those responsible for analyzing the data usually see emerging trends and can translate that information. If, for example, a trend is spotted that shows an increase of a certain ethnic population in specific geographic areas, additional studies may be prompted in an attempt to determine why that area is more attractive. Additional data may look at which areas have seen a reduction in that ethnic group and attempt to find out why the exodus is occurring.

Analysis from data collection and statistics may also reveal health trends and spark reaction from national health agencies to intervene before an epidemic begins. Health statistics can also help spot increases in a particular disease and determine if it is limited to a certain ethnic group, age group or geographic area. This information may be vital in determining not just the cause, but also a possible cure.

The world of the future often depends on occurrences of the past, and the more the people know, the more they can project the future.

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Saturday, April 07, 2007

Excellent Data Collection Forms_

Your ready reckoner on data collection
We've done your research on data collection for you

Excellent Data Collection Forms Provide Excellent Data



There is an old saying that reminds all researchers that they will get bad information from their data collection forms if the information on those forms is bad. Data collection forms can provide great insight to researchers if the information they collect is important. Data collection will be a total waste of time and money if they information collected is not important, accurate information. Collecting data can be very expensive for it takes manpower, money and time to design the research tools including the data collection forms, distribute the data collection forms and retrieve the information from the data collection forms.

Once the data collection forms are retrieved and compiled, the information must be interpreted and used by those who authorized the research. The data collection phase of a study is a most important part of any research project. If the data collection forms were prepared properly, the data will be valuable. If these were not designed properly, the data will probably be useless except to demonstrate that those in charge of data collection forms are inept and should be terminated from their jobs. The people in charge of the data collection forms should have the appropriate training to prepare data collection forms and these people should apply this training.

Data Collection Forms Must Meet Certain Criteria

The forms that are used to collect data should be carefully constructed. The staff in charge of producing these tools should work long and hard to make sure that these forms are constructed to provide good data. The language of the forms is very important to the effectiveness of these forms. If the language is too sophisticated for the population that will fill them out, these forms will be useless. The people will not be able to understand what the researcher is saying so they will give up in frustration. These forms must be culture fair. The researchers must prepare forms that will not offend or confuse any minority or majority culture.

The researchers must prepare forms that the individuals will complete and return. If the forms are long and tedious, people will give up and possibly throw the forms away. The researchers must prepare forms that the population will believe in. If the people have seen many similar forms distributed without seeing any improvements or important information, they might throw the forms away from frustration. There are many valuable uses for collecting data, and hopefully the people collecting the data will do this important task in a professional manner.