1. D. GAREY Spring 2010 OCR Nationals level 3 Unit 3 Problem Solving A02 Design and carry out a data collection activity

2. D. GAREY Spring 2010 Data Collection Methods Questionnaires (online or paper based) Observations Empirical/scientific tests Discourse analysis Transcripts Data loggers/sensory outputs

3. D. GAREY Spring 2010 Open Vs Closed Questioning Closed questions –directive i.e. YES/NO, TRUE/FALSE or PRE DEFINED ANSWERS such as multiple choice. Quick, easy, quantifiable, measurable, objective, restrictive Open Questions –include HOW, WHY, WHAT do you think etc, no defined answers, analysis in done after scrutiny of replies, rich answers, time consuming, hard to measure, can be biased

4. D. GAREY Spring 2010 Standard Distribution Graph

5. D. GAREY Spring 2010 The Sample Population distribution curve “Bell Jar” with high and low extremes at either end of scale Distribution is reflective of general population, working for IQ tests, personality tests etc “Norm” is the middle part of the graph where majority of population lie (+ or – one standard deviation either side)

6. D. GAREY Spring 2010 Your Sample Is it representative of all people from around the country/same age/same social background etc Or are you focusing on a homogenic sample? How will you select your sample? Volunteers? Random selection? Target specific groups/clusters? Is it balanced in terms of gender, ethnic backgrounds, age etc –does it matter?

7. D. GAREY Spring 2010 QUESTIONNAIRES Must have an accompanying set of instructions/script to make it a fair test – everyone gets the same instructions Must be anonymising Must account for gender and age

8. D. GAREY Spring 2010 Extraneous Variables List potential errors that could affect results How can you minimise these?

9. D. GAREY Spring 2010 Hardware/Software What will you create questionnaires on (Access? Word?) What will you produce data results with? (Excel?) How will you produce your findings? What IT equipment will you need to complete the investigation? Remember to list alternatives and evaluate them!

10. D. GAREY Spring 2010 GO AND GET THE DATA!!!!