Data Collection Methods for Research Study on Recycling of Food Waste

International business
Statistics
Student name:
Tutor name:
1 | P a g e

International business
PART A
Data requirement table
Table 1 source:
Saunders et al, 2012, p. 425
Research purpose
Cooking gas has in the recent past become so expensive that only few households can afford it.
To add on, the gas has not been environmentally friendly due to the carbon particles produced
into the atmosphere. There has been an idea that waste products can be able to be recycled by
way of converting them to biogas fuel. Given that this is an area where food waste is produced
daily in tones, there was need to try the biogas produced by food waste. The local council prior
to venturing into this project thought it wise to collect data on the views of the locals about the
same topic. So a research had to be carried out first. The objective of this research was to gather
information from households regarding the recycling of food waste. The information gathered
then would be used to guide decision making as far as recycling waste food staff and use of
biogas was concerned. The population of the study included all the households within the local
council jurisdiction.
Sampling method
The research study employed the use of simple random sampling to obtain a sample from which
the information is to be collected. Simple random sampling also known as probability sampling
was employed in this case since most of the residents in the local council were using the normal
gas thereby understood or had a feeling of how expensive it was and therefore cases of biasness
were minimized (Boynton 2014). It was also cheaper and less time consuming to apply simple
2 | P a g e

International business
random sampling as compared to methods such as multi-stage sampling. The other reason is that
it gave every household in the local council and equal chance of being selected in the sample
(Dillman 2016). This method also ensured that the sample finally achieved did represent the
entire population without bias. The sample collected thus becomes a representative of the whole
population.
Data collection tool (questionnaire)
The research study decided to use a questionnaire as a tool for data collection. There are three
types of questionnaires; structured questionnaire, unstructured questionnaire and semi-structured
questionnaires (Bradburn 2014). However, the research study decided to a semi-structured
questionnaire. Semi-structured questionnaire was appropriate in this case. This is because a semi-
structured questionnaire is not standardized and always leans much on qualitative research
(Oppenheim 2011). The interviewer is not obliged to strictly follow the set of questions but is
left to use his or her due diligence to ask information that he feels is necessary even if it is not in
the questionnaire but related to a topic in the questionnaire (Foddy 2013). This also gives the
respondents some latitude to air their views, feelings and opinions. This in turn leads to
collection of very rich and insightful information.
Data requirement table
A data requirement table is very important when it comes to preparation for a survey. It gives the
researcher an outline of the not only the objective of the research but also the type of research.
This helps to guide the whole process of conducting the research. It also outlines the questions to
be answered, the type of variable and their levels of measurements.
3 | P a g e