More Techniques in data collection for the SBA
By Marjorie Henry, Contributor

Nashoon Haye of Westwood High receives the winning trophy from Rosemarie Hemmings, manager of retail sales and performance at First Caribbean International Bank at the Jamaica Environment Trust's national awards ceremony for the schools' environment programme at Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston, on Wednesday, September 28. - Rudolph Brown Photo

LAST WEEK, I started to share with you on the techniques in data collection for the SBA. These I gave as interviews, questionnaires, observations and secondary source. I have already discussed interviews and questionnaires. Here are a few questions to recap what was stated on those techniques:

(i) What are the two types of interviews?
(ii) What differences are there between them?
(iii) How should your questions be stated for the interviews?
(iv) How can you administer a questionnaire?
(v) What is the ideal number of questions for a questionnaire?

If you had difficulty responding to these review questions, you need to read the lesson again. I will now continue with the other techniques in data collection.

OBSERVATION

You MUST do observation in your study area. This provides the main source of data for the SBA. Remember, your study must be essentially primary data. Record what you see at the time of your visit. You may need to do sketch maps in the field. Make sure to identify carefully, the features you want to include in that sketch. When you come to redraw the map, there should be no confusion in your mind on what was drawn. Photographs can also be taken in the field. In light of all this, you must equip yourself properly before you go to do observations in your study area.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Although your study must be based essentially on primary data, background reading is necessary to guide you in obtaining the information you seek. Whatever the source of information you access, textbooks, encyclopedias, newspaper articles, magazines and website visited, make a note of the title of the books and articles, authors, publishers and year of publication of the books. This information is needed for you bibliography. It is recommended that the bibliography should have at least three sources.

Having discussed the techniques for data collection, may I add that five marks are allocated to 'Method of Data Collection' in your study. That must answer the questions 'HOW?' (2 marks), 'WHEN?' (2 marks) and 'WHERE?' (1 mark). It is necessary that you record the date or dates that you did your observations, interviews and the questionnaires. To obtain the full marks here, you are required to have

* A clear statement on HOW data were collected and an example of the instrument used.

* A clear statement on WHERE and WHEN the data were collected

I mentioned earlier about doing sketch maps and using photographs. These are two of the techniques of presentation that can be used in your study. Other techniques include charts, for example, pie charts and flow charts; graphs, for example, bar graphs and line graphs; tables, diagrams and maps. It is recommended that you have at least three different types of illustrations of the data you collected. Most importantly, they should be integrated in the study. In other words, reference must be made to them and they must be placed as close as possible to where they are referred to if they are not on the same page. DO NOT have them all placed together in a section of the study.

Let me expand a little more on the matter of integration of your illustrations in your study. If, for example, you were doing a topic on traffic congestion in an urban centre, you do not just say:

'Many vehicles pass through the town on Saturday mornings, refer to fig. 1'.

You should state instead:

"The line graph in fig. 1, page 6, shows that there is an increase in
traffic flow to the town on Saturday mornings during the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m."

The graph is representing data you have collected, so you are describing that data in reference to the illustration done.

Another thing about your illustrations, they should be relevant to the study, accurately done, numbered, clearly labeled and titled in ink, (preferably black ink) if you do them manually. DO NOT illustrate the same data more than once.

I will continue with other aspects of the SBA in the next lesson.

* Marjorie Henry is Geography teacher at Glenmuir High School in Clarendon.