Data Collection Techniques

COURSE DURATION 5 DAYS

Introduction
Data collection courses can help you learn survey design, sampling techniques, data cleaning, and statistical analysis. You can build skills in qualitative and quantitative research methods, data visualization, and ethical considerations in data handling. This course will introduce tools such as Excel for data manipulation, R for statistical analysis, and software like Qualtrics for survey creation, demonstrating how these skills are applied in real-world research settings.

Highlights Course
This Training will focus on:
• How to Create a Data Collection Plan?
• Determine Adequate Sample Size
• Biases and Common Errors that can be Present in the Data Collected
• Big Data Concepts
• The Difference between Primary and Secondary Data
• The Ways to Collect the Data
• How to sample from a population.
• Methods of Collecting the Data in Real Time
• Introduction to Methods of Qualitative and Quantitative Data Analysis
• Data Reporting

Objectives
The objective of this Data Collection Techniques training course is to provide participants with the adequate knowledge of the techniques of data collection, ranging from interviews, surveys, observations, focus groups, to the Big Data collection and warehousing. The delegates will get insight into the ways of ensuring the data quality and understanding the ways to remove or mitigate the errors in the data collected.

At the end of this training course, you will learn to:
• Understand the need for a data collection plan
• Differentiate between the primary and secondary data
• Calculate the adequate number of samples
• Define and apply the data quality checklists
• Understand the properties of Big Data
• Recognize the benefits of Real-time data collection methods
• Understand the issues of privacy while conducting data collection

Who Should Attend?
This Data Collection Techniques training course has been designed for professionals whose jobs involve the data gathering, data analysis, decision making, optimization, as well as anyone from the companies that make decisions based on scientific methodology or want to become one.

This training course is suitable to a wide range of professionals but will greatly benefit:
• Operation Managers
• Project Managers
• Financial Managers
• Data Analysists
• Urban Planners
• Transport and Traffic Engineers
• Supply Chain Managers
• Risk Managers
• Plant Managers
• Production Planners
• Government Officials
• Elections Leadership
• And everyone else who wants to learn how to gather high-quality data.

Organisational Impact
The organizations make a thousand decisions every day, and these decisions can range from a simple office furniture arrangement to the strategic decisions of new product development or production improvement.

The abundance of data makes the organizations focused on data-driven decision making, and the focus is quite often on complex and robust algorithms, while the data quality is sometimes neglected, resulting in inadequate or suboptimal decisions. Based on the paradigm that the results are only as good as the data you acquire, this training course teaches the participants how to avoid the pitfalls and myths of data collection.

As a result of sending their employees on this training course, organizations can expect to benefit from:
• Ability to first identify the goal of gathering the data
• Understanding the actual number of samples to collect for optimal decisions
• The knowledge of where and when they can use secondary data
• Improve the understanding of the relationship between the data and the models
• Improved use of Big Data
• Ability to use automated methods of real-time data collection

Personal Impact
Participants will each gain direct insight into the ways data is collected, what techniques are appropriate for specific business needs, and how to conduct specific data collection based on the data collection goal and selected technique. Specifically, delegates will acquire:
• The knowledge of how to determine the goal of data collection
• The structured way of creating a data collection plan
• Insight into the different data techniques and their area of application
• The understanding of how to determine the acceptable errors in data collected
• Value that the data analytics brings to business decision-making processes
• Framework for data integration
• When and how to use Big Data
• Insight into the automated data collection and real-time monitoring
• How to apply the knowledge in real-time situations?

Training Methodology
This Data Collection Techniques training course adopts a problem‐based learning approach, where the participants will be presented with different methods of data collection, the benefits and downsides of different techniques, as well as the preparation and application of the data collection plan, methods on how to conduct interviews, how to develop and conduct surveys, and how to avoid biases while collecting the data. Automated methods of data collection will also be presented.

Delegates will also get insight into data collection for different industries, from Supply Chain management and the use of RFID for inventory and transport planning and management to the use of cell phone data for traffic and transport planning.

Course Outline

DAY 1. The Importance of Data Collection
• Historical Context
• Data Sources
• Defining the Data Collection Plan
• Determining the Sample Size Required
• Project Charter
• Common Sources of Data

DAY 2. Collecting Data
• Most Common Data Collection Techniques
• Conducting an Interview
• Using Questionnaires and Surveys
• Observations and Focus Groups
• The Aspects of Big Data
• Automated Techniques for Data Collection
• Data Management Strategy

DAY 3. Examples of Use of Data Collection Techniques
• Planning and Conducting an Interview
• Planning and Creating a Survey
• Determining Survey Scales
• Conducting Experiments
• Plan and Use Online (electronic) Surveying Tools
• Sources of Secondary Data
• Use and Referencing of Secondary Data

DAY 4. Big Data Concepts
• Big Data Fundamentals
• Five Vs of Big Data
• Enterprise Technologies for Big Data Collection and Analysis
• Big Data Storage and Processing
• Big Data Analytics
• Big Data Strategy
• Preserving Privacy with Big Data Applications
• Data Quality (completeness, uniqueness, timeliness, validity, accuracy, consistency)

DAY 5. Real-time Data Gathering and Its Application
• The Meaning of Real-time Data Gathering
• Gathering Data from RFID
• Gathering Geolocations of Mobile Phones and Their Use in Urban Planning
• Multimedia Data
• Data Gathering for Risk and Uncertainty Management
• Errors and their Mitigation in Real-time Data Gathering
• New Concepts, Methodologies, and Way Forward

Certificate
• On successful completion of this training course, the ALARDI Africa Certificate will be issued to the participants.
Venue:
Kenya-Nairobi Cost USD 1800
DRC-Goma Cost USD 2100
Date: 20th to 24th April 2026