Data collection is defined as the “process of gathering and measuring information on variables of interest, in an established systematic fashion that enables one to answer queries, stated research questions, test hypotheses, and evaluate outcomes.”

There are numerous reasons for data collection, but here I’m going to focus primarily on business and marketing related ones:

• It helps you learn more about your customers
• It enables you to discover trends in the way people change their opinions and behavior over time or in different circumstances
• It lets you segment your audience into different customer groups and direct different marketing strategies at each of the groups based on their individual needs
• It facilitates decision making and improves the quality of decisions made
• It helps resolve issues and improve the quality of your product or service based on the feedback obtained

Before we dive deeper into different data collection techniques and methods, let’s just briefly make a difference between the two main types of data – quantitative and qualitative that we will see in tomorrow blog spot. So, stay tuned!