Designing And Collecting Data For Experiments: A Comprehensive Essay Guide.

Before performing experiments and results, it is important to design the experiment procedure and also analysis the Results after experiments. Before starting that our first task was to collect the data which we were going to use for experiments. Initially, we found the different sources for data collection. In section 3.1.1 we identified the sources which existed for data collection. Then we selected the most appropriate data source and started working on it section 3.1.2. Put all the data on a table for the record. In section 3.1.3 created a file and put all the data in that file and save in computer.

Before start any experiment I had to research about the problems, design experiments and select sources from where I can collect data. I chose 3 different categories of people e.g., common people of every age, young students, and professionals.
Public places(mall, parks)
College or university
Companies

I made a table below to record the data sources, main organizations where I can collect the data. What type of data I collected, format, and fee and if it was appropriate for my research. 

There is a requirement to establish the procedure used to perform the experiment.  It is essential for the researcher to collect the information related to the research topic before the analysis of the results of the experiment for the purpose of gaining valid and reliable results. It is required to select the sources from which the data will be collected in order to gain valid and reliable results (Silverman and Patterson, 2014). Firstly, the data sources will be identified and then, the most appropriate source will be selected. The information will be presented in the table format.

• Different sources of data

It is required for the researcher to search information regarding different problems and design experiment before starting the experiment. There is an availability of different sources of data collection such as secondary and primary sources of data collection. Primary sources of data collection method help in collecting the information at first hand. There are several sources of primary data collection methods namely survey through questionnaire, interview, observation and focus group discussion. In addition to this, the information can also be collected by the use of secondary sources of data collection such as books, scholarly articles, online articles and official documents which helps in gaining valid and reliable results for the research study (Mallinson, Childs and Herk, 2013). 

There will be a use of mixed method of data collection is appropriate as it is a combination of the resources such as primary and secondary sources of data collection for collecting the relevant information related to the research topic. Survey through questionnaire method and information from two relevant literary sources i.e. scholarly articles are used for the purpose of collection of the information related to the research study (Lim and Ting, 2013).

The relevant information related to the research topic will be collected by sending survey questionnaire to 55 IT professionals. These are selected by the use of simple random sampling method that provides equal chance to every unit of the population to be selected to participate in the research. This helps in collection of the objective information from them. Survey through questionnaire method consists of different questions related to the research topic on which the respondents provide their views and opinions that helps in gaining valid results for the research study (Lista, 2015).

• Description of data sources

The following table provides the information related to data sources, organization from where it can be collected. Besides this, it also provides the information related to the type of data which is collected such as fee and format.

• Storage of data

After organizing the information related to the identification of the data sources, there is a need to collect data from those sources. The raw data from different data sources is collected and stored in the safe place and a table is created which provides the information related to the place where the different data is collected and stored which is as follows:

1. Design and Implementation

This section provides information related to preprocessing, design, dimension reduction, and implementation.

• pre-processing of data

There is a need to use data pre-processing as it is not necessary that all the people who participate in the survey will give responses to all questions asked in the questionnaire. Therefore, it is necessary for the researcher to evaluate the information to read the raw data and filter the relevant data in order to create new data record in a new file. This can be explained by the following diagram.

• Process of Feature Selection or dimension reduction

Primary and Secondary Data Collection Methods

After pre-processing, there is a need to select the relevant information from the obtained data and reduce the number of results on the basis of the relevancy of the information under consideration. For the purpose of evaluation of the survey results, the following table provides the information related to pre-processing and reduction of the random data.

 Designing of the experiment

• • Detailed procedure of design

For the purpose of carrying out the research, there is a use of mixed method of data collection in which firstly the information is collected from the available published sources which helps in gaining accurate information related to the research topic. For this purpose, the general information related to experience, age and gender is collected in order to get the idea related to the opinion of the respondents regarding the research topic (Miles, Huberman and Saldaña, 2013). 

• Results of the experiment
• Implementation
  • Software and Tools used

The information collected by the use of survey through questionnaire method is analyzed by the use of MS Excel, which has helped in presenting the quantitative information in the form of graphs and charts. This has helped the users of the information to take effective and quick decisions (Fox, Gouthro, Morakabati and Brackstone, 2014).

2.4.2 Results of the experiment

Gender

It is indicated from the above graph that 33% of the respondents are female and 67% are males.

Age

It is found out that majority of the IT professions falls in the age category of 18-25 years. Besides this, 15 respondents belong to the age group of 26-35 years.

Work Experience

It is indicated that 21 respondents have working experience of 5-10 years. Besides this, only 6 respondents have a work experience of more than 15 years. Along with this, 11 respondents have a work experience of less than 5 years.

Significant Role of IT in military

It is found that 71% of the total respondents strongly believe that implementation of IT contributes in a significant manner in military. Besides this, 2 respondents are strongly disagreed with the point that IT plays a significant role in the military. 13 respondents believe that IT plays a significant role in military services.

Reduction in the overall cost

It is also found out that 49% of the respondents strongly believe that implementation of IT in military services results in reducing the overall cost of its operations. Besides this, 36% of the respondents agreed that usage of IT helps in reducing the overall cost in the military services. Besides this, 6 respondents are disagreed with the point that adoption of IT in military services results in reducing the overall cost. In addition to this, 2 respondents are strongly disagree with the point that implementation of IT does not result in reducing the overall cost.

Real time information related to the weapons used in military

It is also found out that 53% of the respondents strongly believe that the use of IT helps in gaining real time information related to weapons in military. Besides this, 6 respondents believe that use of IT facilitates in gaining real time information related to weapons in military. Only 5% of the respondents strongly disagree with the point that IT helps in gaining real time information related to weapons in military.

Using Mixed Data Approach for Accurate Results

Designing of the automated military weapons

More than half of the respondents believe that implementation of IT in military helps in designing of the automated weapons. 11% of the respondents strongly disagree that implementation of IT helps in designing of the automated military weapons.  

Improvement in safety and security of military professionals

It is also found out that 67% of the respondents believe that use of IT in military helps in enhancing the safety and security of the military professionals. Besides this, 13% of the respondents disagree that implementation of IT results in improving the safety and security of military professionals.

Sharing of information for quick decisions

It is analyzed that use of IT in military helps in sharing of the information for making quick decisions. Majority of the respondents strongly agreed with the point that IT helps in sharing of the information among different personnel for making quick decisions. It is also analyzed that 16 respondents does not agree that use of IT in military helps in making quick decisions by the way of sharing of the information.

Use of robots and improvement in operational productivity

It is found out that majority of the IT professionals believe that there is an increased use of robots in the military for carrying out different operations that facilitates in enhancing their operational productivity. In addition to this, 11 respondents do not believe that use of robots in military results in improving the operational productivity of the military services.

Major Threats

More than half of the respondents believe that the major threats of implementing IT in military services include hacking, information based warfare, cyber crime and information jamming. Along with this, 7% of the respondents believe that hacking is the major challenge faced by the military due to the use of IT. 13% of the respondents believe that information based warfare and cyber crime are the major challenges faced by the military due to the use of IT.

2. Analysis of the results
   • Estimations of the results

It is found out that different challenges have been faced by the department of defense related to information technology in terms of integration, maintenance and upgrade of the systems. It is essential for the military industry to utilize information system for the purpose of communication, control and command. The tactical emphasis has shifted from platform centric to network centric war-fare (Ceruti, 2003). There is an emergence of the use of internet and information technology for the purpose of communicates with each other in an effective manner. This helps in taking quick decisions by the military personnel related to warfare and other activities carried out in the industry (Hong, n.d.).

• Summary of the results

It is found out that there is an increased use of information technology systems for the purpose of reducing the overall cost of the military organization in the country. Along with this, different challenges have been faced by the organizations related to hacking, information based warfare, cyber crime and information jamming. Along with this, it also helps in increasing the operational productivity of the industry as it results in reducing the occurrence of the human errors (Gratton and Jones, 2010).

References

Ceruti, M.G. (2003) Data Management Challenges and Development for Military Information Systems. IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and data engineering 15(5), pp. 1059-1068.

Fox, D., Gouthro, M.B., Morakabati, Y. and Brackstone, J. (2014) Doing Events Research: From Theory to Practice. UK: Routledge.

Gratton, C. and Jones, I. (2010) Research Methods for Sports Studies. USA: Taylor & Francis.

Hong, S.P. (n.d.) Impact of information technology revolution on revolution in military affairs in the ROK Armed Forces.

Lim, W.M. and Ting, D.H. (2013) Research Methodology: A Toolkit of Sampling and Data Analysis Techniques for Quantitative Research. UK: GRIN Verlag.

Lista, L. (2015) Statistical Methods for Data Analysis in Particle Physics. UK: Springer.

Mallinson, C., Childs, B. and Herk, G.V. (2013) Data Collection in Sociolinguistics: Methods and Applications. UK: Routledge.

Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M. and Saldaña, J. (2013) Qualitative Data Analysis. USA: SAGE.

Silverman, R.M. and Patterson, K.L. (2014) Qualitative Research Methods for Community Development. UK: Routledge.