Practices > Collecting Data > Get Started
Asking the right questions to get the right data
One of the first things to address around data collection is what your question is or what is the story you're trying to tell. This will determine which data you need. Data collection could have an impact beyond the objectives of your story and it's always important to consider the ethical aspect of your data collection before you start (refer to the Plan > Ethics section).
Where does your data come from?
How you collect your data will depend on whether you source primary data: data you will collect yourself, secondary data: which you're collecting from external sources, or both.
One of the key questions when sourcing data externally, is how to discover the right data sources and check if they are right for you.
If you're going to collect data yourself, you'll need to think about:
How will you collect data? Through interviews, surveys, using online tools…
Whether you collect your own data or get it from an external source, you'll need to think about:
- How will you clean up the data into a format that's usable for your purpose?
- How will you verify and control the quality of the data?