Data Collection Framework 101

The data collection framework is a spreadsheet used to record each individual response or answer you receive from the community during engagement activities. What goes into the framework?

You could include data such as:

• Answers to survey questions (each answer is its own entry)

• Handwritten responses from pop-ups

• Email submissions

• Responses on online platforms like Social Pinpoint, Hive, OurSay

• Social media comments in reply to a question or relevant topic

• Quotes from interviews, or notes which closely resemble what was said

Data collection is easier if the same questions are asked across different methods. For example, asking “What makes you proud of Campaspe?” in both a written survey and during a telephone interview.

The Spreadsheet – Page 1

Zoomed out view of Page 1

Comment – Column A

In this column enter each response from your engagement activities. Use the exact words provided by the participant where possible. If you have asked multiple questions, it helps to enter each answer as a separate entry. It should become a very long list.

Feedback Received From – Column B

In this column note where or how the response was collected. This helps to analyse the data according to different methods and audiences. Examples for this column include public survey, staff survey, phone interview, pop-up in Echuca, pop-up in Rushworth, school visit, disability and inclusion committee interviews etc.

Question – Column C

It is helpful to organise data under the question being asked.

A response such as “Water use” means one thing when it’s a response to “What are we a leader in?” and something completely different when it’s a response to “What areas continue to challenge us?”

Sometimes we receive responses that are not connected with a question. Just leave the column blank in those instances or place them in a column marked ‘Other’, which may be further refined later.

The Coloured Areas

The coloured sections represent each theme from the document Campaspe Our Future. For example, the bright orange column represents the theme “Healthy Environment”. The group of light orange columns beside it represents sub-themes of “Healthy Environment”.

As you scroll across you will see all 5 themes and their sub-themes – Healthy Environment (orange), land use (olive green), community facilities (purple), business growth (blue) and accountability (bright green)

The idea is to tag which themes apply to each response. We do this by reading the comment in Column A then scrolling across the themes and placing a number 1 under the 1-3 themes it most closely relates to.

For example, a comment which says “Public buildings should be environmentally friendly” would be tagged in the “protect our natural environment” column and also “maintain and protect community assets”

This process is done for every individual response. At times you will need to use your judgement and critical reasoning to select the best categories for each response.

If there are a lot of responses about a particular theme or sub-theme that is not already on the sheet, consider creating a new column for it. Let the themes be guided by your community and what they say is important.

Use a 1 as your mark rather than any other symbol because it allows calculations to be made in the spreadsheet later.

The Spreadsheet – Page 2

This page is used to collect demographic information about participants. Rather than insert information for every person, this framework prompts you to add data from each engagement activity and consider the data collected for that group of participants.

Collecting personal demographic information is valuable when analysing engagement data. Requesting this kind of personal information can discourage some people from participating. Consider how you can make people more comfortable to provide demographic information and if it’s possible to assume some information, for example, assuming the age range of a school group.

Engagement Method – Column A

List the engagement method or activity the data is from. Examples for this column include public survey, staff survey, phone interview, pop-up in Echuca, pop-up in Rushworth, school visit, disability and inclusion committee interviews etc.

Demographic Categories – All Other Columns

The framework is organised under these demographic categories, which reflect the project plan:

• Gender (grey)

• Age (purple)

• Region (green)

• Targeted Communities (blue)

Scrolling across the page, enter a number in each column to represent how many participants represented that demographic category. For example, if there were 21 females, 3 males and 5 people who didn’t complete that part of the survey you would enter 21 in the column marked ‘female’, 3 under ‘male’ and 5 under ‘no response’.

There is a space for “no response” in each category which reflects that some people will not want to disclose their demographic information or the activity may not request it.