Data Collection
The data collection method forms the main core of the survey research. The type of data collection method depends on the time limit, speed, level of accuracy required and the amount of data to be collected.
The data consist of both primary and secondary type. Sending out survey questions formed primary data, while the secondary data provided support for this research. Secondary data was obtained from articles, magazines, newspapers and literature reviews. For example, GIS@development is an Asian magazine that focuses on the technical and managerial aspects of the GIS and GPS industries and their professions (Map India, 2002). It provided me with various regulatory and policy issues related to GPS in India.
Sending questionnaires via Internet emailing is helpful if speed is important. It helped me to send the exact same instrument to large numbers of people. Respondents can fill out the survey at their own convenience.
A Web-based survey was undertaken in this research. A survey link was designed using a SUNYIT webpage tool. This link was then used to send by email to all my sample population. This way it provided advantage of almost unlimited geographical coverage. This is also feasible for the technically literate respondents.
Data Sampling
The sampling populations for this research were organization employees in the GPS field. The list of vendors and their employees were obtained from news articles and magazines. The following website www.gisdevelopment.net lists all the GPS and GIS vendors located in India. Contacts were made with the public relation officers from these companies. By convincing them about the importance of this research, they approved to be a part of this survey. In all, 130 people were contacted, out of which 49 replied by filling the survey send to them.
After receiving the approval from them, a survey link was sent to them by their respective email addresses. The sampling frame (i.e., the list of accessible population) was drawn from the above theoretical population list. Purposive sampling was used to select the sample of people required for this study. It is used mostly when there are finite numbers of people that have expertise in the area being researched.