What is data collection?

Data collection is the systematic process of gathering information like observations or measurements while doing research. When you’re performing research, you’re likely looking for answers to a question you have. When it comes to data collection, digging beyond the surface tells an intriguing story. Collecting data about what you’re researching can help you gain more insight into the details and information that’ll help you answer that question. Although it’s particularly useful in science-related applications, the beauty of data collection is that you can use it to discover answers to almost any query you dream up.

Why learn data collection?

Data are important for helping you (and others, and even computers) make all sorts of different decisions. It helps scientists learn whether their studies are working and assists marketers in sending the right messages to the right people. It's what lets us know if something new we tried is really working. As information becomes digitized, it becomes data that we can use in a variety of ways to accomplish whatever we’ve set out to do. But in order to do that, we need to gather the data first. Without data collection to compile that information, we can’t be truly efficient in analyzing those details — what if something is missing? If you’re aiming to understand how research is conducted and decisions are made, it’s essential to learn about data collection’s role.

What career opportunities can arise from learning data collection?

Almost every career that involves data provides opportunities for collecting those data, even if the primary focus isn’t only collecting data. A multitude of different analyst roles require plenty of time spent gathering data, whether you choose to work in fields like marketing, human resources or business or you’re specifically interested in working as a data scientist — someone who directs their efforts toward compiling data and translating it into information that others can use to make decisions. Even working as an actuary — a professional who assesses risks, often in insurance fields — allows you to focus much of your time on dealing with data. But these careers are just the beginning; dozens more give you the opportunity to collect data, so it’s an important skill to have and concept to understand even if it’s not the primary focus of your work.

How can taking online courses on Coursera help me learn data collection?

If you’re looking to boost your data literacy, taking our online classes provides a worthwhile opportunity to pursue your goals whenever it’s most convenient for you. Online courses give you the time and space you need to complete coursework from home while also providing you access to learning materials created by accomplished instructors and other field experts. You’ll enjoy learning the basic frameworks of data collection and analysis as you’re getting started learning about this topic by discovering the role of research, analysis and collection techniques. As you advance, you might choose to study more complex topics like utilizing the Python programming language to create programs that fetch and analyze data. And with a variety of learning programs, from certificates to specializations to course credits for college degrees, you can formalize your data analysis accomplishments as you continue to build skills.

Top Data Collection Courses - Learn Data Collection Online

Explore the Data Collection Course Catalog

Status: Free Trial
IBM
Applied Software Engineering Fundamentals
Skills you'll gain: Software Development Life Cycle, Software Architecture, Linux Commands, Bash (Scripting Language), Shell Script, Git (Version Control System), GitHub, Flask (Web Framework), Software Design, Unit Testing, Version Control, File Management, Jupyter, Scrum (Software Development), Application Development, Application Deployment, Python Programming, Data Structures, Collaborative Software, Web Scraping
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
48K reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Amazon Web Services
Getting Started with Data Analytics on AWS
Skills you'll gain: Descriptive Analytics, Analytics, Data Analysis, Dashboard, Data Literacy, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), Data Visualization, Amazon Web Services, Big Data, Amazon S3, Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing
4.5
Rating, 4.5 out of 5 stars
894 reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Status: Free Trial
University of Colorado Boulder
Data Mining Methods
Skills you'll gain: Data Mining, Unsupervised Learning, Data Science, Big Data, Supervised Learning, Machine Learning Methods, Text Mining, Classification And Regression Tree (CART), Unstructured Data, Data Analysis, Anomaly Detection, Machine Learning Algorithms, Statistical Machine Learning, Advanced Analytics, Statistical Analysis, Predictive Modeling, Exploratory Data Analysis, Algorithms, Artificial Neural Networks
Build toward a degree
4.3
Rating, 4.3 out of 5 stars
58 reviews
Intermediate · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Status: Free Trial
Google
Crash Course on Python
Skills you'll gain: Programming Principles, Python Programming, Computer Programming, Computational Thinking, Algorithms, Problem Management, Data Structures, Integrated Development Environments, Debugging, Development Environment
4.8
Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
39K reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free Trial
University of Michigan
Statistics with Python
Skills you'll gain: Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Sampling (Statistics), Statistical Modeling, Statistical Methods, Statistical Inference, Statistics, Bayesian Statistics, Data Visualization, Matplotlib, Statistical Visualization, Probability & Statistics, Statistical Analysis, Jupyter, Statistical Programming, Regression Analysis, Data Visualization Software, Predictive Modeling, Data Analysis, Exploratory Data Analysis, Descriptive Statistics
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
3.3K reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free Trial
Meta
Introduction to Data Analytics
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Business Metrics, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Data Cleansing, Data Modeling, Analytics, Data Analysis, Data Visualization, Data Validation, Exploratory Data Analysis, Data Quality, Data Manipulation, Generative AI, Data Collection
4.8
Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
858 reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free Trial
Johns Hopkins University
Clinical Trials Data Management and Quality Assurance
Skills you'll gain: Clinical Data Management, Data Quality, Quality Assurance, Clinical Trials, Data Cleansing, Data Integrity, Data Governance, Microsoft Excel, Data Compilation, Data Collection, Data Sharing, Data Security, Patient Treatment
4.8
Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
154 reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free Trial
Stanford University
AI in Healthcare
Skills you'll gain: Feature Engineering, Healthcare Ethics, Pharmaceuticals, Data Ethics, Clinical Research, Clinical Data Management, Health Systems, Healthcare Industry Knowledge, Medical Records, Unstructured Data, Health Care, Patient Evaluation, Health Informatics, Data Mining, Statistical Machine Learning, Applied Machine Learning, Electronic Medical Record, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), Artificial Intelligence, Health Technology
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
2.1K reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Free Trial
IBM
IBM Data Analyst Capstone Project
Skills you'll gain: Dashboard, Exploratory Data Analysis, Data Wrangling, Statistical Analysis, Data Cleansing, IBM Cognos Analytics, Data Manipulation, Data Collection, Data Presentation, Data Analysis, Web Scraping, Data Storytelling, Box Plots, Pandas (Python Package), Scatter Plots, Histogram
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
1.3K reviews
Advanced · Course · 1 - 3 Months
Status: New
Status: Free Trial
DeepLearning.AI
Data I/O and Preprocessing with Python and SQL
Skills you'll gain: Web Scraping, Data Processing, JSON, Data Cleansing, Data Integration, Authentications, Data Import/Export, Data Transformation, Pandas (Python Package), Unstructured Data, SQL, Real Time Data, Data Quality, Query Languages, Application Programming Interface (API), Data Validation, Relational Databases
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Status: Free Trial
Status: AI skills
IBM
IBM AI Product Manager
Skills you'll gain: Prompt Engineering, Generative AI, New Product Development, Product Management, Product Lifecycle Management, Product Development, Innovation, Product Roadmaps, Large Language Modeling, Product Planning, ChatGPT, Commercialization, Artificial Intelligence, Product Strategy, Project Management Life Cycle, Data Ethics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), OpenAI, Stakeholder Engagement, Stakeholder Management
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
27K reviews
Beginner · Professional Certificate · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Free Trial
University of Colorado Boulder
Foundations of Data Structures and Algorithms
Skills you'll gain: Theoretical Computer Science, Algorithms, Data Structures, Graph Theory, Operations Research, Public Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS), Computational Thinking, Computer Programming, Computational Logic, Cryptography, Computer Science, Pseudocode, Programming Principles, Applied Mathematics, Advanced Mathematics, Mathematical Theory & Analysis, Encryption, Network Model, Linear Algebra, Tree Maps
Build toward a degree
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
817 reviews
Advanced · Specialization · 1 - 3 Months