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.

Best Data Collection Courses & Certificates [2025]

Explore the Data Collection Course Catalog

Status: Free Trial
University of Michigan
Survey Data Collection and Analytics
Skills you'll gain: Sampling (Statistics), Sample Size Determination, Surveys, Survey Creation, Data Collection, Statistical Analysis, Interviewing Skills, Research Design, STATA (Software), R (Software), Data Integration, Data Ethics, Stata, Data Quality, Statistical Modeling, Qualitative Research, Descriptive Statistics, Data Cleansing, Statistical Software, R Programming
4.4
Rating, 4.4 out of 5 stars
1.4K reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Free Trial
University of Maryland, College Park
Framework for Data Collection and Analysis
Skills you'll gain: Surveys, Data Collection, Research Design, Data Quality, Data Analysis, Data Validation, Sampling (Statistics), Big Data, Statistical Methods
4.2
Rating, 4.2 out of 5 stars
767 reviews
Intermediate · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Status: Free Trial
University of Michigan
Data Collection and Processing with Python
Skills you'll gain: JSON, Data Processing, Web Scraping, Restful API, Data Manipulation, Application Programming Interface (API), Python Programming, Data Transformation, Data Structures, Data Collection
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
4K reviews
Intermediate · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Status: Free Trial
University of Michigan
Data Collection: Online, Telephone and Face-to-face
Skills you'll gain: Surveys, Interviewing Skills, Data Collection, Sampling (Statistics), Unstructured Data, Research Methodologies, Qualitative Research, Data Validation, Data Quality, Text Mining
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
346 reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Status: Free Trial
University of Colorado Boulder
Data Collection and Integration
Skills you'll gain: Web Scraping, Data Integration, Data Cleansing, Data Import/Export, Data Quality, Data Processing, Data Collection, Data Manipulation, SQL, Databases, Query Languages, Extensible Markup Language (XML), Pandas (Python Package), Application Programming Interface (API)
4.5
Rating, 4.5 out of 5 stars
13 reviews
Intermediate · Course · 1 - 3 Months
Coursera Project Network
Introduction to Data Analysis using Microsoft Excel
Skills you'll gain: Microsoft Excel, Excel Formulas, Spreadsheet Software, Pivot Tables And Charts, Data Analysis, Data Manipulation, Microsoft Office, Data Mining
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
4.3K reviews
Intermediate · Guided Project · Less Than 2 Hours

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Status: Preview
Vanderbilt University
Data Management for Clinical Research
Skills you'll gain: Clinical Data Management, Electronic Data Capture (EDC), Data Management, Data Collection, Case Report Forms, Data Sharing, Health Informatics, Data Strategy, Data Quality, Good Clinical Practices (GCP), Sampling (Statistics), Data Integrity, Data Validation, Regulatory Compliance
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
1.8K reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free Trial
University of Colorado Boulder
Data Wrangling with Python
Skills you'll gain: Matplotlib, Web Scraping, Pivot Tables And Charts, Pandas (Python Package), Data Integration, Statistical Visualization, Data Manipulation, Exploratory Data Analysis, Data Wrangling, Data Visualization, Data Transformation, Data Processing, Data Cleansing, Data Presentation, Plot (Graphics), Data Visualization Software, Statistical Analysis, Seaborn, NumPy, Python Programming
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
31 reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Free Trial
American Psychological Association
Data Exploration in Psychology
Skills you'll gain: Regression Analysis, Correlation Analysis, Statistical Software, Data Visualization, Statistical Analysis, Statistical Methods, Descriptive Statistics, Histogram, Data Analysis, Exploratory Data Analysis, Graphing, Data Visualization Software, Data Literacy, Probability & Statistics, Quantitative Research, Variance Analysis, Statistical Visualization, Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Statistics, Social Sciences
4.4
Rating, 4.4 out of 5 stars
7 reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Free Trial
University of Michigan
Data Science for Health Research
Skills you'll gain: Exploratory Data Analysis, Rmarkdown, R (Software), Statistical Modeling, Tidyverse (R Package), Statistical Visualization, Data Visualization, Data Visualization Software, Regression Analysis, Ggplot2, Data Wrangling, Statistical Inference, Probability & Statistics, Scatter Plots, Predictive Analytics, R Programming, Correlation Analysis, Classification And Regression Tree (CART), Statistical Analysis, Data Analysis
5
Rating, 5 out of 5 stars
9 reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free Trial
Packt
AWS Data Collection and Storage
Skills you'll gain: AWS Kinesis, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon S3, Data Pipelines, Amazon CloudWatch, Cloud Storage, Real Time Data, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), Data Storage, Database Management Systems, Data Management, Data Infrastructure, Cloud Security, Encryption, Scalability
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Status: Free Trial
University of Pennsylvania
How to Use Data
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Data Presentation, Feature Engineering, Data Visualization Software, Unsupervised Learning, SQL, Data Analysis, Seaborn, Data Visualization, Tableau Software, Predictive Modeling, Exploratory Data Analysis, Predictive Analytics, Analytics, Presentations, Verbal Communication Skills, Matplotlib, Data Storage, Data Science, Machine Learning
Beginner · Specialization · 1 - 3 Months