Data Collection Techniques in Social Sciences

Posted on Sep 14, 2024 in Psychology and Sociology

Data Collection Techniques

Observation

Note:

Definition: Observation involves intentionally watching a situation or behavior to gather facts and understand its aspects. It entails paying attention to everything that happens and then writing down or recording the observations.

Steps:

  1. Determine the purpose, situation, or event to be observed.
  2. Determine the objectives of the observation (what you want to learn).
  3. Determine how you will record the data.
  4. Observe carefully and critically.
  5. Record the observed data.
  6. Analyze and interpret the data.
  7. Develop conclusions.
  8. Develop the observation report (this step can be omitted if other research techniques are also used, in which case the report includes the results obtained throughout the research process).

Types:

  • Open Comment: This type of observation seeks to explore and describe environments.
  • Direct Observation: Focuses on descriptions of what is happening.
  • Performing: Involves interpretations of the observed facts.
  • Theme: Includes hypotheses, speculation, and questions from the observer’s perspective, shedding light on the facts.
  • Personal: Centers around the observer’s feelings and emotions.

Characteristics:

  1. There is a specific target of research for the observation.
  2. It is planned systematically.
  3. It is recorded systematically.
  4. Methodological controls are conducted to ensure reliability and validity.

Advantages:

  • Provides a more complex description of the event investigated.
  • Uncovers unexpected elements that can support hypotheses or reveal new aspects.
  • Allows analysis of events within a global vision.
  • Enables researchers to obtain data directly from empirical reality without intermediaries or distortions of information.
  • Facts are collected directly, without any intermediation, i.e., as they occur naturally.
  • The event, phenomenon, or behavior is described as it occurs, independent of any other element.

Disadvantages:

  • The researcher has to select exactly what they intend to observe.
  • The observer must be present at the time the events occur.
  • The presence of the observer can change the behavior of those observed, especially in the human sciences, impairing the reliability of the data.
  • In the humanities, it is challenging to observe aspects such as knowledge, feelings, and preferences. It is difficult to observe personal and intimate activities.
  • The observed behavior patterns or facts should have a short duration, occur frequently, or be predictable to avoid increasing costs or time.

Inquiry (Survey)

Concept:

A survey involves developing a set of questions that are administered to a certain number of people to gather information about the behavior, attitudes, or thoughts of a selected sample.

Advantages:

  1. Low cost.
  2. More accurate (better quality) than a census because the smaller number of enumerators allows for better and more selective data collection.
  3. It is possible to introduce scientific methods of objective measurement to correct errors.
  4. Faster results.
  5. It is the most widely used technique for obtaining information from almost any population.
  6. Provides information on past events from the respondents.
  7. High ability to standardize data, allowing for computer processing and statistical analysis.
  8. Relatively inexpensive for the information obtained.
  9. Helps you understand what the respondent(s) want.

Disadvantages:

  • The planning and execution of research is often more complex than with a census.
  • Requires professionals with good theoretical knowledge and skill in its application for design.
  • There is an increased risk of sample bias.

Interview

Interviews are used to gather information orally through questions posed by the analyst.

Types:

  • Structured Interview: Also known as a formal or standardized interview. It is characterized by rigidly standardized and identical questions posed in the same order to each participant, who must choose an answer from two, three, or more alternatives.
  • Unstructured Interview: More flexible and open, where the research questions, content, order, depth, and design are entirely in the hands of the interviewer.
  • Depth Interview: A technique for obtaining a person’s personal definition of the situation, conveyed orally to the interviewer.
  • Focused Interview: A type of in-depth interview specifically directed to specific situations.
  • Group Interview: A way to conduct an in-depth interview with a group of people.

Advantages:

  • The interview is an effective technique for obtaining relevant and meaningful data from the perspective of social sciences.
  • The information obtained through an interview is much richer than when simply reading written responses.
  • Its oral and verbal nature allows for capturing gestures, tones of voice, and emphasis, which provide important information about the subject and the interviewees.
  • The crucial advantage of interviews is that social actors provide data on their behavior, opinions, desires, attitudes, and expectations—things that are almost impossible to observe externally.

Disadvantages:

  • Limitations on oral expression by the interviewer and interviewee.
  • It is difficult to level and give equal weight to all responses, especially those from people with better verbal eloquence but little information or scientific value.
  • It is common to encounter people who lie, distort, or exaggerate their responses. There is often a partial or complete disconnect between what is said and done, between truth and reality.
  • Many people are inhibited by an interviewer and find it hard to respond confidently and smoothly to a series of questions.
  • There are many taboo topics, some of which result in rejection when answering specific questions, such as sexual, political, economic, or social issues.

Features:

  • Interviewers must possess good conversational skills, sensitivity, flexibility, and imagination to engage the interviewee.
  • Never conduct an interview without a clear understanding of its purpose.
  • Thoroughly prepare for the interview by gaining a deep understanding of the subject matter.
  • Be punctual, courteous, and empathetic.
  • Be flexible with the questions, able to jump from one question to another seamlessly.
  • Be persistent.

Case Study

A technique used to study an individual or group in depth and intensely. It involves carefully designing questions or focusing on a specific case and asking for opinions or answers.

Features:

  • Case studies involve tested and validated solutions.
  • They operate under normal conditions.
  • They are managed directly by those who operate them.
  • They present clear improvements in income, assets, and/or job performance.
  • The results stem from technological, managerial, methodological, and/or conceptual innovation.

Advantages:

  • Useful for studying rare diseases.
  • Good design for studying diseases with long latency periods.
  • Allow for studying rare manifestations always associated with the disease.
  • Can assess multiple risk factors for a single disease.
  • Relatively short duration.

Disadvantages:

  • Easy to introduce systematic errors in both group selection and data collection.
  • Sometimes difficult to establish the temporal sequence between exposure and disease.
  • Not a good design for studying more than one disease simultaneously.
  • Not possible to calculate the incidence or prevalence of the disease.

Test

A test consists of a set of standardized items or reagents applied to an individual or group to determine the absence or presence of a particular skill or knowledge.

Advantages:

  • Savings.
  • Objectivity.
  • Help with forecasting, even with a possibility of error.
  • Facilitate more accurate and meaningful communication between professionals.

Disadvantages:

  • The question of whether the items are representative or not.
  • Social criticism.
  • Many tests have a significant cultural and verbal bias. The conditions of the sample subjects should be considered to ascertain the representativeness of the percentages.
  • Ethical criticism: the extent to which the test intrudes on privacy.

Tests should be:

  • Standardized: Uniform application procedure and scoring.
  • Valid: Measuring what they are intended to measure.
  • Reliable: When administered multiple times to the same person, the results should be consistent.
  • Accurate: Providing objective, relative scores to measure and place the individual within a population.