Methods of Collecting Data

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Methods of Collecting Data

• Observation
• Document Analysis
• Interviews/Survey

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Document Analysis

• Episodic Records
• Records that are produced and preserved in a more
  casual, personal and accidental manner
• Personal diaries, memoirs, correspondence
• Episodic Records

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Episodic Records (Example)

• Studying the government response to civil unrest
  in the United States (Hypothesis Mass Unrest is
  positively related to welfare expansion)
• HEW secretary Joseph Califano, in a memo to
  President Lyndon Johnson, suggests White House
  action following major rioting in Chicago in July
  of 1966.
• The situation in Chicago continues to
  deteriorate. Senator Douglas has been in touch
  with Mayor Daley and Senator Douglas just called
  me and asked that we put together a package to
  speed up Federal grants in public housing and
  on-the-job training programs that are now pending
  in the Departments. In addition, he asked if
  there were any assistance we could make with
  respect to getting projects, such as recreation
  areas and swimming facilities, started
  rapidly...If you approve I will tell Daley that
  we will do all we can to help him with Federal
  programs, consistent, of course, with entitlement
  under existing laws and regulations and in a
  manner that does not put a premium on riots.

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The Running Record

• More likely to be produced by organizations (esp.
  govt)
• Carefully stored, easily accessed, often
  available over long periods of time
• Some frequently used sources
• U.S. Government (Census Bureau, BJS), State
  governments, America Votes (CQ), OECD,
  Statistical Abstract of the U.S., media reports

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The Running Record (An Example)

• Variables used in The Conditional Effect of
  Violence as a Political Tactic Mass Insurgency,
  Electoral Context, and Welfare Generosity in the
  United States. (AJPS, Jan. 1997)

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The Running Record (An Example)

• Appendix B Data Sources for Variables Used in
  Analysis
• AFDC Recipients. Total AFDC recipients, per one
  million population, December of each year.
  Recipients are individuals, not families, and
  include children. Data obtained from Social
  Security Bulletin, various years.
• Insurgency. Data were obtained from a number of
  different sources, including the New York Times,
  the Kerner Report, Riot Data Review published by
  the Lemberg Center for the Study of Violence,
  Facts on File, and Congressional Quarterly. Data
  were collected for a total of 923 events, all
  occurring during the years 1962-1974.
• Per Capita Income, Per capita State and Local
  Government Tax Revenue, State Population,
  Democratic Vote for Governor, Party Control of
  State Legislatures. Yearly data obtained for each
  variable from the Statistical Abstract of the
  United States.
• Number of female-headed families below poverty.
  State data are available for 1959, 1969, and 1979
  from the decennial census. Data for intervening
  years are estimates assuming constant change
  (linear interpolation). National data reported
  in the text are from the Census Bureau's Current
  Population Reports (P60-185). All data include
  only those families with children.
• Unemployment. State unemployment data were
  obtained for every year, and represent an average
  of monthly figures. Data published by the United
  States Department of Labor, Employment and
  Training Report of the President, 1971 and 1977,
  and Geographic Profiles of Employment and
  Unemployment.
• Electoral Power. Detailed historical accounts
  of state reapportionment efforts are reported by
  the National Municipal League, in Apportionment
  in the Nineteen Sixties. Information on the
  timing of elections and convening of legislatures
  during the l960's was obtained from the Book of
  the States, published by the Council of State
  Governments.
• Black Population. Data are available at the
  state level for years 1960, 1970, 1975 and 1980,
  from the U.S. Census Bureau. Data for intervening
  years are estimated assuming constant change
  (linear interpolation).
• Medicaid Data. Annual number of unduplicated
  recipients, reported in Medicaid Statistics, FY
  19XX.
• Residency Requirements. This information is
  reported in Characteristics of State Public
  Assistance Plans Under the Social Security Act,
  published by the U.S. Department of Health,
  Education and Welfare.

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Potential Problems with Running Record Data

• Inconsistency over time
• In how things are measured
• In availability

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Content Analysis

• The process of deriving numerical data from
  nonnumerical written records
• Enables the researcher to take verbal,
  nonquantitative records and transform it into
  quantitative data
• Examples most often seen in media research
  often used to analyze speeches

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Content Analysis (Example)

• Measuring Party Ideology in Western European
  Democracies (1946-1998)
• Used party manifestoes (platforms) to determine
  ideology of political parties

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