Collecting Primary Data: Unobtrusive Measures

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Collecting Primary Data Unobtrusive Measures
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Objectives

• After this session you will be able to
• Distinguish between unobtrusive measures and
  other research approaches.
• Describe the advantages of unobtrusive measures
  over more interactive methods.
• Select between different unobtrusive measures for
  conducting research.
• Demonstrate how to access data archives on the
  Internet.

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Definition

• Unobtrusive measures involve the use of
  non-reactive sources, independent of the presence
  of the researcher, and include documentary
  evidence (files, maps, films, sound recordings
  and photographs), physical evidence and archival
  analysis.

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Problems of reactive measures

• Interviewer bias.
• Invalid research tools.
• Unreliable research tools.
• Reactivity between interviewer and interviewee.
• Respondents get tired filling in a survey.

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Unobtrusive data natural accretion measures (1)
Graffiti
Rubbish
Roadside memorial
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Unobtrusive data natural accretion measures (2)
Obituaries and in memoriam guest books
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Unobtrusive data controlled accretion measures
Customer information
Web counter
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Unobtrusive data natural erosion measures
Road damage
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Unobtrusive data controlled erosion measures

• For example, calculating the work rate of
  postal workers, by taking measures of the rate at
  which their shoes wear out.

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Types of unobtrusive measures documents

• Running records
• Organizational documents
• Actuarial records
• Political and judicial records
• Episodic records
• Sales records
• Personal records
• Visual and mass media records
• Institutional records

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Digital records Internet archives

• Access to
• Government archives
• Government agencies
• Statistics
• Research projects

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Digital records CCTV

• Example it can help retailers (or the
  researchers they commission) to
• Analyse customer flows.
• Evaluate the impact of store refits.
• Identify ways of increasing store penetration.
• Measure dwell-time in different departments or on
  specific displays.
• Understand the nature of interactions between
  staff and customers.

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Ethics and the Internet

• Accessing (multiple) voices.
• Gaining consent.
• Respecting privacy.
• Ensuring anonymity.
• Avoiding misinterpretation.
• Identifying ownership.
• Attributing authorship.

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Ethics and CCTV

• Researchers need to take into account the
  interests of
• The client who commissioned the research.
• The general public who may not want to be filmed
  in certain shops (for example, chemists,
  opticians or lingerie stores).
• Innocent bystanders, since modern surveillance
  cameras have a 360 degree field of vision.
• The police or legal system if criminal activities
  are observed.
• Employees who may be concerned that recordings of
  their good or bad behaviour will affect their pay
  or promotional prospects.

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Limitations of unobtrusive measures

• Need to be used with other data gathering
  methods.
• Data may be incomplete, out of date or
  unreliable.
• High levels of information dross.
• Ethical issues how to gain informed consent,
  when originators of the measures unknown.

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Summary

• Unobtrusive measures involve the use of
  non-reactive sources such as files, photographs,
  videos, sound recordings and drawings, and now
  the Internet.
• Unobtrusive measures include the analysis of
  physical accretion and erosion measures, and the
  use of documents that include a wide range of
  organizational, business and personal records.
• One of the advantages of using unobtrusive
  records is that they deal with dead data, they
  do not pose the risk faced by many other research
  methods, of reactive measurement effects such as
  interviewer bias, or socially conditioned
  responses by participants.
• Unobtrusive measures carry with them their own
  inherent problems in that documents, for example,
  may be stored selectively, survive selectively
  and be inaccurate and incomplete.
• The growth of the Internet and monitoring
  technology such as CCTV means that the scope for
  research using unobtrusive measures is increasing
  at a rapid rate. However, the new technology also
  brings with it new ethical challenges which
  require recognizing the interests of disparate
  groups.