Unobtrusive Measures PDF
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, IJNOBTRUSIVE MEASURES SAGE CLASSICS df he goal of the Sage Classics Series is to help bring new genera- tions of social scientists and their students into a deeper, richer understanding of the roots of social science thinking by making important scholars' classic works available for today's readers. The Series will focus on those social science works that have the most relevance for impacting contemporary thought, issues, and policy—including increasing our under- standing of the techniques, methods, and theories that have shaped the evolu- tion of the social sciences to date. The works chosen for the Series are cornerstones upon which modern social science has been built. Each volume includes an introduction by a pre- eminent leader in the discipline, and provides an historical context for the work while bringing it into today's world as it relates to issues of modern life and behavior. Moving into the future, opportunities for application of the findings are identified and references for further reading are provided. It is our hope at Sage that the reissuance of these classics will preserve their place in history as having shaped the field of social science. And it is our wish that the Series, in its reader-friendly format, will be accessible to all in order to stimulate ongoing public interest in the social sciences as well as research and analysis by tomorrow's leaders. Sage Classics2 , UNOBTRUSIVE MEASURES Revised Edition Eugene J. Web · Donald T Campbell Richard D. Schwartz · Lee Sechrest Sage Publications, Inc. International Educational and Professional Publisher Thousand Oaks ■ London ■ New Delhi Copyright © 2000 by Sage Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. First Edition 1966 by Rand McNally College Publishing Company For information: Sage Publications, Inc. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 E-mail: [email protected] Sage Publications Ltd. 6 Bonhill Street London EC2A 4PU United Kingdom Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd. M-32 Market Greater Kailash I New Delhi 110 048 India Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 0-7619-2011-0 (cloth) ISBN: 0-7619-2012-9 (paperback) This book is printed on acid-free paper. 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Acquiring Editor: C. Deborah Laughton Editorial Assistant: Eileen Carr Production Editor: Wendy Westgate Editorial Assistant: Patricia Zeman Typesetter: Lynn Miyata Indexer: Molly Hall Cover Designer: Michelle Lee CONTENTS Preface to the First Edition (1965) vii Introduction to the Classic Edition of Unobtrusive Measures xi 1. Approximations to Knowledge 1 Operationism and Multiple Operations 3 Interpretable Comparisons and Plausible Rival Hypotheses 5 Internal and External Validity 10 Sources of Invalidity of Measures 12 An Interlude: The Measurement of Outcroppings 26 The Access to Content 28 Operating Ease and Validity Checks 31 2. Physical Traces: Erosion and Accretion 35 Natural Erosion Measures 37 Natural Accretion Measures 39 Controlled Erosion Measures 43 Controlled Accretion Measures 44 Transforming the Data: Corrections and Index Numbers 46 An Over-All Evaluation of Physical Evidence Data 49 3. Archives I: The Running Record 53 Actuarial Records 57 Political and Judicial Records 65 Other Government Records 72 The Mass Media 75 Data Transformations and Indices of the Running Record 81 Over-All Evaluation of Running Records 83 4. Archives .II: The Episodic and Private Record 89 Sales Records 91 Industrial and Institutional Records 99 Written Documents 105 A Concluding Note 110 5. Simple Observation 113 Exterior Physical Signs 116 Expressive Movement 120 Physical Location 124 Observation of Language Behavior: Conversation Sampling 128 Time Duration 134 Time Sampling and Observation 136 Over-All Comments on Simple Observation 138 6. Contrived Observation: Hidden Hardware and Control 143 Hardware: Avoiding Human Instrument Error 143 Hardware: Physical Supplanting of the Observer 150 The Intervening Observer 156 Entrapment 164 Petitions and Volunteering 166 An Over-All Appraisal of Hidden Hardware and Control 169 7. A Final Note 173 8. A Statistician on Method 185 9. Cardinal Newman's Epitaph 187 References 189 Further Reading 211 Index 215 About the Authors 219 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION (1965) his monograph has had a series of working titles, and we should identify them for the benefit of our friends who shared early drafts. To some, this is The Bullfighter's Beard— a provocative, if uncommunicative, title drawn from the observation that toreros* beards are longer on the day of the fight than on any other day. No one seems to know if the torero's beard really grows faster that day because of anxiety or if he simply stands further away from the blade, shaking razor in hand. Either way, there were not enough American aficionados to get the point, so we added ... and Other Nonreactive Measures. This title lasted for a while, but the occasionally bizarre content of the material shifted the working title to Oddball Research, Oddball Measures, and the like. Most of our friends have known the manuscript under one of the "oddball" labels, and it is only a fear of librarians that has caused us to drop it. In this day of explicit indexing, we feared that the book would nestle on a shelf between Notes for the T Quarterback and Putting Hints for Beginning Golfers. As much as we might enjoy the company of an Arnold Palmer, we prefer it outside the library. A widely circulated version used the nontitle Other Measures. The list of titles we have specifically decided not to use is even longer and less descriptively adequate. vii VIH UNOBTRUSIVE MEASURES In presenting these novel methods, we have purposely avoided con- sideration of the ethical issues which they raise. We have done so because we feel that this is a matter for separate consideration. Some readers will find none of the methods objectionable, others may find virtually all of them open to question. Each school is welcome to use this compilation to buttress its position—either to illustrate the harmless ingenuity of social scientists or to marshal a parade of horribles. Although the authors vary in moral boiling points, we are all between these positions. Some of the methods described strike us as possibly unethical; their inclusion is not intended as a warrant for their use. But we vary among ourselves in criteria and application. We do not feel able at this point to prepare a compelling ethical resolution of these complex issues. Nonetheless, we recognize the need of such a resolution and hope that our compilation will, among other things, stimulate and expedite thoughtful debate on these matters. Perhaps the most extreme position on this matter has been stated by Edward Shils (1959). He asserts that all social science activity should be disciplined by careful attention to the problem of privacy. He would rule out any "observations of private behavior, however technically feasible, with- out the explicit and fully informed permission of the person to be approved." His concern on this issue would lead him to recommend that question- naire and interview studies be sharply limited by ethical considerations. Among the practices he deplores are (a) the simulation of warmth by the interviewer to insure rapport and (b) giving the appearance of agreement of answers on controversial questions to encourage the expression of unpopular attitudes. He would have the interviewer not only avoid such practices but also disclose, presumably in advance, his purpose in asking the question. This disclosure should include not only a statement of the researcher's "personal goal, e.g., to complete a thesis" but also his "cognitive intention." Groups or types of questions "ought to be justified by the explanation of what the answers will contribute to the clarification of the problem being investigated." Even the technique of participant observation seems to Shils "morally obnoxious . . . manipulation" unless the observer discloses at the outset his intention of conducting a social scientific investigation. Preface to the First Edition (1965) IX Most social scientists would find this position too extreme. If it were adopted, it would add enormously to the problems of reactivity with which this monograph is primarily concerned. Nevertheless, Shils's position specifies some of the dangers to the citizen and social science of an unconscionable invasion of privacy. Few would deny that social scientists can go too far in intruding on privacy. Recording deliberations in a jury room or hiding under beds to record pillow talk are techniques which have led to moral revulsion on the part of large numbers of professionals. Manipulations aimed at the arousal of anxiety or extreme aggression could conceivably produce lasting damage to the psychological health of experimental subjects. What is needed is a set of criteria by which various research techniques can be appraised morally. Each of the social sciences has attempted to develop a code of ethics for guidance in these matters. So far, however, these have suffered from the absence of a careful analysis of the problem. We need a specification of the multiple interests potentially threatened by social science research: the privacy of the individual, his freedom from manipulation, the protection of the aura of trust on which the society depends, and, by no means least in impor- tance, the good reputation of social science. The multiple methods presented here may do more than raise these questions for discussion. They may provide alternatives by which ethical crite- ria can be met without impinging on important interests of the research subjects. Some of the methods described here, such as the use of archival records and trace measures, may serve to avoid the problems of invasion of privacy by permitting the researcher to gain valuable information without ever identifying the individual actors or in any way manipulating them. If ethical considerations lead us to avoid participant observation, interviews, or eaves- dropping in given circumstances, the novel methods described in this mono- graph maybe of value not only in improving and supplementing our informa- tion but also in permitting ethically scrupulous social scientists to do their work effectively and to sleep better at night. We received notable aid from the following of our associates: Howard S. Becker, James H. Crouse, Kay C. Kujala, Irene E. Nolte, Michael L. Ray, Jerry R. Salancik, Carole R. Siegman, Gerald Solomon, and Susan H. Stocking. The acute eye and sensitive pen of Rand McNally's Lucia Boyden we bow before.
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