Download - HSRC Press

the researcher is not. The third and fourth categories are, however, neutralterritories. In studies in which the influence of the research setting wasinvestigated, it was, for example, found that the researcher’s impressions of theparticipant’s home or place of work, frequently led to significant biases in thedata. The respondent’s role (see our earlier discussion on role selection) is alsodirectly influenced by the research setting. In the domestic setting a person’srole as father may be more noticeable, whereas his role as employer orsupervisor may be more noticeable in the work place.More reliable observationThe wide range of observer effects indicates the extent to which reactivityplays a role in the investigation of human behaviour. It would be quiteimpossible for any researcher to identify all observation effects, and to accountfor them. The purpose of research design is, however, to increase the eventualvalidity of research findings by systematic planning and by structuring aresearch project in such a manner as to minimize the combined effects ofnuisance variables. It is for this reason that we now pay attention to a numberof ways in which the researcher is able to control for some of the effects. Ourexposition does, however, not address the detail of the issues; this may befound in the publications cited. Our primary concern is with the broad issues.Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaTRIANGULATIONResearchers ought to accept as a general principle that the inclusion of multiplesources of data collection in a research project is likely to increase thereliability of the observations. Denzin coined the term triangulation to refer tothe use of multiple methods of data collection. Campbell and Fiske (1959)suggested a similar strategy which they called multiple operationism. All theseconcepts relate to the use of a variety of methods which, as a result of theircomplementarity, may be employed to correct for their respectiveshortcomings.It is important to bear in mind that specific types of data collection aredesigned for the acquisition of certain types of data. Morris Zelditch (1962)distinguished between three types of information in his seminal article:frequency distributions, incidents or events, and institutionalised norms andstatus. For each of these types of information there is a prototypical method ofdata collection: the use of surveys for information concerning incidents, andthe use of informants or interviews for information on norms and status.Zelditch’s classification merely illustrates that each type of method has specificlimitations. By employing different methods of data collection in a singleproject we are, to some extent, able to compensate for the limitations of each.91