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Therefore, those sources of data collection in which use is made of directobservation (systematic and participant observation), or indirect observation(questionnaires and interviews) lend themselves to the possibility of control by,for example, making use of appropriate statistical techniques. As we have,however, indicated, these sources of data are also highly reactive. The secondmain category of sources of data, physical and archival sources, is not,however, as readily amenable to control. In a certain sense, the data are alreadygiven. While the researcher is able to sample the source of newspaper reportsor issues of magazines in content analysis, for example, the basic text which isused as the primary source of data, is determined. The reverse of this situationis, of course, that these categories of data are low on reactivity and, for thisreason, do not pose as big a threat to the eventual validity of the findings.The fact that reactivity and control are positively correlated, illustrates a pointwhich we made earlier in this book, namely that methodology in general, andresearch design in particular, inevitably involves compromises. It is required ofthe researcher constantly to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of anumber of issues against each other, and eventually to decide upon thosemeasures which, as a whole, are likely to increase the validity of his findings tothe greatest extent.Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaTHE REQUIREMENT OF RELIABILITYThe central consideration of validity concerning the process of data collectionis that of reliability. Essentially, this is the requirement that the application of avalid measuring instrument to different groups under different sets ofcircumstances should lead to the same observations. Smith defines reliabilityby posing the following question:Will the same methods used by different researchers and I or at differenttimes produce the same results? (1975: 58).From these definitions it is clear that the reliability of observations or data isinfluenced by four variables: the researcher(s), the individual who participatesin the research project (in future referred to as the participant), the measuringinstrument, and the research context or the circumstances under which theresearch is conducted.In the section in which we deal with the question of the nuisance variables thatmay influence the reliability of observations, we shall interpret these fourvariables in the widest possible sense. The researcher refers to the project leader,the interviewer, the experimenter, the participant observer, or the field worker.The participant could refer to the individual who is being observed, who is beingquestioned (the respondent), or to a group of people who are being observed orquestioned. The measuring instrument may refer to a highly structuredinstrument (questionnaire or interview schedule), or to an unstructuredinstrument such as a list of unstructured items or a list of observation79