1. Unobtrusive Methods for Social Science Research A Neglected Methodological Approach in the Social Sciences Yoram M Kalman

2. Resources

3. Methodological Weaknesses of Interviews & Questionnaires  Responders provide answers that are in line:  with self-image  with researcher expectations  We only get answers from those who are accessible and willing to respond  Hawthorne effect, etc.

4. Justifications for Unobtrusive Measures  Complementary to direct elicitation techniques  Adaptable in situations where eliciting is difficult and/or dangerous  Approach that promotes creative methodologies

5. Categories of Unobtrusive Data  Found data  Captured data  Retrieved data  Running records  Personal and episodic records

6. Found Data – Erosion  Floor tiles around chick exhibit  Popularity of gym apparati by chalk consumed  Popularity of library books by smudges, finger marks etc.  Leaflets in different languages in tourist sites  Postcards in museum exhibits  Paper tissue and cough medicine in campus store correlated with class attendance records  Fun, but relatively rare in research

7. Found Data – Accretion  Before and after electric waste disposal units: change in fly population measured on car grilles  Graffiti:  Racial tensions in Hawaii  Youth relationships in high schools  Correctional facility for male juveniles  Garbology:  Survey data on alcohol consumption vs. number of empty alcohol containers appearing in garbage cans. The survey data underestimated consumption due to high refusal rate and exclusion of teenage drinkers  Others: Condom wrappers1976-1984, and beyond; Beer tabs vs. beer cans as evidence for recycling.  In US, 4 th amendment issues

8. Found Data – Disadvantages  Conservative estimate  Socially dependent  Takes time to accumulate  Inferentially weak

9. Captured Data  Exterior physical signs: head and facial hair, tattooing, clothing and adornments  Expressive movement: demeanor, eye gaze, touching, verbal latency  Physical location: proxemics, spatial arrangement  In-situ conversation: pronunciation  Time related behavior: often neglected. Duration as proxy for importance, time of day influencing behavior

10. Retrieved Data – Running Records  Running records vs. episodic and private records: e.g.: mass media, reference works, records of proceedings  Lengthy periods of time  Ubiquitous  Lower cost  Less amenable to self report  Allow the exploration of trends and temporal patterns  Limitation: collected by others

11. Retrieved Data – Running Records  Mass media: news stories, advertisements, photographs, obituaries/weeding announcements  Reference works: directories, almanacs, yearbooks  Records of proceedings: discussions and decisions

12. Retrieved Data – Running Records  Actuarial records: births, deaths, marriages  Personal ads:  Jagger (1998) and gender conceptions in 1 st and 2 nd halves of 20 th century  Race relations  HIV status  Marriage announcements and obituaries:  Class vs. church denomination  Gender vs. occupation  Gender vs. length of obituary  Others: job ads, book lists, phone books, etc.

13. Retrieved Data – Disadvantages  Often can’t be used “as is”. Should consult with those who produced them (reactivity!)  Quality issues, especially when more extensive  Selectivity: exclusion and inclusion criteria  Statistics might reflect more the organization collecting the data, than the sources of the data  Confidentiality

14. Retrieved Data – Personal and Episodic Records  Best example is personal documents:  Letters  Diaries/ daily journals  Autobiographies  CV’s  Wills  Photo albums

15. Key Principles of Unobtrusive Measurement  Construct and impose multiple indices that converge  Assume noise is rare  Investigators believe in amortization  Find foolishness functional  Ponder the variance rather than the mean  Investigators use expectancy as a control Webb & Weick, 1983 in Lee, 2000

16. Example: What email Latency Constitutes Silence?  Response latencies in Enron emails  Research on CRM in hotel industry  Chain letters  OOO messages  Published corporate policies  Blog postings discussing online responsiveness +  Questionnaires  EVT experiments

17. Key Challenges  Unconventional measures stand out and could receive less respect  Often, unchartered ground  Privacy:  When does observation intrude on privacy  Informed consent, etc. are reactive  Challenge is multiplied in online settings  Falling in love with methodology

18. Unobtrusive Measures Online  Plenty of sources  Searchable  Digitized, and ready for processing  Logs  Sharing with other researchers  Demographics of online users are no longer unrepresentative  Less limited geographically

19. Conclusion  Originality and innovation  Complementary, triangulation  Do the impossible:  Sensitive issues  Limited resources  ICT revolution a significant influence  Beware of:  Ethical challenges  Methodological pitfalls

20. Yoram Kalman www.kalmans.com Center for the research of the Information Society yoram@kalmans.com