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Deciding methods of data collection
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DECIDING METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
Once the vision of your research and the overall methodological framework have been established, the next stage is to decide which method(s) will be most appropri- ate for your research. It is useful to consider whether you need to collect ‘primary’ or ‘secondary’ data as this will influence the methods you use. Primary data collec- tion involves collecting data which does not currently exist. Secondary data collection is the collection of materials, evidence or data which already exists but may not have been collected or analysed previously, or you intend to analyse it in a different way. Broadly, then, research methods can also be grouped into these categories. Both cat- egories can be used to conduct empirical research (collection of new data), although primary research methods are more commonly associated with empirical data as this involves the collection of ‘new’ data.
Primary research methods
There are many different methods that are useful for collecting primary data, and the type of method used will depend on the nature of the research, the research question and the methodological framework. As noted, methods can be broadly categorized
as either quantitative or qualitative, but in practice this distinction is not always reflective of the method. For example, surveys and questionnaires have been tradi- tionally considered quantitative methods and usually involve closed questions; however, surveys or questionnaires that involve primarily open questions can elicit qualitative data. Other primary research methods include experiments, interviews and focus groups and creative or visual methods using props, art or photography which are associated with a qualitative methodology. Some of these methods are considered in the following sections of this chapter and many are given more consid- eration throughout the book.
Surveys and questionnaires
Surveys are a popular method in criminological research and are often used by gov- ernment officials, an obvious example being the Crime Survey for England and Wales (formerly the British Crime Survey) which is the primary national victimization sur- vey. In a review of methods used across criminology and criminal justice, Kleck et al. (2006) found surveys were the most popular method. This was the method most often used to obtain information on crime, criminals and society’s reaction to crime. Kleck and colleagues (2006) found that some type of formal survey was used to col- lect information in 45% of all the research reported.
A survey generally collects data on different variables, which can broadly be cat- egorized into three groups (Aldridge and Levine, 2001: 5):
· Attributes – this includes demographic information and characteristics such as gender, age, sex, marital status, level of education.
· Behaviour – this generally includes questions on the what, when and how often.
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· Opinions, beliefs or attitudes – these seek to examine the respondent’s point of view.
Questions on surveys can be open or closed; however, they are commonly associated with closed questions. Open questions are usually broad how, what and why ques- tions, for example:
· How does anti-social behaviour affect your community?
· What are the impacts of the new legislative changes to ‘legal’ highs?
· Why did you choose to take part in restorative justice?
Closed questions, in contrast, are usually yes/no questions or Likert scale questions (for example, strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree). Some ques- tions might be:
· Do you worry about anti-social behaviour in your community? (yes/no)
· Has the change in legislation around ‘legal’ highs affected you? (yes//no)
· Cannabis should be made legal. (Likert scale)
· Prison sentences for violent offences should be longer. (Likert scale)
· Have you ever considered a restorative justice approach? (yes/no)
There are several benefits to using surveys. They allow researchers to gather a lot of information from a large sample of people in a single instrument, and they can be cost-effective and relatively quick. Surveys can be useful if the researcher is seeking to gather data which is generalizable. For example, a researcher seeking to examine how many people have experienced a particular crime (say burglary) and examine the social demographic characteristics of people who have been burgled to get an idea of who is most at risk, may choose the survey method to send to a representative sample of people living in England.
Box 4. 2 contains a case study example of surveys in a recent study examining sexual violence against people aged 60 and over in the UK.
BOX 4. 2 EXAMINING THE EXTENT OF SEXUAL
VIOLENCE AGAINST OLDER PEOPLE – FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUESTS (BOWS AND
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