Table Of Content, IJNOBTRUSIVE
MEASURES
SAGE CLASSICS
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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:
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ISBN: 0-7619-2012-9 (paperback)
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
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Acquiring Editor: C. Deborah Laughton
Editorial Assistant: Eileen Carr
Production Editor: Wendy Westgate
Editorial Assistant: Patricia Zeman
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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.
