4 DOCUMENTARY AND FIELD RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS - SCIENCE - 2025

The documentary and field research instruments that are most used by scientists and researchers are questionnaires, interviews, observation and documentary compilation.

To choose correctly, the researcher must ask a series of questions, such as “what type of data do you want to obtain to solve the problem: quantifiable or non-quantifiable?”, “Where is the data needed to develop the investigation? ”, among others.

If the researcher wishes to obtain qualitative data, he will opt for the application of descriptive questionnaires. If qualitative data is what you need, an interview or qualitative questionnaires will be preferred.

If the data is only available where the events occur, then the field observation will take place. On the contrary, if the data has been recorded in written or audiovisual sources, the documentary compilation can be implemented.

These instruments are applied taking into account the hypotheses that are worked on in the research, as well as the variables and indicators that may affect this hypothesis.

List of main data collection instruments

1- Questionnaire

The questionnaire is a data collection instrument that allows obtaining information from a series of questions that the object must answer.

This instrument is usually preferred when the sample to be studied is large, since several questionnaires can be applied at the same time.

The questionnaires can be made up of two types of questions: open and closed. The open ones are those that do not offer options, but allow the respondent to respond freely. These are used in qualitative questionnaires.

On the other hand, in closed ones, the researcher creates a series of standard responses and gives the respondent the opportunity to select one. These are used in descriptive questionnaires.

2- Interview

The interview is often used in qualitative research, such as documentaries. Journalists and psychologists often use this method to obtain data.

Some researchers prefer the interview over the questionnaires, because it provides freer responses.

The interview is classified as structured, unstructured, focused, and clinical.

Structured interview

It is one that follows a format previously established by the researcher. A series of guiding questions are prepared that are intended to guide the conversation.

Unstructured or unstructured interview

In this, the researcher does not prepare questions, but engages in a more or less informal conversation with the object.

In the social sciences and psychiatry, this type of interview is usually applied to find out the opinion of the object of study.

Focused interview

It is a type of structured interview. In this one, all the questions focus on the same topic.

Clinical interview

This type of interview is used in medicine, especially in psychiatry. What is sought with its application is to determine symptoms that the object suffers and establish patterns of behaviors.

3- Observation

Observation is one of the data collection instruments that is preferred in scientific settings. Above all it is applied in the social sciences, such as anthropology, and in psychology.

This makes it possible to study the object of interest closely, without intermediaries that could interfere with the results obtained.

The application of this instrument does not consist only in observing what is happening, but in analyzing, synthesizing and processing the information that is being collected.

The researcher can record the data obtained in:

- Notebooks, which are quite informal records where the elements that the observer considers relevant are recorded.

- Field diaries, which are more formal than the previous ones. Here the researcher establishes his observations in a systematic way, taking into account the time and date.

- Recording devices, such as cell phones and audio and video cameras, which have become popular thanks to technological advances.

- Photographs.

There are different types of observation, among which the direct and indirect observation stand out.

Direct observation

Direct observation occurs when the researcher is in the same physical space as the object. However, the observer must not interfere with the development of the object. In case this happens, the results obtained would not be valid.

Direct observation can be covert or overt. It is covert when the object does not know that it is being monitored.

For its part, it is manifest when the object is aware that it is being watched. This method is not usually used since what is known as the Hawthrone effect can occur. This means that an individual's behavior changes when they know they are seeing them.

A subtype of direct observation is participant observation. In this, the researcher lives with the objects to get to know their culture, traditions and customs in depth.

In this sense, participant observation usually occurs in research in which interaction with the phenomenon is necessary, such as ethnological research.

Indirect observation

In indirect observation, the researcher resorts to secondary sources to observe the object of study: recordings, diaries, photos, reports, other investigations, among others. This means that the observer depends on the studies that have been carried out previously.

4- Documentary compilation

Documentary compilation is a method that is used in any type of research, regardless of whether it is qualitative or quantitative, documentary or field.

This is because the investigations that are framed within the scientific method consist of a theoretical framework. In this space, all the information that supports the study being carried out is presented: theories, antecedents, important concepts, among others.

The documentary compilation is usually associated with secondary sources, which can be:

- Newspapers, in the case of magazines, newspapers and other regular publications.

- Bibliographic, if the information is obtained from books and printed documents.

- Cartographic, when the data is obtained from maps and charts. Field investigations often draw on these sources.

- Audiovisual, if the records were recorded.

- Photographic, if information is obtained from photographs.

References

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