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Explore the benefits and challenges of utilizing physical traces and archival research without reactivity. This method allows for validity checks, life history examination, and analysis of long-term changes. Learn about the vast data available and potential problems to consider when working with archived materials.
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Physical traces & Archival Research • no reactivity (no Hawthorne effect, subject bias etc) • can be done with subject anonymity • especially useful for validity check • of measures • external validity • very good for long term changes • life histories (impact of divorce, illness, death) • different epochs ( eg baseball batting averages) • Huge amount of data available
Problems – • Not everything is saved – some traces last longer than others, questions may change over years. • Records kept but may not be representative of all data. • Little information stored when nothing happens. • Some records maybe easier to retrieve than others. • Recording errors • 3rd variable over time • Spurious relationships found
Problems ctd • Experimental bias – more information available than you can use So need to choose. • Need to interpret data that is already there. • Need great operational definitions • Access - government private or corporate?
How to objectively code information 1) Identify data source 2) Sample data 3) Code records – classify events and behaviors into clear categories. Record time, words, space, events devoted to category. Trained raters for qualitative judgments
Running records – eg congressional records , baseball stats continuously updated – used for epoch comparison • Personal records –diaries, blogs – eg used in social network research • News media – not unbiased – eg lost and found columns used for altruism research