Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Armchair Empiricism: A Reassessment of Data Collection in Survey Research in Africa
Authors:Russell, MargoISNI
Mugyenyi, MaryISNI
Year:1997
Periodical:African Sociological Review (ISSN 1027-4332)
Volume:1
Issue:1
Pages:16-29
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:social research
Bibliography/Research
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/24487461
Abstract:This article is concerned with a practice that has become standard in sociological research in Africa, namely the employment of poorly paid, poorly trained, temporary enumerators for the central and sensitive task of data collection. This practice is applied both in social surveys which use official figures and in research projects that solicit original data. The authors analyse the historical forces - both political and economic - behind this practice. They examine the typical social relationship between the researcher and the data collector, emphasizing the production of socially structured misunderstandings. They argue that the gap between data collection and analysis constitutes a weakness in survey research, which is likely to undermine its results. This is illustrated on the basis of the authors' own experience in Swaziland. Bibliogr., notes., sum. in English and French.
Views
Cover