Biasness in the Primary sources of data collection

The Primary sources of data collection mainly involve the self-reporting measures, i.e. the survey or interview form of gathering relevant data. Such techniques often exhibit several biases which the researcher must be cautious about. Some potential issues are:

  • Understatement or Overstatement of the existing problem by the respondents- Such biasness is encountered usually in case of a research that involves respondents to describe their feelings or experiences, which are influenced by the social environment. In such a case, researcher must make his best effort to encourage honest answers by the participants.
  • Response depending upon self-evaluation is another situation of biasness by the respondents wherein they bend their answers to reflect what should be rather than what the actual case is.
  • Non-Remembrance of the past experiences by the participants may instill inaccuracy in research.

Primary sources such as interviews and surveys are important in research, but should be used cautiously.