Unobtrusive methods

In a classic book, Unobtrusive Measures, first published in 1966, Eugene Webb, Donald Campbell, Richard Schwartz, and Lee Sechrest made a case for the greater use of data sources not dependent on the elicitation of data directly from respondents or informants. They further argued for the importance of combining data obtained using different methods in ways that allowed the methodological weaknesses inherent in particular methods to compensate for one another. The various sources of potential data Webb et al. identified and the justifications they advanced for the use of unobtrusive measures are explored. Problems associated with unobtrusive measures, including the ethical issues involved and the difficulty of generating measures relevant to specific research problems are discussed. The relationship of the unobtrusive measures tradition to the wider “cultural turn” in the social sciences and to new technological developments in social research is outlined. The use of unobtrusive measures online is discussed, emphasizing the cultural and symbolic significance of digital data and supporting the adoption of more imaginative, less self-report-dependent approaches.