This book equips students and researchers with practical, creative strategies for gathering original data, It challenges the over-reliance on surveys and secondary datasets, placing data collection at the centre of quantitative social science.
This book equips students and researchers with practical, creative strategies for gathering original data. It challenges the over-reliance on surveys and secondary datasets, placing data collection at the centre of quantitative social science.
Covering diverse methods—including archival research, media analysis, field observation, experiments, natural experiments, and linking disparate datasets, this study shows how to move beyond routine approaches and uncover sources others overlook. Real-world case studies range from student projects to Nobel Prize–winning research, demonstrating how innovative data gathering can unlock new insights. The chapters combine methodological guidance with vivid examples, prompts for discussion, and suggestions for further reading. Readers learn how to design feasible, ethical, and methodologically sound data collection strategies that suit a wide range of topics and contexts.
An accessible complement to standard research methods texts, this book is ideal for social science students, doctoral candidates, and early-career researchers looking to think outside the checkbox.
1: Data, Not Defaults: Escaping the Questionnaire Comfort Zone 2: Ask at
Your Own Risk: The Hidden Flaws of Self-Reported Data 3: Boots, Streets, and
Data: When Observing Beats Asking 4: The Dusty Goldmine: Finding Data in the
Past 5: From Headlines to Hypotheses: Mining Media for Meaningful Data 6:
Controlled Chaos: The Science of Creating Your Own Data 7: When the World
Randomizes for You: Spotting Natural Experiments 8: Connecting the Dots:
Stitching Together Stories from Separate Data 9: Synthesis: After Reading
This Book: Looking Back, Looking Forward
Winai Wongsurawat is Associate Professor at the College of Management, Mahidol University, Thailand. His research and teaching explore the intersections of economics, history, and public policy. He is the author of Economic Development Parables: From Siam to Thailand, part of the Routledge Studies in the Modern World Economy series.
