Obstacles and Measures: Challenges to Data Collection in Crisis Research

• In Event: Message Producing and Message Monitoring in Real-Time: The Challenges and the Opportunities in Crisis Communication

Abstract

Conducting disaster and crisis research poses significant obstacles to applied scholars. Researchers who examine crises face many method and data analysis challenges. They only have one chance to collect data after a crisis and methods in analyzing crisis situations are still highly unstructured. There are no agreed procedures for data collection duration, sampling techniques, or data analysis. Further, despite the methodological limitations imposed by the conditions surrounding disasters, this research is often criticized for issues of data collection, randomization, and generalizability. This paper examines such issues in crisis research, outlining the difficulties of randomization, problems stemming from the absence of randomization, and potential solutions to these problems. Finally, issues concerning data analysis are discussed, with an eye toward the specific use of non-parametric procedures. Data that has been collected from Hurricanes Katrina and Ike, 9/11, the Virginia Tech tragedy, the I-35 bridge collapse, and other large scale crises will be used.

Author

• Patric Spence, Western Michigan University