Title: What is the role of anecdotal evidence in research of complex social systems?
Headings: What is the role of anecdotal evidence in research of complex social systems?
What is the role of anecdotal evidence in research of complex social systems?
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Content: Perhaps, another function of it is an illustration of theoretical results, for example as a piece of complementary discussion. What might be important is an extent to which such evidence is reliable and widespread: if it is more of a rarity/exception it will be painful to employ it in your research. Cite
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Anecdotal evidence adds liveliness to the research . Besides being a living proof it is very useful in case study research
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25th Jul, 2012
John Edward Cook
5 Deep Limited
I use observation and anecdotal evidence but it has to be part of a methodology - I usually place mine in an Action Research (or action inquiry, learning, science etc) framework and use triangulation so I am using qualitative and quantitative data - you can then relate the anecdotal evidence or observations to this other data. They can also be used as examples to highlight areas of data. Cite
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25th Jul, 2012
Michael W. Purdy
Governors State University
Agree with John, depends on methods and the type of research, and how you work with the anecdotes. In a phenomenological method you wouldn't denigrate anecdotal evidence, but you wouldn't want to overstate its relevance unless you had "Patterns" that emerged out of the evidence itself. Cite
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26th Jul, 2012
Dante Medina Aquino
Isabela State University
Anecdotes may be helpful as bases in different aspects of the research: process from problem formulation to discussion of results and coming up with conclusions.