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Methodology of Social Research

notes (4) Questionnaire—Primary sources are collected with the help of questionnaire though it is not the
direct source but indirect source of receiving information. in this technique during study there is an
indirect relation between researcher and informer in spite of direct relation. Questionnaire is a list of
questions prepared by researcher which he sends to the respondent with the plea to fill and return it
on time. This technique is used in that condition when the research field is so broad and vast that it
is not possible to collect data by directly contacting all informers. Besides this technique is used for
only those respondents who are literate and who can understand questions and answer them without
the help of the researcher. the advantage of studying with the help of this technique is that there is
a lot of saving of time and money. The main disadvantage of this technique is that the verification of
answers received in this is difficult.

ii. secondary source

those sources from which secondary data can be obtained are called the secondary source of data
collection. According to John Maize, “the construction of secondary sources is on the basis of quotable-
heard things and indirect viewers.”P.V.Yang writes, “The people using these secondary sources and
those collecting them for the first time are different”. According to Prof. Peter H Maan, “These are
the data obtained at the secondary level. That means they are not the data collected at the first level
instead these are the data formed on the basis of original data collected by other people. “it is clear
that secondary material is such type of material of data collection, those people who collected it for
the first time are different from those who now use it for their research work. From secondary source
sometimes such important information can be obtained which are not available from the primary
source. in social research secondary sources are not less important as compared to primary source. to
find out the truth of primary sources there is a dependency on the data obtained from the secondary
sources. secondary source play an important role in creating the initial background and to determine
the direction of research.
secondary sources of data collection are divided in two parts, first personal document and second
public documents. on discussing about them it will be clear that from which sources researcher can
collect the data and use them for his research work.

1. personal Documents

All the written material comes under the personal document that a person presents about himself
or social incidents by understanding them by a special view. in personal documents there can
be merger of person’s thinking, feelings and principles. Written material available in the form of
personal documents can be in the printed or non-printed form. By explaining the meaning of personal
documents John Maizehas writes, “in his narrow sense, personal document is the description written
by a person himself about his own activities, experiences, and belief. “ According to Jahoda and her
associate writers, “Under the personal documents all those documents are taken which are written
by the informers themselves on the basis of their personal life.
Personal documents contribute in understanding the historic background of social incidents happened
in persons, in a particular time or in the past.
Although personal documents are individualistic but they are quiet useful in social research. they
provide useful material in understanding the social activities. they are quiet important in that view
as on the basis of them the way of life, eating habits, nature-pattern, social ideals—rules of people
are known at a particular time. Letters, diaries, life-history and memories come under the personal
documents. Now we will discuss them here.
(1) letters—A normal person writes letters many times in his life although many letters are personal
though they provide much important information. in terms of study historians and biography writers

72 loVely professional uniVersity