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The indirect personal investigation is through some agencies that have intimate knowledge of the phenomenon under enquiry. For example, an investigator may collect information about cost of cultivation indirectly from village head instead of collecting the information from farmers.

Advantages:

– It is less time consuming and expensive.
– As information can be collected from more knowledgeable persons, these are expected to be more useful and reliable.
– As fewer persons need be contacted, the enquiry could be more extensive than in case of direct personal enquiry.

Limitations:

– The information collected is subjective and is subject to the personal bias of the persons from whom it is collected.
– One has to be very careful about the selection of such persons-not only their knowledge but their personal attributes affect the quality of data. Great caution is called for in dealing with such a situation.