- What are investigative techniques?
- Types of investigation techniques
- Examples of investigation techniques
We explain what research techniques are and what they are for. Also, what types of techniques exist and some examples.
What are investigative techniques?
The techniques of research are the set of tools, procedures and instruments used to obtain information and knowledge. They are used according to protocols established in each methodology determined.
Simply put, investigation techniques are the tools and procedures available to any investigator, which allow them to obtain data and information. However, they do not guarantee that the interpretation or conclusions obtained are correct or those that were sought. For the latter, a methodology or a method.
They are part of the technique, that is, the specific procedure that we carry out to obtain a specific result, which in this case is to collect information. Therefore, there are research techniques applied to all areas of knowledge, from the scientific knowledge Y technological, to criminology and statistics.
Types of investigation techniques
One can find classifications of investigative techniques depending on the specific area in question, but roughly we can organize them into three different categories:
- Documentaries Those that collect information by going to sources previous research, such as other people's research, books, information on various media, and uses instruments defined according to these sources, thus adding knowledge to what already exists on the research topic. This is what happens in an investigation historical, in which they go to texts of the time.
- Field. Those that promote direct observation of the object of study in its given element or context, and that adapt their tools to it, seeking to extract the greatest amount of information in situ, that is, in the same place. This takes place, for example, in statistical research, since the opinions of people on the street are sought and classified.
- Experimental. Those that start from the reproduction, in a controlled environment, of the natural phenomena looking to study. For this, tools and knowledge are used both practical and theoretical, documentary or not, and what is observed is recorded to try to find the truth of how and why things happen. Such is the case with the creation of vaccines in a medical laboratory.
Examples of investigation techniques
Some simple examples of investigation techniques are:
- The interview. It consists of asking questions directly to the subject or subjects of study, generally in an isolated place, in order to obtain an approximation of what they think, feel or have lived, which can then be processed statistically or through other methods, to obtain a truth. It is particularly useful in the field of social Sciences.
- The observation. Fundamental to all scientific principles, observation It consists of simply confronting the phenomenon that one wishes to understand and describe it, taking note of its peculiarities, of its environment, in short, detailing it. It is usually the first basic step of all kinds of knowing.
- The questionnaires. Similar to the interview, they take place in the field where the study subjects are: the streets of a town, the interior of a factory, an educational community, and so on. There it asks a definite number of persons that answer a series of questions and with that information, percentage data, statistical approximations are constructed and obtained conclusions.
- The experiment. As we said before, it consists of the replication of an observed natural phenomenon, but in a controlled environment, in such a way as to be able to measure, observe and reproduce its effects, and thus be able to understand its causes and consequences while minimizing the effects. variables unknown or unforeseen.