| Variants of с | hose | Non-selective (concrete and realistic) | Selective (abstract and Utopian) | |
| Recommendati | ons | Not to plan information analysis methods, until datum character is cleared up | Not to accumulate datum, until it is exactly decided how to analyze and use them | |
| Results | Planning is carried out quickly, analy-sis-slowly | Planning is carried out slowly, analysis can be quick, providing automatic datum machining | ||
| Longitudinal (historical and dependant of time | Used, when it is unknown, what takes place and why? | Collection of great data volume from each member of a small group | Examples: film, video recording, sound record, observer's log. A | Examples: digital magnetic tape, paper punched tape, graphic record С |
| Transversal (quantitative and simultaneous) | Used, when it is required to specify the scale of what is going on | Collection of small data volume from each member of a big group | В Examples: photograph, written description, gathered samples, free interviews | D Examples: questions with multiple choice of answers; digital counters; repetition count; topographic survey |