Evaluating the computer as a data camera in family planning research

"This chapter explores both the potential and limitations of the micro-computer as a research tool for unobtrusive data collection in the area of population and family planning.... To provide concrete examples of the computer's potential usefulness as well as its limitations, two research projects undertaken [in the United States] by the author and colleagues will be discussed.... Each program offers different applications of how the computer can be used to: (1) evaluate programs; (2) collect descriptive data about users' values, decisions, and previous behaviors regarding sexual issues, and (3) develop and test cognitive and behavior models. Each application also offers examples of the limitations of the computer in terms of external validity issues (i.e., how representative are samples of persons who use the computer voluntarily), the need to check the validity of responses typed by computer users, and ethical issues involved in using the computer to collect data."