A Conceptual Roadmap for Social Science Methods in Human Rights Fact-Finding
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Description
Quantitative analyses are a powerful tool in the human rights practitioner’s methodology toolbox. Statistics allow researchers to reframe and examine topics in order to provide context or insights different from the information gathered in qualitative interviews, with the most common uses of data analysis being to demonstrate the scope, distribution (over geography and/or time), or variance of a human rights problem. Because numbers demand attention, there is increasing motivation to utilize data and statistics in human rights fact-finding. However, practitioners risk using methodologies or techniques inappropriately, either because of pressure to use new techniques they do not fully understand or to use a known methodology when another technique would be more appropriate. Increasing human rights practitioners’ quantitative literacy is the first step to guard against inappropriate or ineffective use of data and statistics. Practitioners need to develop quantitative literacy so as to understand the methodologies used to gather data.
Source Publication
The Transformation of Human Rights Fact-Finding
Source Editors/Authors
Philip Alston, Sarah Knuckey
Publication Date
2015
Recommended Citation
Satterthwaite, Margaret L. and Simeone, Justin C., "A Conceptual Roadmap for Social Science Methods in Human Rights Fact-Finding" (2015). Faculty Chapters. 1793.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/1793
