Drug Abuse - Research Paper Example

However you will notice that the knowledge gained from observation and the propositions collected by doing general research, were used to support the facts drawn from qualitative analysis. The main source of information was the Internet. This is because the Internet is the richest source of information and it is easily accessible. The Internet, as a source of information, is also cheap, reliable and time-saving. The major disadvantage of using the Internet is that information collected over the Internet can be inaccurate.

This is because everybody in the world has the permission to upload whatever information they have. This information is mostly not well researched hence it is based on assumptions. This problem of inaccurate information can be corrected by using more than two sources over the Internet and lucky for you, this is what the author did so as to prepare this report for you. Various web pages, which have been cited in the report, were used to collect the information and you can have a look at them to build on your curiosity and to expand your knowledge about drug abuse.

ALTERNATIVES Alternative methods of information gathering included; observation, carrying out interviews, administering questionnaires, experimental analysis, general survey and sample survey OBSERVATION This is a primary method of data collection that would involve the author going to the field, meeting drug users and drug addicts, then drawing information from what would see. The field here implies schools, cities, home area, campus, offices, homes, wherever the author can find a group of people to study.

Observation does not involve asking questions or interacting with the people. It is simply being a quite onlooker of what goes on in the people of interest; in this case they are the drug users and abusers. The author would have to follow those people everywhere they went so that he could see what drugs they took, how often and how the drugs affected them immediately they took them, later in the day and the long-term effects. A substitute method would be to monitor the people under research using CCTV cameras.

If the author would have chosen observation, he could also have hired people to follow the drug users and collect the relevant information. This observation project would take months or even years to study many people, to be able to see the log-term effects and to come up with a factual, comprehensive report. Apart from time being the major disadvantage, observation would be extremely costly. The author would have to use money to follow the people under study wherever they went. He would need money to pay the people he hired and also pay for their transport when following the drug users.

He would also need money for the CCTV cameras, if he would have chosen to use them. Observation is also extremely tiring because following somebody or people for days and months, and watching them closely for twenty four hours every day is exhausting. One can even lose focus of the client in the process of following them. Another limitation of observation is that people would easily agree to being followed! Even if they agreed, drug-addicts turn violent when they are under influence of drugs.

This makes observation a very risky method because the author could be attacked by the person he is studying when the