Field Research - interview, observation, or survey

There are three different options for field survey that we learned about this week, interview, observation, and survey. When considering what would be best for my particular topic you must first know what each specifically targets. Interviews are in most cases a one on one based whereas, observation and survey would be group-based. This sets interviews apart from the group, they are a tunnel into someone's heart, history, and opinion, aka. brain. Interviews target specific demographics because you target who exactly you are asking questions to. Observation is a much more relaxed way of gathering research. The pressure of the interview and asking the correct questions is off, instead, you sit back and watch what people are doing, how they interact with your subject and then you can gather your results from there. This would perhaps be good if you were researching something that was visible such as exercise and diet, however, I am researching something that is not physical and therefore I do not think observation would be the best choice. The last one, survey, can be done blind or in person. Like observation, this can target a large demographic of people by either handing out surveys, going around and asking people, or posting it online and letting people decide to take it or not. Surveys are helpful in answering the who and what questions however it is less useful when answering the why. For example again, when looking at diet and exercise you can ask everyone at the gym who they are and what they are doing, however, to gather the why you might have to ask a variety of questions that can be difficult to word.

After learning all of this, I think it would be best for my particular field of research to do one-on-one interviews. I would look towards local politicians for my interviews because my area of study is one that is determined by politics. I would hope to get their personal opinions on why national healthcare failed in the United States, why it is so widely opposed, and what needs to be changed to make it a success, along with many others I have not thought through yet.