ABSTRACT

When encountering the concept of computer-assisted investigative reporting for the first time, it is easy to assume that it involves the application of social science research methods to the analysis of government data. Such an assumption comes from the obvious facts that some sort of questions guide the inquiry (rather like the use of hypotheses in social science). In addition, computers are used to analyze numerical data and various quantitative indices are computed. Because these procedures are at the heart of social science research, it seems to follow that the two are essentially the same.