Technical Brief: Direct Observation and Key Informant Interview Techniques for primary data collection during rapid assessments

Observation and assessment of external information are so fundamental to human nature that
it is difficult to describe their application to data collection methods in disaster needs
assessments. To successfully understand the roles that observation and communicated
information play in data collection during rapid needs assessments, it helps to consider two
distinctions: firstly, the difference between data and information; and secondly, the distinction
between ‘normal’ and “strategic” interaction.