Influence of Security Challenges on Data Gathering in Social Sciences Research in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examined how insecurity has negatively affected the data collection process in Nigeria with its overall negative implications for socio-economic development. It established that insecurity has raised both local and international concerns. Locally, socioeconomic interaction has remained under siege as a direct consequence of unabated incidents of insurgencies, kidnappings and robberies that have continued to intercept and disrupt major socio-economic growth-oriented processes. Internationally, images of insecurity in Nigeria as portrayed in the various media have continued to discourage foreign investors and other forms of inflow of foreign investment opportunities. Findings established that the process and quality of data collection have been largely affected as a result of insecurity which makes it difficult for committed researchers to access relevant sites and physical locations to secure reliable and valid data that would have supported objective research results and conclusions in the social sciences. The paper recommends that synergy among the various arms of the local security agents and commitment of the government towards the elimination of corruption in the war against insecurity will assist in enthroning the right research environment for the collection of reliable and valid data that can inspire growth-oriented socio-economic policy.