Data in Relation to Homelessness
The act of collecting and collating data in regards to homelessness is fraught with difficulty and incompatibility. The first major stepping stone is how we define a homeless person and to which, the extent in how they can be measured. The Housing Act of 1988 states that someone can be considered homeless ‘if there is no accommodation available which, in the opinion of the authority, he, can reasonably occupy or remain in occupation of’. (Irish Statute 1988) This doesn’t take into account the many variables however, such as those who may be forced to sleep on a friend’s sofa or have difficult relationships with those who care for them. Other problematic inaccuracies for academics include the impertinent nature …show more content…
(The Journal 2014) The result of this is that facts and figures are deliberately being held back from being researched and talked about in an educational setting. This can happen on a national level as well, it may be that the government and survey commissioners will find ways to exclude certain demographics in order to keep the data looking appealing. A report fulfilled by the Central Statistics Office admitted that all the data they accumulated, was sourced from one night of activity. (CSO 2012) Obviously this hints at a plethora of potential biases and questions over the validity of the data. It could be argued that you simply cannot get an accurate picture from such a small timeframe, some homeless people may have been temporarily housed on that date or they may have been out of town just to give an example of what may have gone wrong. It also stated that survey takers were approached beforehand to gain consent which asks the question of whether the objectors were accounted for or left out of the final report. The concept of a homeless target range makes it hard to reliably contact and collate information on the subjects, due to the lack of basic research staples. If you were to write a piece on homeowners for example, you would have access to an address, home phone
The act of collecting and collating data in regards to homelessness is fraught with difficulty and incompatibility. The first major stepping stone is how we define a homeless person and to which, the extent in how they can be measured. The Housing Act of 1988 states that someone can be considered homeless ‘if there is no accommodation available which, in the opinion of the authority, he, can reasonably occupy or remain in occupation of’. (Irish Statute 1988) This doesn’t take into account the many variables however, such as those who may be forced to sleep on a friend’s sofa or have difficult relationships with those who care for them. Other problematic inaccuracies for academics include the impertinent nature …show more content…
(The Journal 2014) The result of this is that facts and figures are deliberately being held back from being researched and talked about in an educational setting. This can happen on a national level as well, it may be that the government and survey commissioners will find ways to exclude certain demographics in order to keep the data looking appealing. A report fulfilled by the Central Statistics Office admitted that all the data they accumulated, was sourced from one night of activity. (CSO 2012) Obviously this hints at a plethora of potential biases and questions over the validity of the data. It could be argued that you simply cannot get an accurate picture from such a small timeframe, some homeless people may have been temporarily housed on that date or they may have been out of town just to give an example of what may have gone wrong. It also stated that survey takers were approached beforehand to gain consent which asks the question of whether the objectors were accounted for or left out of the final report. The concept of a homeless target range makes it hard to reliably contact and collate information on the subjects, due to the lack of basic research staples. If you were to write a piece on homeowners for example, you would have access to an address, home phone