Pilot-tested API-based data collection

Pilot-tested API-based data collection is a structured digital data-gathering approach in which a researcher designs an API query or harvesting script and then runs a small-scale trial before executing the full collection. The pilot phase exposes authentication issues, rate-limit constraints, schema inconsistencies, and coverage gaps, enabling targeted refinements that protect the integrity and completeness of the final dataset. It bridges the software-engineering practice of integration testing with the social-science tradition of instrument pre-testing.