方法对比

	API数据收集	文献收集
领域	调查方法论	调查方法论
方法族	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
起源年份	2000s–2010s (formalized as a research method)	19th–20th century historical methods; contemporary social-science codification c. 2000s
提出者	Emerged from computational social science and web 2.0 platform practices	Rooted in historical and social science traditions; systematized by Lindsay Prior and Glenn Bowen
类型	Digital data collection technique	Qualitative / mixed data-collection technique
开创性文献	Salganik, M. J. (2018). Bit by Bit: Social Research in the Digital Age. Princeton University Press. ISBN: 9780691158648	Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27–40.
别名	API data harvesting, API-driven data collection, programmatic data retrieval, API research data collection	document analysis, documentary method, document review, secondary document analysis
相关	5	3
摘要	API-based data collection is a systematic technique in which a researcher sends structured requests to an application programming interface to retrieve data automatically from digital platforms, databases, or services. It is the primary method used in computational social science to gather large-scale social media records, government open data, financial data streams, and scientific repository content in machine-readable formats such as JSON or XML, enabling reproducible and scalable data acquisition that manual collection cannot match.	Document collection is a systematic data-collection technique in which the researcher gathers and reviews existing written, visual, or digital records — such as reports, meeting minutes, policies, letters, photographs, or institutional records — as primary or supplementary evidence. It is widely used in qualitative, historical, and mixed-methods research and can stand alone or complement interviews and observation.