Under the main three basic groups of research methods (quantitative, qualitative and mixed), there are different tools that can be used to collect data. Data collection techniques include: interviews – which normally involves a dialogue with the researcher setting the agenda and asking questions and the interviewee being cast in the role of respondent; observations (direct and participant) – by which you gather knowledge of the researched phenomenon through making observations of the phenomena, as when it occurs; and questionnaires – forms which are completed and returned by respondent. The difference between the three is that questionnaire method involves emailing questionnaire to respondents in a written format. On the contrary, interview method is one wherein the interviewer communicates to the respondent orally. Observational method, on the other hand, are the facts and figures obtained by watching, either mechanically or in person, how people behave.
o be complete, Stephen must fill the void created by his rebellion, and create his own character. Sadly, the result is the character study of an arrogant, unhappy egotist, an intensely self-absorbed young man. An egotist is interested only in the self, and is intensely critical of other people and the world. This can be said of Stephen, who feels superior and finds it hard to care for others, even for his own family (Litz 72). It is equally hard for him to accept affection or love from others:
His lips would not bend to kiss her. He wanted to be held firmly in her arms, to be caressed slowly, slowly, slowly. In her arms he felt that he had suddenly become strong and fearless and sure of himself. But his lips would not bend to kiss her.
(Joyce 94-5)
From his early school days on, Stephen is at the edge of group life, observing himself. As he grows older, he becomes even more absorbed in his own ideas until he finally withdraws from his familiar surroundings (Brandabur 159).
In contrast, it is also Stephen’s acceptance of his own sinfulness that sets him free. Guilt and fear of punishment keep him in a sterile, pale world of virtue where he is always hounded by the pressure to confess, admit, or apologize (Drew 276). By committing a mortal sin of impurity and falling from grace like Adam from Paradise, like Lucifer expelled from Heaven, or even like Icarus from freedom, he is thrust back into the earthly world of the senses, a world that releases his creative powers (Booth 227):
Could it be that he, Stephen Dedalus, had done these things? His conscience sighed in answer. Yes, he had done them, secretly, filthily, time after time and, hardened in sinful impenitence, he had dared to wear the mask of holiness before the tabernacle itself while his soul within was a living mass of corruption. How came it that God had not struck him dead?
