The fundamental unit of data collection is a questionnaire for both the biographical sources and the expert survey. For each of the latent variables in the structural model described above, an external set of manifest variables has been established. In this first phase of the research, these manifest variables correspond directly to specific
questions in a questionnaire. It is assumed here that neither failed bombers nor captured terrorists are available for answering the questionnaire. Instead, more circumspect methods of evaluating the attributes of suicide bombers are required. Two primary sources of answers to the questionnaire will be pursued during this project.
The first is a compilation of available biographies about the backgrounds of successful suicide bombers which will be used by the authors to complete the questionnaire described above. The second source of data will be from the community of experts, known as a “red-team.”
