Step 3: Develop a case management system Documentation teams should develop a secure and efficient case management system in which all team members have been trained. At a minimum, an effective case management system will require team members to keep a log of all activities, file documentation methodically, and keep lists of outstanding and incomplete tasks. This requires:  Keeping accurate, detailed, and clear records of all the work done on a case, including dates and times.  Filing evidence according to categories, such as a witness statement file, photograph file, physical evidence file, document file, copies of all documents and/or a record of all documents obtained, and a sketch and map file.21  Storing all files securely. Files should not be obviously labeled. As an extra precaution, files with notes about an individual and/or respondents should be identified by a number and not the name of an individual, and lists identifying interviewees should be kept separate from the substantive files. If possible, duplicate files should be made and stored in a separate, secure facility. Documentation teams may wish to use a free secure online server, such as Martus (www.martus.org), which encrypts data and gives you the option of backing it up onto a secure, remote server. II. Interviewing 1. Preparation 1.1 Identifying whom to interview For most human rights documentation work, the principal and most powerful source of evidence will be direct victim and direct witness statements. The closer the respondent is to the event in question, the greater value their statement is likely to have. Beyond direct victims and witnesses, documentation teams should seek a broad range of perspectives when conducting interviews, e.g. organizations or State actors who respond to human rights abuses, as well as members of the community who are neither witnesses nor victims. Statements from these interviews can be relied on to corroborate findings. Qualitative or quantitative research? A key for human rights documentation project to consider is whether the project seeks to engage in quantitative or qualitative research.  Quantitative research aims to draw conclusions from a representative sample of a population that can then be generalized back to the population.  Qualitative research aims to deepen understanding of the various dimensions of a particular social issue or phenomenon. The objectives of the project will determine the most appropriate methodology. For example, if the aim of the project is to ascertain the prevalence of a particular human rights violation, quantitative research may be appropriate. However, if the aim of the project is to understand the causes and responses to a particular human rights violation, a qualitative methodology that involves speaking to people with a variety 11