Documentary Sources LT6

Question 1

public documents

Answer 1

Produced by an organisation such as governments

Question 2

personal documents

Answer 2

These are fist person accounts of a social event
E.g. Anne Franks dairy

Question 3

What are the Advantages of documentary sources ?

Answer 3

. can gain massive insight into peoples feelings, motives and attitudes gaining high validity (Theoretical)
. documents cheap and quick to use (Practical)
. No permission is needed due to them being public documents.

Question 4

What are the Disadvantages of documentary sources ?

Answer 4

. Unrepresentative of all people in target population (Theoretical)
. The researcher may need certain skills to understand
(Practical)
. Has the consent been given if there author is still alive, if deceased danger of exploitation (Ethical)

Question 5

Historical documents

Answer 5

Personal or public documents created in the past

Question 6

What are the Advantages of historical documents ?

Answer 6

. historical documents are often the only way to look into past (Practical)

Question 7

What are the Disadvantages of historical documents ?

Answer 7

. Problems with representativeness, lost and destroyed document (Theoretical)
. Difficulty accessing (Practical)

Question 8

Content analysis

Answer 8

the researcher defines set categories and counts hoe many times material is classified under that category.

Question 9

What is an example of a Content analysis ?

Answer 9

Loban (1974): Used to study gender roles in children’s reading schemes.

Question 10

What are the Advantages of Content analysis ?

Answer 10

. Largely objective and free from bias (Theoretical)
. Positivists argue it is highly reliable (Theoretical)
. relatively cheap and easy to access (Practical)

Question 11

What are the Disadvantages of Content analysis ?

Answer 11

. Interprevists argue that there is no real insight (Theoretical)
. There is no way to double check the data that the media provides (Practical)