Documents Flashcards
(7 cards)
In a nutshell
Documents are secondary data, favoured by interpretivists, which are created by individuals, groups and organisations. They mainly contain qualitative data that expresses beliefs and meanings held by an individual and/or organisation. Different types of documents include personal private documents and historical documents.
PERSONAL DOCUMENTS
Personal documents take the form of diaries, memoirs, autobiographies and letters.
PERSONAL DOCUMENTS- ADVANTAGES
Valid - Written for personal purposes so will have a high degree of validity and provide an in-depth and genuine insight into people’s attitudes.
Practical - They are cheap and save researcher’s time.
Illuminates many areas of social life.
Can be used to confirm or question other interpretations and accounts.
PERSONAL DOCUMENTS- DISADVANTAGES
Some groups are unlikely to produce personal documents such as letters and diaries and so their views aren’t represented while those with time and literacy skills may be over represented.
Personal documents such as letters are written with an audience in mind and may affect what is being recorded. Personal bias is likely to be present.
Historical DOCUMENTS-
Historical documents provide evidence from the past.
Historical DOCUMENTS- ADVANTAGES
They allow comparisons over time (for example birth, death and marriage rates)
They are useful when assessing the outcomes of various social policies (Eg. raising the school leaving age)
Historical DOCUMENTS- DISADVANTAGES
Un-representative - some documents may have been lost or destroyed
The validity of the documents are open to question as they may have been written selectively
The authenticity of a document is open to question as it might not have been written by the person it is attributed to, therefore undermining its reliability
