Documents

Question 1

What are the two types of documents?

Answer 1

They are secondary data that are
+ Personal documents, such as diaries, memoirs, autobiographies, notes and photo collections
+ Public documents, such as government or charity reports

Question 2

Why do interpretivists use documents?

Answer 2

As interpretivists seek to discover the meanings between individuals actions and thoughts etc, hence documents are very good for them as they are very valid qualitative as the subjects are free to express themselves
However positivists reject their use because they lack reliability and representativeness

Question 3

Advantages of personal documents?

Answer 3

+They are authentic and valid as they are usually written for personal purposes and provide a genuine insight into people’s attitudes
+ They are also cheap and save researchers time

Question 4

Disadvantages of personal documents

+

Answer 4

+ Some groups are unlikely to produce personal documents due to literacy skills or time constraints meaning that documents may not be representative
+ personal bias is very likely in historical recollections
+ Accessing them is very hard