Documents

Question 1

What are Personal Documents?

Answer 1

Documents that are created by individuals and record details of their experience, producing mostly qualitative data. E.g: diaries, letters, photos, etc.

Question 2

What are Public Documents?

Answer 2

School records, parish records, hospital records and government reports.

Question 3

What are Historical Documents?

Answer 3

A personal or public document that has been created in the past.

Question 4

An example of using Documents in sociological research:

Answer 4

Gewirtz conducted a study of 14 secondary schools, looking at documents such as the schools’ promotional materials. They found that schools had become experts in marketing themselves, coining the term ‘glossification’ to describe the way schools present themselves in a positive light.

Question 5

Advantages of using Documents:

Answer 5

High in validity, authentic, meaning, representative, credible.

Question 6

Disadvantages of using Documents:

Answer 6

Difficult to gain access, may not be authentic, may not be credible, may not be representative, may not have meaning.