Documents - Assessing Documents

Question 1

How many criteria are there for assessing documents?

Answer 1

4

Question 2

Criteria for assessing documents

Answer 2

Authenticity
Credibility
Representativeness
Meaning

Question 3

3 questions that must be asked when assessing the authenticity of a document?

Answer 3

Is the document what it claims to be?
Are there any missing pages and is it free from errors?
Who wrote the document?

Question 4

Why may public figures write diaries intended for publication which affects credibility?

Answer 4

They may write diaries intended for publication to inflate their own importance

Question 5

Question that must be asked when assessing the credibility of a document: writer

Answer 5

Is the writer telling the truth?

Question 6

Question that must be asked when assessing the credibility of a document: time it was written

Answer 6

Was the document written soon after a particular event or a long time after it?

Question 7

2 additional questions that must be asked when assessing the credibility of a document

Answer 7

Is it believable?
Is it accurate?

Question 8

We can’t generalise them document if we can’t answer this question:

Answer 8

Is the evidence in this document typical?

Question 9

Way in which documents may lack representativeness: people

Answer 9

Certain groups of people may be unrepresented

Question 10

What groups may be unrepresented in documents?

Answer 10

Women
The illiterate
Those with limited leisure times (meaning they’re unlikely to have time to write documents)

Question 11

What may the researcher need to understand the document?

Answer 11

Specialist skills

Question 12

Example of a specialist skill needed for a researcher to identify the meaning of a document

Answer 12

Translation

Question 13

How may sociologists differ when reading documents? Why?

Answer 13

Different sociologists may interpret the documents differently as they have to interpret what the document actually means to the writer and intended audience