Personal Documents - PERVERT Flashcards
Practical factors
Strengths: Personal documents, such as diaries, letters, autobiographies, and social media posts, provide rich and detailed insights into individuals’ lived experiences and perspectives.
Weaknesses: However, accessing and analysing personal documents may require permission from individuals or institutions, and researchers must consider issues of privacy, confidentiality, and ethical use of personal data.
Ethical factors
Strengths: Personal documents offer a non-intrusive way to access individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and experiences, respecting their autonomy and agency in self-expression.
Weaknesses: Nonetheless, researchers must obtain informed consent and ensure confidentiality and anonymity when using personal documents, particularly when dealing with sensitive or private information.
Reliability
Strengths: Personal documents can provide reliable data when they are authentic and accurately reflect individuals’ perspectives and experiences.
Weaknesses: However, reliability may be compromised if personal documents are altered, incomplete, or biased, and researchers must critically evaluate their authenticity and veracity.
Validity
Strengths: Personal documents can enhance the validity of findings by offering direct access to individuals’ subjective experiences and perspectives, providing insights that may not be captured through other research methods.
Weaknesses: Yet, the validity of personal documents may be influenced by factors such as selective memory, social desirability bias, and the context in which they were created, requiring careful interpretation and contextualization by researchers.
Examples
Strengths: Personal documents have been used in various sociological studies to explore topics such as identity formation, social relationships, cultural practices, and historical events. For example, researchers may analyze personal diaries from different time periods to understand changes in social norms and values.
Weaknesses: However, personal documents may be limited in their representativeness and generalizability, as they reflect the perspectives and experiences of specific individuals or groups and may not be representative of broader populations.
Representativeness
Strengths: Personal documents can enhance the representativeness of findings by providing insights into the diversity of individuals’ experiences and perspectives within a particular context or social group.
Weaknesses: Nonetheless, the representativeness of personal documents may be limited by factors such as sample selection bias, the availability of documents, and the extent to which individuals’ experiences are accurately reflected in the documents.
Theoretical factors
Strengths: Personal documents can contribute to theoretical development by providing empirical evidence and case studies that enrich theoretical frameworks and hypotheses.
Weaknesses: However, the use of personal documents in theoretical research may be limited by factors such as the availability of relevant documents, the need to critically evaluate their authenticity and reliability, and the potential for bias or subjectivity in interpretation.
