Social Research Methods

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Social Research Methods

• Documents

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Classic works

• Classic works in sociology based on documents
  (e.g. Marx, Weber, Durkheim)

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References

• Prior, Lindsay. 2003. Using Documents in Social
  Research. London Sage Publications Ltd.
• Rapley, Tim. 2008. Doing Conversation, Discourse
  and Document Analysis. Los Angeles London SAGE
  Publications.
• Scott, John C. 1990. A Matter of Record
  Documentary Sources in Social Research.
  Cambridge Polity Press.
• Mcculloch, Gary. 2004. Documentary Research In
  Education, History and the Social Sciences. New
  edition. London Routledge.
• Hodson, Randy Dale (Ed.) (1999) Analyzing
  Documentary Accounts, London Sage Publications
  Ltd.

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Proximate and Mediate access to data

• SCOTT distinguishes
• Proximate
• Research has direct access to data provider, can
  influence process of data collection or data
  generation.
• Mediate
• no direct access, relies on data providers having
  left traces for other reasons. Researcher
  cannot influence data collection process
• Cf. obtrusive vs. unobtrusive measures

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Material vs. Texts

• Scott also distinguishes
• Material traces (e.g. archaeology) vs. texts
  left.
• Latter is main focus of documentary research
• (But N.B. film and video)

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Examples of documentary sources

• Online discussion groups
• Accounts (financial)
• Minutes, memos
• Returns
• Surveys/censuses
• Adverts
• Handbills
• Invoices
• Photographs
• ?Maps, paintings, films, architecture

• Manuscripts
• Letters and diaries
• Autobiographies
• Acts of Parliament
• Government reports and Inquiries
• Hansard
• Public records
• Newspapers, magazines (N.B. now on CD-ROM)
• Pamphlets
• Web pages

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Classification of documents

• (following Scott)
• Access
• Closed
• Restricted
• Open-archival
• Open-published
• Authorship
• Personal
• Official-private (e.g. hospitals, schools,
  business)
• Official-State (e.g. government,
  inter-governmental)

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Four Research issues

• Key point
• documents are socially produced.

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1. Authenticity

• Who is the true author?
• Is it a forgery?
• e.g. 6 Haydn piano sonatas authenticated by H C
  Robbins-Langdon but found this year to be
  forgeries
• e.g. the Vinland Map (discovered as forgery in
  1974)
• e.g. Carlos Casteneda - Amerindian magician.
  Clever compilation from known ethnographies
• Satires
• False attribution
• Particularly an issue on the Internet

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2. Credibility

• Sincerity, accuracy.
• Material interests of Author -gt their motives
• E.g. interests, bribery, sympathies, eye witness
  or secondary.
• Atkinson and Coffey - Documentary Realities
• An ontological status, the official view

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3. Representativeness

• Survival and Availability (selective deposit)
• Not everything recorded history from the
  victors perspective, only what people at the
  time consider important.
• Not all docs survive, weeding, accident,
  secrecy, scattered.

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4. Meaning

• Problem of literal meaning e.g. what is a
  whitster
• ( either textile bleacher or metal finisher)
• Genre of document (conventions governing
  different document types)
• Stylisation (e.g. use of allegory, allusion
  irony)
• Point of view Conditions of production (
  Hermeneutic circle)

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Recent focus

• Semiotics - Internal meanings of document
• Barthes
• Meaning lies in system of rules which structure
  text.
• Find these rules and decode hidden meanings of
  text.
• Multiple meanings
• Scott follows Giddens, suggests meaning arises
  from 2 contexts
• Intended context
• Received context.
• Thus interpretation of documents internal
  meaning depends on
• Intention and reception.

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Analysis of documents

• Quantitative
• Content Analysis
• Count terms, phrases, length of texts etc.
• Qualitative
• Grounded theory
• Qualitative Content Analysis
• Hermeneutic/interpretative

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Diaries - References

• Alaszewski, Andrew M. 2006. Using Diaries for
  Social Research. London Sage Publications Ltd.
• Louise Corti (1993) Using diaries in social
  research. Social Research Update 2. University of
  Surrey. http//sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU2.html

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Diaries

• Personal diaries vs. self-completion diaries
  (structured or free text)
• Advantages
• Good for recall of events or easily forgotten
  experiences (the mundane)
• Can deal with sensitive data
• Supplement interviews on day-to-day basis (diary
  - interview - diary method)

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Typical suitable subject matter

• How people spend time (e.g. Multinational Time
  Budget Use Project)
• Consumer expenditure (e.g. Family Expenditure
  Survey -gt RPI weightings)
• Transport (e.g. National Travel Survey)
• social networks, health, illness, diet,
  nutrition, family therapy, crime, alcohol and
  drug use, accidents.

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Diary Design

• A4 booklet 5-20 pages - most respondents do not
  carry diary around with them
• Inside cover instructions - "to complete soon
  after event" (Pilot these)
• Model of correctly completed diary
• 1 page for 1 time period (24 hrs/day/week) -
  clear layout
• Checklists of items
• or Guidance on what events need recording
• Add set of questions asking
• Was time period typical?
• Comments
• Explanation of any peculiarities
• Long diary - start short then wean to long
• Reminders to enter data (bleepers, family, sms)

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Data Quality

• Incomplete recording, inadequate recall
• Diary keeping period
• Not too short to miss significant events
• Not too long to burden respondents
• 7 - 14 days typical
• Ensure seasonal variations covered
• Reporting errors
• 1st day shows more reporting
• visits to preserve diary keeping habits
• Literacy
• Participation
• Face to face recruitment best
• Personal collection to sort out problems