Doing Excellent Social Research with Documents Practical Examples and Guidance for Qualitative Researchers

• Main Author: Grant, Aimee
• Format: eBook Book
• Language: English
• Published: London Routledge 2019; Taylor and Francis; Taylor & Francis Group
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Aimee Grant; analysis strategies; data; Documents; ethnographic research; Found documents; Government publications; historical documents; interviewing; multi-modal content; Official documents; participant created documents; Practical Examples; primary research; Qualitative Methods; Qualitative research; Qualitative research > Methodology; qualitative research methods; Qualitative Researchers; research methods; Research Methods - Soc. Policy; Social Research; Social sciences; Social sciences > Methodology; Sociology & Social Policy; COM-B; UK Law; Data Set; Contemporary Society; Inductive Thematic Analysis; Waterpipe Smoking; Breast Milk Substitutes; Patient Case Files; UK National Newspaper; Kohler Riessman; UK News Medium; General Data Protection Regulation; London Riots; COM-B Model; Research Council UK; Elicitation Interview; Welfare Reform; Infant Formula Companies; Smart Phone; Documentary Research; CAQDAS Package; Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking; UK Public Service; CAQDAS Programme; Coding Framework
• ISBN: 1138038652; 1138038660; 9781138038660; 9781138038653
• DOI: 10.4324/9781315177274

In today’s society we increasingly create and consume written content and images. This includes a range of sources, from social media posts to records held within organisations, and everything in between, including news articles, blogs, shopping lists and official government documents. Critically reading these ‘documents’ can help us to understand a huge amount about society. Doing Excellent Social Research with Documents includes guidance on how to ‘read between the lines’ and provides an overview of six research projects which use documents as data. The substantive chapters are organised in two sections, with each chapter focused on a specific type of data. Section I focuses on documents that are found in isolation from their authors, including official and historical documents, traditional media, diaries and online content. Section II focuses on using documents in addition to existing data from primary research, including the role of documents in ethnography and visual research methods. In each chapter, you will be guided through the process of: Developing research questions, and how this impacts which documents are selected; Considering aspects of bias and quality within the documentary sources; Undertaking analysis, using six different strategies including thematic analysis, framework analysis, content analysis, discourse analysis and narrative analysis. Drawing on research projects that reflect real world situations, you will be methodically guided through the research process in detail, enabling you to examine and understand the practices and value of documentary analysis. Doing Excellent Social Research with Documents is a practical how-to guide for students (final year undergraduates onwards) and researchers using documents as data.