data from document, texts & audio/video qualitative research methods

Data from Document, Texts & Audio/Video

Qualitative Research Methods

Data From Documents

Defining

Document: umbrella term referring to a wide range of written, visual, digital and physical material relevant to the study at hand

Data From Documents

Defining

Artifacts: “things” or objects in the environment that represent some form of communication

Data From Documents

What are documents?

Official records Letters

Newspapers accounts Poems

Gov’t accounts Songs

Corporate records Diaries

Historical accounts Photos

Autobiographies Films

Etc.

Data From Documents

Types of Documents

Public Records:The official ongoing record of a society’s

activities

Presume that if an event happened, some record of it exists somewhere

Data From Documents

Types of Documents

Public Records:

Includes: records of births, deaths, marriages

Police records Program docs

Court transcripts Mass media

Agency records Public notices

Association manuals Etc.

Data From Documents

Types of Documents

Public Records:Paper trails can provide valuable information and

be a stimulus for additional paths of inquiry

- Routine records - Memos

- Correspondences - Charts

- Financial records - Bulletin boards

- Org. rules/regulations

Data From Documents

Types of Documents

Public Records: Includes previous studies and data banks

- relying on other’s work/interpretations of the data

i.e., Human Relations Area Files

http://www.yale.edu/hraf/index.html

Data From Documents

Types of Documents

Personal Documents:Any first-person narrative that describes an

individual’s actions, experiences and beliefs

Letters Diaries

Scrapbooks Growth Charts

Calendars Travel logs

Etc.

Data From Documents

Types of DocumentsPersonal Documents:Reliable source of data concerning a

person’s attitudes, beliefs and view of the world

- highly subjective- only reflect the participant’s perspective

Data From DocumentsTypes of Documents

Personal Documents:Things to consider:

1. Is the material trustworthy?2. Is the material atypical?3. Has the material been edited/refined?4. Does the material only contain highlights of life that are considered interesting?5. Keep in mind that only certain types of people

keep autobiographies and/or diaries.


Personal Documents:Studies using only personal documents:

Abramson (1992) case study of Russian Jewish emigration

Thomas & Znaniecki (1927) Polish immigrant life


Popular Culture Documents:Materials designed to entertain, inform, and

persuade the public

Can be categorized as public record


Popular Culture Documents:Includes popular media forms:

Television Film

Radio Newspaper

Literary works Photography

Cartoons Internet

Etc.

Data From Documents

Types of Documents


persuade the public




persuade the public



Popular Culture Documents:Includes popular media forms:

Television Film

Radio Newspaper

Literary works Photography

Cartoons Internet

Etc.



persuade the public

Can be categorized as public recordTV Radio MagazinesFilm Internet

NewspapersPhotos Cartoons Etc.


Popular Culture Documents:Mass communication materials are good for

tracking certain cultural changes and trends

i.e., ageism in cartoons, U.S. presidential debates, teenage culture in movies

Focus on one event/program


Visual Documents:Growing interest on the use of and

analyzing of visual data

Can be classified as the other types of documents mentioned


Visual Documents:Film and photography has been used in

anthropological studies since the early 1900s

1. Gained wide use in the 1990s

2. Captures events/activities as they happen

3. Only limited by what you can imagine and what the camera can capture


Visual Documents:Film and photography

4. Can be costly and intrusive

5. Can use what already exists or create new


Physical Material/Artifacts:Physical objects found within the study setting

i.e., The UA garbage study

Physical Trace: changes in the physical setting brought about by activities of people in that setting

i.e., Children’s interest in Christmas and Racial attitudes on campus, libraries and reading habits


Physical Material/Artifacts:

Advantages:

1. Record the results of actual behavior

2. Usually nonreactive and unobtrusive

- applied after behavior has occurred

3. Ubiquitous and readily available

4. Usually applied to inanimate objects


Physical Material/Artifacts:

Advantages:

5. Interrelated behaviors can be studied at once

6. Can be used over long periods

- minimal inconvenience and expense


The Internet:1.Provides numerous references

- widens the scope of data available

2. Supports interaction between groups of people via various CMC

3. Not everyone has access to a computer


The Internet:4. The quantity of information is no

guarantee for comprehensiveness/substance

5. Each form of CMC has its own impact on the information it transmits/is received

6. Writing skills and computer literacy impact group interaction


The Internet:7. Discrepancies between real and online

personalities8. Here today, gone tomorrow

****Results are strongly influenced by the characteristics of the data revealed, concealed, or altered because the CMC


Researcher-Generated Documents:Documents prepared by the researcher or

for the researcher by participants after the study has begun

Provides insight into the situation, person, or event being studied


Researcher-Generated Documents:Includes:

Diaries Logs

Life histories Photos

Quantitative data Etc.

Data From Documents

Using Document in Qual ResearchNot much different than using any other

kind of data

- Data collection is guided by questions, educated hunches, and emerging findings

Data From Documents

Using Document in Qual ResearchResearcher must keep an open mind

- Possibilities are limitless

The authenticity of documents must be verified before use

- Also the condition in which it was produced should be discovered

Data From DocumentsUsing Document in Qual Research

Questions to consider:

1. What is the history of the document?

2. How was it acquired by the researcher?

3. Is there any guarantee with the document?

4. Has it been tampered with or altered?

5. Under what circumstances and for what purposes was it produced?


Questions to consider:

6. Who’s the author? What were they trying to accomplish with the document?

7. What were the author’s sources of information?

- eyewitness acct - reconstruction

-secondhand acct - interpretation


Questions to consider:8. What was/is the author’s bias?9. To what extent was the writer likely to

want to tell the truth?10. Do other documents exist that might shed

additional light on the subject? If so, who has them/where are they?

11. Primary or secondary source?

Data From Documents

Using Document in Qual Research A coding and or cataloging system must

be developed by the researcher

- copy written documents if possible

- photograph or videotape artifacts

- qualitative content analysis

Data From Documents

Strengths and LimitationsLimitations:1.Documents are not typically developed for

research- may be incomplete- may not be in a form that makes sense to the researcher

2. Authenticity must be confirmed

Data From DocumentsStrengths and Limitations

Strengths:

1. May be the best source of data on a particular topic

2. Can be used in the same manner as interviews or observations

- descriptions - verify emerging hypothesis

- advance new hypothesis/categories

- offer historical understanding - track changes

Data From DocumentsStrengths and Limitations

Strengths:

3. Stable

4. More objective than other types of data

5. Unobtrusive

Data From Documents

Using video for research blog:

http://www.methodspace.com/profiles/blogs/using-video-for-research

data from document, texts & audio/video qualitative research methods

Documents

data banks

reliable source of data

records of births

routine records memos

public recorddata

material trustworthy

material atypical

physical material relevant