Documents

what are documents?

documents is secondary data, there area number of documents available ti the public ie books, journals, newspapers, etc

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what is the common research type with documents?

documents analysis/ content analysis

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what else can be analysed but what is the issue with it?

personal documents can be analysed but they are harder to access

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what data does it produce?

it produces quantitative and qualitative data but more qualitative

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what act is associated with documents?

The Freedom Of Information Act- the right to access any information about you or your surroundings under this act ie if a student wants to see what is written about them on sims they can under this act.

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what theorists prefer documents?

+range of theoretical perspectives can use it
+mostly used by interpretivists for verstehen
+positivists can use the qualitative data ie census

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name the reliability/validity data

-depends on the type of analysis being used
+it can reveal trends which may not be obvious
-methods cannot reveal the reasons of the patrons of contact
+possible to apply to reliable systematic method of analysis to document info

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continuing w previous card

-but misses out on the valid data of the document itself
+useful ie verstehen
-source has to be questioned ie if a private diary reveals the factual truth

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name the representativeness evaluations

+not greatly concerned on representativeness
-sometimes theres a worry w historical documents ie census may be out of date in regards to current sample/ population
+systematic samples is popular (analysing info-

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coating w previous card

-over a period of time)
-> but thought needs to be given for the representativeness

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name the practicality evaluations

+some documents easily accessible
+saves time and money
-some might require money to unlock
+public areas have sources ie library
->- don't have specific sociologists

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continuing w previous card

-personal documents that aren't public are hard to access

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name the ethical evaluations

-letters/journals/ diaries, etc may have not been intended to be read publicly (+unless they were intended for publication)
+other documents raise less/no ethical issues as they have already been published

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what places and how many documents are in the education system?
what issues can be studied for methods in context of education?

-schools, local authorities, etc generate loads of documents
-ethnic, class, gender diff
-the curriculum
-gender stereotyping in school books
-racists incidents in schools
-special education needs

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name the practical evaluations

+often easily accessible due to gov. policies ie parental choice
-personal documents ie notes are hard to access
-some educational documents are confidential ie teachers personal file

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name the ethical evaluations

+less ethical concerns as permissions us nit required to the public domain
-issues w personal documents as you need informed consent is needed

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name the representative evaluations

+some documents legally required ie racists incidents In schools need to be reported so more representative data
->-but not all things are reported
-personal documents less representative

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name the reliability evaluations

+public documents in a systematic format
->-there can be accidental mistakes/deliberate falsifications which reduce reliability
+some documents used by other researchers ti replicate

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name the validity evaluations

+can provide important insights
-all documents are open to diff. interpretations, so one thing could mean diff things to researchers, reducing validity

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Documents

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