Sociology - Documents

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  • Created by: Iqra
  • Created on: 18-12-12 20:02
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  • Documents
    • Public Documents - from government departments, schools, welfare agencies, businesses etc.
    • Personal Documents - First hand accounts of events. Letters, diaries, photo album or autobiographies.
    • May be the only source available when studying certain things - like the past.
    • Quick and cheap source of large amounts of data due to the data already being there.
    • Not always possible to gain access to them
    • May not answer the sociologist's questions.
    • Interpretivists prefer them for their validity. However positivists reject them as unreliable and unrepresentive
    • Validity
      • In argue that a valid picture is provided
    • Reliablity
      • Po claim they are unreliable and cannot be standardized
    • Represent
      • Some groups may not create them, therefore they may not be representative.
    • Concerns can vary, public documents do not need consent
      • Leaked documents- no consent has been provided.
      • For private documents, consent can be difficult.
      • Historical documents are less of a concern, esp if those involved are dead.

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