Using Documents and Records in Social Research

Although almost all social research is dependent on documentation in one way or another, the role of documents in the research process is more often than not underplayed. Indeed, in most social scientific studies, documents and records tend to enter and leave the ′field′ in relative silence, and their place in empirical research is often associated with the use of ′unobtrusive′ techniques. This collection aims to rectify this anomaly by collecting together a body of papers that highlights the different ways in which documents and records have, and can be, approached and studied in a variety of social research contexts. By assembling key papers from studies in fields as diverse as criminology, health, education, and organizational research, as well as science and technology studies, the volumes illustrate how documents and records figure in all aspects of the research process from research design, through to data collection, data analysis and report writing.

Volume I: The Study of Content draws from a mix of 20^th writers who have used letters, diaries, newspapers and related published materials as sources of data.

Volume II: The Social Construction of Documents and Records focuses on papers that emphasize the different ways in which documents and records are assembled and constructed.

Volume III: Documents in ′the Field′ investigates how documents have been used in various forms of field work.

Volume IV: Documents in Networks examines the ways in which documents can both form part of a network and reflect networks.