Using Documents in Research

When, Where, Why and How

Buch | Softcover

232 Seiten

2026
Policy Press (Verlag)
978-1-4473-7493-0 (ISBN)

Noch nicht erschienen (ca. Januar 2026)
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Documents are a rich yet often overlooked source of research data, offering unique insights across disciplines. This book provides a clear and practical guide to working with a wide variety of documents — including historical and contemporary, hard copy and digital – alone and in teams. Featuring contributions from leading international scholars, it unpacks the decisions researchers make when finding, selecting and analysing documents.

Organised into four sections, the book examines how researchers engage with seemingly mundane materials, explore documents in popular culture, apply multi-modal research techniques, and develop innovative approaches to dissemination. Each chapter offers real-world case studies, illustrating diverse research questions, theoretical perspectives and analytical methods.

Key features include:

-Step-by-step guidance on applying document analysis methods in research;

-Diverse case studies showcasing practical applications across fields;

-Engaging and accessible explanations that clarify complex approaches.

Filling a crucial gap in the methods literature, this essential text equips students and researchers with the tools to harness the full potential of documents in research.

Aimee Grant is Senior Lecturer in Public Health and a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow, researching gender, disability and health, at Swansea University. Helen Kara is a researcher, author, teacher, and speaker specialising in creative research methods, radical research ethics and creative academic writing.

1.Introduction - Aimee Grant and Helen Kara

Part I. Understanding the Past

2.Documentary Theatre as Participatory Social Research - Katarzyna Niziołek

3.Music and Sound in Documents: A Case Study of Music and Asylum History - Rosemary Golding

4.Folklore in Asian Martial Arts: Using Documents to Test the Theory of Martial Creation - George Jennings

Part II. Exploring the Machinery of Governance

5.Using Government Inquiry Documents in Research to Raise Voices Suppressed by Non-Disclosure Agreements - Victoria Pagan

6.Investigating Identity Documents Through Historical Ethnography - José Ragas

7.From Public Document to Engaging Experiences: Arts-Based Research and Knowledge Translation - Abigail Winter, Sarah Johnstone, Jen Seevinck, T.J. Thomson and Evonne Miller

Part III. Using Official Documents

8.Reflections on Using Charity Annual Reporting Data to Consider Questions of Representation - Helen Abnett

9.Unequal Bureaucracies in Practice: Analysing Documents Using Institutional Ethnography - Órla Meadhbh Murray

10.Using Documents in Research During Periods of Conflict and Political Turbulence - Anna J. Davis

Part IV. Exploring the Personal

11.Impactful Inquiry: How Insider Knowledge Enhances the Real-World Relevance of Research with Documents - Ella Houston

12.The Social Conditions of Possibility: Reading Medical Records as Documents of Practice - Max Edward Perry

13.Curating COVID-19: Creating an Illustrated Digital Archive with Diary and Interview Research Data - Kate Carruthers Thomas

14.Conclusion - Helen Kara and Aimee Grant

Erscheint lt. Verlag	27.1.2026
Zusatzinfo	7 Tables, black and white; 6 Illustrations, black and white
Sprache	englisch
Maße	170 x 244 mm
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Geschichtstheorie / Historik
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Empirische Sozialforschung
ISBN-10	1-4473-7493-2 / 1447374932
ISBN-13	978-1-4473-7493-0 / 9781447374930
Zustand	Neuware