documentary research

(noun)

Documentary research involves the use of texts and documents as source materials. Source materials include: government publications, newspapers, certificates, census publications, novels, film and video, paintings, personal photographs, diaries and innumerable other written, visual, and pictorial sources in paper, electronic, or other "hard copy" form.

Related Terms

Examples of documentary research in the following topics:

  • Documents

    • Documentary research involves examining texts and documents as evidence of human behavior.
    • It is possible to do sociological research without directly involving humans at all.
    • One such method is documentary research.
    • In documentary research, all information is collected from texts and documents.
    • Sociologists may use government documents to research the ways in which policies are made.

  • Sociological Videos

    • The following are videos - including fiction movies, non-fiction documentaries and recorded lectures - examining topics in the field of sociology.

  • Social Construct or Biological Lineage?

    • Native Americans in the U.S. are concentrated on reservations following 200 years of relocation policies instituted by the U.S. government (see the documentary film Broken Rainbow for review and detailed examination of the latest relocation phase in the 1970's), as depicted in the map below:
    • Other researchers, using the same data, found a different number of clusters from the same genetic data.
    • In any case, researchers across disciplines regularly finds certain genetic conditions are more common among certain races.
    • There is an active debate among biomedical researchers about the meaning and importance of race in their research.
    • Proponents of using race in biomedical research argue that ignoring race will be detrimental to the health of minority groups.

  • Tracking and Within-School Effects

    • Whereas the Coleman Report focused on between school effects, or inequality between different schools, other research has looked at within school effects, or ways in which inequality may be produced or maintained among students in the same school.
    • The 2010 HBO documentary, A Small Act, documented Kenyan students' difficulty affording secondary schools.

  • Introduction

    • Examples of collective behavior include: religious revival meetings (like those depicted in the documentary Marjoe), a panic in a burning theater (e.g., the Kentucky Beverly Hills Supper Club fire), a sudden widespread interest in a website (e.g., MySpace) or clothing item (e.g., wriststrong bracelets), a collective social movement to improve the environment (e.g., Greenpeace), or the rapid spread of rumors (e.g., that Barack Obama is Muslim or not a US citizen).

  • Religion

    • This objective investigation may include the use of both quantitative methods (surveys, polls, demographic, and census analysis) and qualitative approaches, such as participant observation, interviewing, and analysis of archival, historical, and documentary materials.

  • Reviewing the Literature

    • Sociological researchers review past work in their area of interest and include this "literature review" in the presentation of their research.
    • In writing the literature review, the purpose is to convey what a researcher has learned through a careful reading of a set of articles, books, and other relevant forms of scholarship related to the research question.
    • It indicates the theoretical framework that the researcher is working with.
    • It offers an explanation of how the researcher can contribute toward the existing body of scholarship by pursuing their own thesis or research question .
    • Good literature reviews require exhaustive research.

  • Research Funding

    • Research funding comes from grants from private groups or governments, and researchers must be careful to avoid conflicts of interest.
    • Money for sociological research doesn't grow on trees.
    • Research funding is often applied for by scientists and approved by a granting agency to financially support research.
    • Money for sociological research doesn't grow on trees.
    • Examine the process of receiving research funding, including avoiding conflicts of interest and the sources of research funding

  • Use of Existing Sources

    • Studying existing sources collected by other researchers is an essential part of research in the social sciences.
    • The study of sources collected by someone other than the researcher, also known as archival research or secondary data research, is an essential part of sociology .
    • In archival research or secondary research, the focus is not on collecting new data but on studying existing texts.
    • Without a thorough understanding of the research that has already been done, it is impossible to know what a meaningful and relevant research question is, much less how to position and frame research within the context of the field as a whole.
    • Researchers use secondary analysis for several reasons.

  • Preparing the Research Report

    • Like any research paper, sociological research is presented with a literature review, an overview of the methods used in data collection, and analysis, findings, and conclusions.
    • It shows the path of prior research and how the current project is linked.
    • It places the formation of research questions in their historical context.
    • Without assurance that the research is based on sound methods, readers cannot countenance any conclusions the researcher proposes.
    • In the findings and conclusion sections, the researcher reviews all significant findings, notes and discusses all shortcomings, and suggests future research.