Documentary research
Treat documents as situated evidence
Documentary research systematically selects and interprets documents such as policy texts, reports, meeting minutes and correspondence. Documents provide evidence of organisational categories, decisions and public accounts, but were usually created for purposes other than the study. Analysis therefore considers authorship, audience, production context, omissions and relationships among texts rather than simply extracting apparently factual statements.
Use when policies, institutional accounts or decision records address the question and their provenance can be assessed. Plan explicit inclusion criteria and consider whose perspectives never enter the documentary record.
Strengths
- Allows examination of durable institutional records
- Can compare versions and changes over time
Limitations
- Documents reflect selective purposes and audiences
- Important practices may leave no written trace
Know the boundary
Documentary statements are evidence of representations or recorded events, not automatic confirmation of what happened.