Documents

Documents Definition

Documents are any written or printed material. In sociology they constitute an important source of secondary data, but they must be used with caution, and John Scott has proposed four criteria for appraising whether — and how — to use them in research.

Scott’s Four Appraisal Criteria

Authenticity — Is the document genuine, that is, what it purports to be? Is it complete? Was it actually written by the alleged author?

Credibility — Did the author act from sincere motives in producing it, or was some kind of pressure applied? How accurate is the material it contains?

Representativeness — Is the document and its evidence typical of its kind? If not, can the degree of its atypicality be judged? What other documents of the same kind might exist, and are they available for scrutiny?

Meaning — Is the document clear? If it is written in shorthand, a foreign language, or archaic language, can it be accurately translated? What interpretation is needed to render its meaning plain?

Applying the Criteria

Scott does not suggest that negative answers to any of these questions make a document unusable. The point is rather that the researcher must recognize actual or potential problems and make corresponding allowances when drawing on the document as evidence.