merriam ch 7 5.17.10

Merriam – Chapter 7

Mining Data from Documents


• In contrast to interview and observation data, documents are usually produced for reasons other than the research at hand.

• Documents / Artifacts include:– Symbolic materials (writing and signs) &

non-symbolic (tools and furnishings)– Artifacts include objects in the

environmentMay 17, 2010 EDFN 506 2


• Public Records– “if an event happened, some record of it

exits”• Birth & Death records• Marriage licenses• U.S. Census documents• Police Records• Court Transcripts

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 3


• Educational Documents– Parent involvement records– Notes home to parents–Memos to teachers– Policy statements– School bulletin boards

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 4


• Personal Documents– Refers to any first-person narrative that

describes and individual’s actions, experiences, and beliefs

– Highly subjective

May 17, 2010 EDFN 2010 5


• Popular Culture Documents–Materials designed to entertain, inform,

or persuade– Television, film, radio, newspapers,

photography, political cartoons– Amount of data in popular documents is

nearly infinite– “Think small” when reviewing this

category or documents [UbD]

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 6


• Visual documents– Film, video, and photography– Transition from etic to emic position as

camera becomes the eyes of an insider’s perspective

– Objectivity is not the goal only honest transparency (in contrast to p. 146)

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 7


• Physical Materials / Artifacts– Tools, implements, utensils, and

instruments of everyday living• Military “dog tags”

– “mute evidence”– Migrates to quantitative as descriptive

statistics and created from the frequency of some artifact occurrences

– Longitudinal monitoring devices (time-lapse)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B26asyGKDo

&feature=relatedMay 17, 2010 EDFN 506 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B26asyGKDo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B26asyGKDo&feature=related


• Researcher-generated documents– Documents produced for the researcher

once the study has begun

• Using Documents in Qualitative Research– Focus on the research question to

narrow your search efforts

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 9


• Emphasis on systematic data collection process

• i.e. search for African American educational leadership data (historical)

• First thing once document is obtained is to assess AUTHENTICITY

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 10


• Authenticity:1) History of document2) Acquisition of document3) Is document complete as original4) Why was it produced?5) Author?6) How did the author create the document?7) Creator’s bias?8) Other documents available to “shed

additional light” on current document

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 11


• Primary vs. Secondary Sources– Primary sources are those in which the

originator of the document is recounting firsthand experience with the phenomenon of interest

– Secondary sources are reports of a phenomenon by those who have not directly experience the phenomenon of interest

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 12


• Coding / Content Analysis• Data Collection and Coding are often

carried out by novices using protocols and trained to count units of analysis

• “The aim is to be systematic and analytic, but not rigid…”

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 13


• Limitations and Strengths of Documents– Reflecting on the value of the document

in the context of the research question– Personal accounts or official documents

may only provide one side of the story–May not be in a form that is useful if

created for other purposes– Authenticity and accuracy difficult to

determineMay 17, 2010 EDFN 506 14


• May prove preferable to interviews and observations– Unobtrusive– Non-reactive (physical traces)

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 15


• Online Data Sources– Difficulty is found in realizing who is not

included because of issues of access– For the most part, with caution, online

sources can provide an extension of the three methods of qualitative data collection

– Real vs. online personalities (Goffman’s idyllic presentation)

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 16


• Transiency of Web documents– Links disappear over time, although

there is always an electronic footprint– Include these concerns in any analysis,

description, or discussion of using online data sources

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 17


• Effects of the Medium on Data Gathering– Important benefit is that people may be

more willing to communicate electronically if the subject matter requires a veil of privacy

– Greater likelihood that remote informants can be reached

– THE RESEACHER’S RESPONSIBILITY MUST BE TO DESCRIBE TOOLS AND METHODS, AS WELL AS THEIR POTENTIAL EFFECTS ON THE WORK.

18


• Ethical Issues– Stanley Milgram

1)2)3)

– Protection of participants identity and original data

–Who “owns” the data?

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 19


• Ethical Concerns:– Obtain informed consent– Ensure confidentiality and security of

information– Predetermine what is public and what is

private– Debriefing procedures for participants

(Milgram)– Participants vs. subjects

May 17, 2010 EDFN 506 20

merriam ch 7 5.17.10

Technology