POL 3370 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Secondary Source, Reporting Bias, Response Bias
25 Jul 2018
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Document Summary
How accurate were their observations and records: to achieve this, researchers may employ other sources, and question the political sympathies of the authors. The issue of whether a document is typical depends on the aim of the research. Meaning: this refers to the clarity and comprehensibility of a document, while meanings change and the use of words varies, social context enables understandings, meaning can be divided into: intended, received and content/internal meaning. Strengths: can be viewed repeatedly, obtrusive: not created as a result of the case study, broad coverage: long spinoff time, many events and settings. Weaknesses: retrievability: can be difficult to find, biased selectivity if collection is incomplete, reporting bias: reflects (unknown) bias of author, access: may be deliberately withheld. Weaknesses: same as those for documentation, but accessibility due to privacy reasons. Strengths: targeted: focuses directly on case study topics, insightful: provides perceived casual inferences and explanations.
