Using Documents in Research

When, Where, Why and How
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-4473-7492-3
Verlag: Bristol University Press

Buch, Englisch, 224 Seiten, Format (B × H): 170 mm x 244 mm

Documents are a rich yet often overlooked source of research data, offering unique insights across disciplines. This book provides a clear and practical guide to working with a wide variety of documents — including historical and contemporary, hard copy and digital – alone and in teams. Featuring contributions from leading international scholars, it unpacks the decisions researchers make when finding, selecting and analysing documents.

Organised into four sections, the book examines how researchers engage with seemingly mundane materials, explore documents in popular culture, apply multi-modal research techniques, and develop innovative approaches to dissemination. Each chapter offers real-world case studies, illustrating diverse research questions, theoretical perspectives and analytical methods.

Key features include:

- Step-by-step guidance on applying document analysis methods in research;

- Diverse case studies showcasing practical applications across fields;

- Engaging and accessible explanations that clarify complex approaches.

Filling a crucial gap in the methods literature, this essential text equips students and researchers with the tools to harness the full potential of documents in research.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Grant, Aimee

Kara, Helen

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Wissenschaftliche und kulturelle Zusammenarbeit

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction (Aimee Grant & Helen Kara)

2. Documentary Theatre as Participatory Social Research (Katarzyna Niziolek)

3. Music and sound in documents: a case study of music and asylum history (Rosemary Golding)

4. Folklore in Asian Martial Arts: Using Documents to Test the Theory of Martial Creation (George Jennings)

5. Raising voices suppressed by NDAs: Using government inquiry documents in research to help foreground secret stories (Dr Victoria Pagan)

6. Identity documents through historical ethnography (José Ragas)

7. From Public Document to Engaging Experiences: Arts-Based Research and Knowledge Translation with the Royal Commission into Aged Care (Abigail Winter, Sarah Johnstone, Jen Seevinck, TJ Thomson, & Evonne Miller)

8. Reflections on using charity annual reporting data to consider questions of representation (Helen Abnett)

9. Unequal Bureaucracies in Practice: Analysing Documents using Institutional Ethnography (Órla Meadhbh Murray)

10. Using documents in research during periods of conflict and political turbulence (Anna J. Davis)

11. Impactful inquiry: How insider knowledge enhances the real-world relevance of research with documents (Ella Houston)

12. The Social Conditions of Possibility: Reading Medical Records as Documents of Practice (Max Edward Perry)

13. Curating COVID-19: creating an illustrated digital archive with diary and interview research data (Kate Carruthers Thomas)

14. Conclusion (Helen Kara and Aimee Grant)

Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Kara, Helen
Helen Kara is a leading independent researcher, author, teacher and speaker specialising in research methods, particularly creative methods, and research ethics. With over twenty years’ experience as an independent researcher Helen now teaches doctoral students and staff at higher education institutions worldwide. She is a prolific academic author with over 25 titles and 2000 citations; notably Creative Research Methods: A Practical Guide and Research and Evaluation for Busy Students and Practitioners, both in their second editions. Besides her regular blogs and videos, she also writes comics and fiction. Helen is an Affiliate at Swansea University, a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. In 2021, at the age of 56, she was diagnosed autistic. Her neurodivergence explains her lifelong fascination with, and ability to focus on, words, language and writing.

Grant, Aimee
Aimee Grant is Senior Lecturer in Public Health and a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow, researching gender, disability and health, at Swansea University.

Aimee Grant is Senior Lecturer in Public Health and a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow, researching gender, disability and health, at Swansea University.

Helen Kara is a researcher, author, teacher, and speaker specialising in creative research methods, radical research ethics and creative academic writing.