Documents as Data - Online

This course will explain when and why to use documents as data for research, show you how to gather documentary data, and consider some ways to analyse that data. It will also cover some of the associated ethical issues and include case studies of documents as data in practice.

The course covers: 

• When and why to use documents as data

• How to find personal and official documents, historical documents, mainstream print media documents, virtual documents, and self-published documents

• How to assess the quality and usefulness of documents for research purposes

• Some methods of analysing documentary data

• An introduction to the ethical issues of using documents as data

By the end of the course participants will:

• Know how to find the documents they need for their research
• Know how to assess the quality and usefulness of documents
• Understand how to approach the analysis of documentary data
• Have an action plan for using documents in their own research

This is an intermediate level course assuming a good basic knowledge of research methods. It would suit postgraduate students, early career researchers in academia, practice-based and independent researchers.

Preparatory Reading

Desirable: 

Grant, A. (2022) Doing Your Research Project With Documents: A Step-By-Step Guide to Take You from Start to Finish. Bristol: Policy Press.

Grant, A. and Kara, H. (eds) (2026) Using Documents in Research: When, Where, Why and How. Bristol: Policy Press.

THIS COURSE IS TAUGHT OVER TWO MORNINGS (09:30-12:30) AND EQUATES TO A ONE DAY COURSE FOR PAYMENT PURPOSES.

Payment using the Online Store can only be completed via Visa and Mastercard Credit/Debit Card or PayPal.  AMEX is not accepted.
If you have not previously created an account for the Online Store, you will need to create an account to make a booking.

Course Description

Day One

9.30             Welcome and introductions

9.50             Why use documents? Presentation, discussion

10.15           What types of document are there? Exercise

10.25           Discussion

10.30           Where to find documents: presentation, discussion

10.50           Break

11.10           Finding documents: exercise #1

11.40           Discussion

11.50           Finding documents: exercise #2

12.10           Discussion

12.20           Q&A

12.30           Close

Day Two

9.30             Welcome and quick recap on yesterday

9.45             How to assess documents: presentation, discussion

10.10           Assessment of documents: exercise #1

10.20           Discussion

10.30           Assessment of documents: exercise #2

10.50           Break

11.10           Discussion

11.25           Analysing documents

11.45           Discussion

12.00           Action planning: exercise

12.15           Q&A and Evaluations www.ncrm.ac.uk/surveys/hub

12.30           Close