documentary research

Knowledge

2022

We explain what a documentary investigation is, its types, characteristics and examples. Also, what techniques and methodology do you use?

The documents serve the investigator as a sample of the events that occurred.

What is a desk investigation?

A research documentary is one that is characterized by using the consultation of sources written or recorded, that is, documentary sources, such as books, newspapers, magazines, yearbooks, recordings or films, etc. These types of sources serve the researcher as a sample or representation of the events that occurred and they serve to try to elaborate conclusions regarding them.

Documentary research is more frequent in humanistic fields and in social Sciences, since the study of the human being or the societies, especially the passes, can only occur indirectly, that is, through the material left by their lifestyles and the written record of their activities.

Such material is known as an archive or also as sources. In this sense, the sources to which this type of research goes are usually of two types: primary and secondary.

  • Primary sources are those that provide information first-hand, that is, they consist of annotations or recordings of the event in question to be studied, such as the notes in a diary of a soldier in the middle of the war.
  • Secondary sources, on the other hand, are those that refer the facts indirectly, that is, from reviews, criticisms or reconstructions made by someone. Such is the case of a Biography of a famous person.

In all this, documentary research is distinguished from research of another nature, such as experimental (that reproduce natural phenomena in a controlled environment) or those in the field (that go out to reality to observe firsthand the nature).

Characteristics of documentary research

A documentary investigation is characterized by the following:

  • The researcher studies his object of interest through existing documents on the subject, that is, by reading what others wrote about it.
  • It forms an archive of documents or durable sources of various kinds: writings, audiovisual recordings, sound recordings, etc.
  • You go to the verbatim quote as a verification or evidence mechanism, to support the arguments offered.
  • It takes place in documentary units: libraries, newspaper archives, film archives, databases, etc.
  • It has the limitation that it can only access what is referred to in the sources.

Documentary research techniques

The researcher must indicate to the reader which documents were consulted.

A desk investigation is based on different techniques possible capture and fixation of the text, of the images or of the desired content, for their subsequent rational and practical use.

In general, documentary investigations apply the method of citing or citing, whether textual or of any other type, to indicate to the reader where the assertions and / or information it shows come from, since the investigator is expected to demonstrate the journey that he did throughout the footage, and not that he incurred the fiction, exaggeration or irresponsible generalization.

Types of documentary research

To differentiate the forms of a documentary investigation, it is enough to look at the type of sources that they consult, as follows:

  • Research bibliographic. Its sources are published books and magazines, as well as other types of printed texts, provided they are not periodical in nature.
  • Hemerographic research.Its sources are mostly periodicals, such as newspapers, magazines, magazines, etc.
  • Research audiovisual. As its name indicates, its sources consist mostly of sound-type records, footage, or other non-written formats, such as Photographs.
  • Archival research. In the latter case, the investigation draws on practically everything in a single file batch, such as someone's family documents, or the correspondence of an author of interest.

Methodology for a documentary investigation

Each documentary investigation is particular and different, but in general terms it must comply with a methodology that consists of:

  • Arching of sources. After choosing a topic or at least one area of ​​interest to investigate, the first step is to check what texts are available and within our reach in this regard, going as specific as possible.
  • Source review. Once we know what is on the subject, we can begin to filter the content, discarding what has nothing to do with our specific point of view, and incorporating other new texts if necessary on the fly.
  • Collation of the material. This is a more thorough review of the selected material, but this time taking verbatim citations that allow us to map the arguments that will support our research.
  • Interpretation of the material. The stage in which we put our grain of sand to what others have said, building our own point of view that relates what we have read and offers a new look, our own, of the material.
  • Conclusions.. The closure of the investigation, which consists of reaching conclusions or final answers based on all of the above, collecting the most important points and explaining their meaning in a broader framework of things.

Examples of documentary research

A couple of examples of desk research are as follows:

  • Apocalypse: World War II, an audiovisual documentary produced by CC&C and ECPAD, and broadcast on TV by France 2, uses material from the period filmed directly by war correspondents, soldiers and French resistance fighters, with the sole exception of that the black and white images have been digitally colored.
  • The Perpetual Orgy: Flaubert and Madame Bovary, by the Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, is an essay on the French writer Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) and his most famous novel, exhaustively reviewing the sources of the novel and your relationship with your historic context. However, the author often allows moments of literary creation that are rare in this type of research.
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