archival study

NUR AIN BINTI MOHAMAD P83010

DEFINITION• Information that already exists in

someone else’s files• Primary research which involves seeking

out and extracting evidence from original archival records

• Non experimental strategy that involves studying existing records/archival data to test hypotheses

• archival research can be defined as the locating, evaluating, and systematic interpretation and analysis of sources found in archives.

WHEN?

• Investigate events in the past • To get a complete picture• Address issues of change over time

TYPES OF ARCHIVAL DATA

• Knowledge and awareness of issues• Demographics of the population (e.g.,

age, education, income)• Behavior• Health and development outcomes• Environmental conditions or

risk/protection factors affecting the population

RECORD FORMATS

• Unpublished manuscripts and records • Printed and published materials • Maps, plans, and architectural drawings • Visual materials, including photographs• Audiovisual materials • Computer-generated materials • Artifacts, ephemera, and memorabilia

SOURCES OF ARCHIVAL DATA

• Public records from governmental agencies

• Research organizations• Health and human service organizations• Schools and education departments• Academic and similar institutions• Business and industry

ADVANTAGES• It’s easier and less time-consuming• already been processed by people with more

statistical expertise. • Even with raw data, the basic organization

and preparation (transcription of interviews, entry of numbers into a spreadsheet or specific software, etc.) may have already been done, again saving time and resources.

• It’s quite possible that you can find more information than you’d be able to gather if you did it yourself.

• Archival data could touch on important areas you have not considered, or identify patterns or relationships you wouldn’t have looked for

• It may eliminate the need to correct for problems,

• Archival data allows the possibility of looking at the effects of your work over time.

• Archival data can make it possible for small organizations with limited resources to conduct thorough evaluation studies.

DISADVANTAGESa. Survival bias It has to survive through time for you to

see it • institutional preservation bias • period bias (wars destroy many

documents) • so absence of evidence needs to be

interpreted carefully

b. All information is filtered c. Problem of interpretation given

difference in time D. Time consuming - approval

EXAMPLES

IMPLICIT EGOTISM(Pelham, Carvallo & Jones, 2005)

• Using a data from social security record - Social Security Death Index (SSDI)

• Virginia, Georgia, Louise, and Florence were especially likely to have moved to the states of Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida.

THE EFFECTS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN EVALUATION

(Eysenck, 1952)

• Archival data from state hospital and insurance company records showing that similar patients recovered at about the same rate without receiving psychotherapy

• Bordens, K. S., & Abbott, B. B. (2011). Research Design and Methods: A Process Approach (8th Ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

• Corti, L. (2004). sage research methods. Retrieved Oktober 20, 2015, from Sage: https://srmo.sagepub.com/view/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-social-science-research-methods/n20.xml

• Eysenck H J. The effects of psychotherapy: an evaluation. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 16:319-24, 1952. [Inst. Psychiatry, Maudsley Hosp., Univ. London, London, England]

• Pelham, B. W., Carvallo, M., & Jones, J. T. (2005). Implicit Egotism. American Psychological Society , 106-111.