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Methodology of Social Research

notes

Task What is personal document? Describe.

the use of life-history has some limitations. firstly, there is a lack of objectivity in it. since persons
writing the life-history know that it will be published, therefore, they many times hide weak parts,
they cannot do the real description of situations and incidents. so that the reliability and objectivity
of material received from autobiography gets less . secondly, it is not possible to investigate the
data collected from life-history. thirdly, in life-history the personality of a person is presented out
of perspective. those writing the life-histories in admiration of any leader or great person present
the incidents out of perspective. fourthly, incidents, which writer feels important in his view are
presented elaborately whereas rest can be presented in brief or can be left. they leave those things
which are disrespectful in view of their reference. from this the real condition cannot be known. it is
very difficult to find out scientific conclusion on the basis of this type of material.
(4) Memories—Many people write about their traveling, important incidents of life, exciting experiences
in the form of memories, or tell to other people from time to time. these memories not only present
the article-record of a person’s experience but also illustrate the condition of society of a particular era.
the practice of writing the memories of traveling and important incidents is coming from the classics.
for example, Columbus, fahan, Huansang and Maganes wrote some important memories.

2. public Documents

Public documents are very important as a secondary source of data collection. Keeping in mind the
public interest, public documents are prepared by government and non-government organizations.
sometimes data are collected at the personal level and if they are used for public then such type of is
material also comes under public documents. Public documents as compared to private documents
are more comprehensive, provide more information and are more reliable. Generally they are free
from personal partiality. first, published documents and second, unpublished Documents.
1. Published Documents—Many data are collected primarily from time-to-time by government and
non-government organizations which are published for public use. When these data are used by
other researchers so for them these data become the secondary source of data collection in the form
of published documents. Here we discuss some important published public documents.
(i) Reports of Research Institutes—Different research institutes publish reports from time-
to-time to present the report of their research work. this material proves to be quite useful
for other researchers. tata social science institute, National research and training institute
, social science research Council and National Behavioural finance research institute
provided useful research material by publishing their reports from time-to-time .
(ii) Publication of Personal Researcher—Many research students from different fields complete
their research work and publish their research symposium. these publications are also the
important data of secondary material in public documents.
(iii) Reports of Committees and Commissions—Many government and Non-government
committees and commissions publish their reports from time-to-time .Many types of data are
collected by theses committees and commissions , for e.g. ,study related data , crime related
data , poverty and unemployment related data which are published for public use . Alcohol
prohibited inquiry committee, the reports published by National Placement Committee,
Planning Committee have proved to be quiet useful. in india Census reports are the main
sources of secondary material. these are much used in social science study. for example,

74 loVely professional uniVersity