ABSTRACT
A quite different variety of document studies is review studies, which include studies of all relevant research publications within a particular field of research. The use of documents as data material is key in most research projects. Within the social sciences, so-called discourse analysis is a widespread form of qualitative textual analysis, which is based on how the understanding of reality is created, reproduced and maintained collectively, by means of language. Within media and communication studies, so-called frame analysis is a qualitative approach to document studies in which an attempt is made to identify perspectives that lie behind media presentation of a specified issue. Diary methods, though relatively little used in sociological research, have a potential in cases where detailed personal notes are relevant. The scepticism concerning qualitative data being archived and re-used without problems by other researchers is of the utmost relevance and importance.
