# 4.5 Documentary research

Your policy project may require you to collect information from documents, usually those that have already been published, such as information from the websites of a public body or other organisations.

Figure 16 Documentary research can be carried out online, as well as from books

When using documents, you need to assess their context, credibility and interpretation (Tight, 2021). You also need to decide in advance the information you are looking for and how to record it on a template or proforma. This will enable you to easily compare information from multiple sources and analyse it. Using a spreadsheet can help to sort and filter the information you collect. You can find out how to use spreadsheets in Microsoft’s guide ‘Basic tasks in Excel’.

OpenLearn - Carrying out research for policy and advocacy work
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