Links to SAGE readings have been provided, non-SAGE readings are suggested and you may be able to find these via your university’s library.

These three papers are suggested as case studies of different types of documents as sources of data for health research. O’Brien and Clark focus on methodological and practical issues of using online data to source narratives; Armstrong is a good example of one easily available data source (the archive of a medical journal) can be used – in this case to analyse the concept of ‘the population’ in medicine:

O'Brien M.R. and Clark D. (2012) ‘Unsolicited written narratives as a methodological genre in terminal illness: challenges and limitations’, Qualitative Health Research, 22(2): 274–84.

Armstrong, D. (2017) ‘Clinical prediction and the idea of a population’, Social Studies of Science, 47(2): 288–99.