Doing Archival Research in Political Science By Scott A. Frisch, ...

routinely describe (or even show) documents to interviewees. Interviews also offer an opportunity to discover whether certain transactions were routinely documented and whether documentation might be available in the archival record. They may also prompt modifications in a researcher’s search strategy; interviewees may suggest looking for documents that the researcher had not considered as a part of the data collection process.

Summary

Archival research is not without its critics. Many of the criticisms, however, have little empirical support. Though it is the case that in some isolated cases, collections are “sanitized” by donors, there is no evidence that this is a routine process. Because politics is a collective endeavor, it is entirely possible that data gaps can be filled through searches in other collections. Although it is true that much of what happens in politics is verbal, most important decisions do find their way into written documents. To the extent that this does not happen, researchers may find it valuable to use interviews to fill in data gaps. In short, though archival data have potential weaknesses, this is true of all data sources. The question is whether these potential problems justify ignoring a rich trove of potential data. As one archivist put it,

It amazes me that a discipline focused on the realm of politics largely chooses to ignore the wealth of information available in congressional collections. Are those political scientists obsessed with data sets and quantifiable analysis not opting to “limit” their own research endeavors, sanitizing their own observations by selecting only easily found indicators that can be numerically examined?¹³

Organization of the Book

Broadly speaking, we have three objectives for this book. First, we illustrate how archival research “fits” into political science, how it is consistent with current trends in research, and how it can improve contemporary