Zhu Aoxue

Abstract：In the current era of data， good research capabilities for students means more opportunities in their future career. This essay focus on usefulness and difficulties of documents for researchers by John Scotts criteria.In order to help students improve their ability to analyze data and information.

Key words：Research;John Scotts Criteria;Documents and resources

Sources of data or information are essential for business. When a company wants to make decisions， it needs to collect and understand the various resources and derive useful information from them.Researchers should be concerned about the authenticity， credibility， representativeness， and meaning of these resources when using different documents and resources.

Scott（1990） says a sound document is one which is complete and reliable， and it need to be ensured all the pages of the document are no misprints， and it should be reliable without errors as a copy of the original. The extra concern is that perhaps many of the documents are not actually attributable to who they are. The author's identity relates to the person who wrote the document.

The question of credibility is related to the amount of distortion in the document and any distortion may be related to authenticity or accuracy. The authors often really believe that they write their own knowledge and story， and they are sincerity.  However， sometimes the author may wish to gain the advantage by cheating the readers and because of the difference between cognition and degree， it is wrong that the author thinks that it is right.

For representativeness， researchers must be aware that the documents used are typical or atypical in order to limit the conclusions drawn （Trueman， 2015）. Two factors that may limit the possibility of using a representative file are survival and availability. Many documents cannot survive because they are not stored or deteriorated with age and become unusable. There are other documents that are not available for deliberately concealing the eyes of researchers and the public.

For aspect of meaning， it involves the ability of the researcher to understand documents （Trueman， 2015）. For instance， a document is written in a foreign or old language， handwritten， and vocabulary that is difficult to understand. So no matter what the documents are likely to exist this problem.

Personal documents （Bryman&Bell， 2015） include diaries， letters and autobiographies. It is often used as a primary resource in qualitative studies. It is always useful for interviews or participant observation and trace the history of an organization. Diaries can also be used by other researchers and used as a method of data collection. There are soundness and authorship of two aspects of authenticity. When personal documents are used， researchers should be concerned about whether these resources are complete and reliable （Scott，1990） as mentioned before. This type of documents may usually be problematic in authenticity and credibility， because the author's degree may not be definite and the content may contain personal preferences. One of the major features of personal documents is sincerely， but the accuracy maybe have question as the resources may contain the author's personal beliefs. Meanwhile， these documents maybe written by hand or foreign language， so it is difficult to understand for business researchers.

Public documents （Bryman&Bell， 2015） are from the state， in the form of legislation， reports of public enquiries， official paper etc. Public documents are very useful because you can find any information you want to find on the web. Public documents are relatively easy to get and relatively inexpensive and can be obtained quickly because they can provide historical data and the events happen before the social events. They are also very numerous and miscellaneous， so it may be a very time-consuming form of research. Although these resources cannot provide all the answers needed for a particular research problem， they are useful in many ways. So if the researchers need to use this information then it will take a lot of time to summarize， analyze， synthesize， explain or evaluate the information， thus finding the most useful information. It usually has a problem of credibility because the original report may be biased. The purpose， nature and method of these data are not necessarily suitable for the current situation， so these resources may not necessarily be representative. Furthermore， these resources may be outdated， so there is a problem of accuracy. In addition to the problems of different languages such as the previously mentioned problems， for aspect of meaning， business researchers may also have problems because of the difficulty and professionalism of the resources they are reading.

Organisational documents are mainly by the investigation of the business aspects of the business and the management of the generated and issued. Organisational documents （Bryman&Bell，2015） divide in the public domain and not in the public domain. In the public domain often have annual reports，mission statements，reports to shareholders，transcripts of chief executives' speeches， press releases， advertisements and public relations material in printed form and on the Internet. Not in the public domain （Bryman&Bell，2015） have company newsletters， organizational charts， external consultancy reports， minutes of meetings， memos， internal and external correspondence， manuals for new recruits， policy statements and company regulations. These are only available to the company's internal staff， and are usually not used by the outside. Organizational documents are very important for each organization. Any changes of organization and making decision of management need to take into account the current form and situation of the organization. These need to refer to the current and previous organizational documents. Authenticity and credibility of not in the public domain is often guaranteed as only the internal staff can use. Internal information can be targeted to solve the problem of enterprise development. Internal information is more reliable than external information. And it can effectively reflect the development of enterprises. Enterprise internal information source is a direct， important， timely and reliable source of information， and corporate external information sources are more and mixed.

Conclusion

After all， different documents are useful for different purposes. The documents and resources are many and messy. Credibility and authenticity cannot be completely guaranteed. Most of the information is not directly useful， and the information source is not guaranteed.Students need to involve generalization， analysis， synthesis， interpretation， or evaluation these information， thereby get the most important and needed information in order to achieve their own investigation.

Reference

[1]Bryman， A. and Bell， E. （2015） Business research methods， 4th edition， Oxford： Oxford University Press.

[2]Trueman， C. N. （2015） Secondary Sources， The History Learning Site， Available： http：//www.historylearningsite.co.uk/sociology/research-methods-in-sociology/secondary-sources/ [10， March 2020].