Qualitative and quantitative methods of official document research

Abstract

This paper analyzes official documents for the purpose of determination of specific features of the linguistic sampling and formulation of some provisions and linguistic conclusions on the basis of the obtained results. In an effort to provide a more complete picture of official documents, this study uses both a qualitative approach to document research (Bowen 2009) and a quantitative approach specifically adopted for the analysis of official documents (Weber 1990). The study also attempts to determine the frequency of lexical components related to the official NATO, UN, and WTO documents. Further, the official documents were assessed and classified into three groups and an experimental text corpus was formed. Within the context of needs analysis, the data metric were created that allows tracking the groups of documents by using the distance between words. In consequence, advantages and disadvantages of the qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis of official documents were outlined.