Archival Research

Archival research is a method of collecting data from sources that already exist. Common examples of archival research sources are census records or survey data that was collected in the past. This method differs from empirical research in which a hypothesis and areas of interest are determined before data collection occurs. An example of archival research would be a psychologist looking at mental institution records from the 1900s to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms in patients at the time.