The Necessity of Archival Science in Social Research: Based on the experience of SORD Data Archive Project

In this article, we proposed the necessity of archival science in social research and the management of the social research data, based on the experience of the SORD data archive project. First, we insisted that the preservation of the social research data should be done by the researchers themselves, and a standard rule for that is required in the academic society. Second, we clarified that the secondary analysis of a qualitative research, which will find one aspect of the object society that did not come into view in the recognition frame of the research at that time, become difficult if the researchers at that time wouldn't leave the accurate records of the research. Third, we point out the importance of the collection of material, which include the material indicating process of research, the information of the research group organization and the management method of social research, the structural factor and the historical backgrounds of the object society, in order to enable retrieving the process of the formation of the hypotheses of the research group at that time. To accomplish the above purpose, the establishment of the archival science in social research is indispensable. And, it can be said that it is necessary to achieve cooperation with the museology whose historians are dominant now.