From Diaries to Digital: The Role of AI in Web-Mediated Documentary Analysis

This paper explores how artificial intelligence (AI) can support social researchers in utilizing web-mediated documents for research purposes. It extends traditional documentary analysis to include digital artifacts such as blogs, forums, emails and online archives. The discussion highlights the role of AI in different stages of the research process, including question generation, sample and design definition, ethical considerations, data analysis, and results dissemination, emphasizing how AI can automate complex tasks and enhance research design. The paper also reports on practical experiences using AI tools, specifically ChatGPT-4, in conducting web-mediated documentary analysis and shares some ideas for the integration of AI in social research.