Complementarity – a concept for document analysis?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a discussion on the concept of complementarity and to show how it can work in a concrete document analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

Starting out with the question of whether it is correct to refer to Bohr's principle of complementarity in the field of document analysis, the paper discusses literature written on the subject, before it uses an example to show that it would be more accurate to view complementarity as a relationship between parts that form a whole, thereby not mutually exclusive.

Findings

The paper finds that the various approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive. They could be investigated either parallel to one another or nearly simultaneously, even though synchronous observation is not possible. The extent to which a complementary document analysis with an equal weighting of all aspects is actually feasible remains an open question.

Originality/value

The principle of complementarity is rather new in document analysis. The concept introduced by Niels W. Lund is discussed here for the first time.

Citation

Skare, R. (2009), "Complementarity – a concept for document analysis?", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 65 No. 5, pp. 834-840. https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410910983137