Social network analysis
Social network analysis has been at the heart of Scott's methodological work. He has helped to popularise this method of structural analysis through synthesising texts and his own applications of the method. He has, in addition, undertaken work on the use of documents in social research, producing, in 1990, "A Matter of Record" as one of the first texts on this topic. Like his work on social network analysis, this work developed from a practical research involvement in the use of the method. Scott's reflections on documentary research derived initially from his use of company records, civil registration records, and newspapers as source materials in his studies of business organisation.