Cybersecurity in Humanities and Social Sciences

6Qualitative Document Analysis for Cybersecurity and Information Warfare Research

6.1. Introduction

Traditionally (and often incorrectly), cybersecurity is assumed to be a purely technical field aligned to computer science. However, due to the growing prevalence of cybersecurity in an international socio-political and economic setting, it can be seen that cybersecurity is a largely multidisciplinary topic. Just as cyber-operations and cybersecurity have proven to be disruptive in the modern fabric of society, so too is it disruptive for the many disciplines conducting research into information warfare and cybersecurity. Required methodologies may deviate from traditional disciplinary norms and thus prejudiced against, posing challenges for scholars researching and publishing in topics related to information warfare and cybersecurity. The prevalent mathematical and experimental research in cybersecurity, conducted by technical researchers does not address the societal aspects of cybersecurity, such as the legal, political and international relations considerations. These disciplines often require a qualitative approach to research into cybersecurity and information warfare in addition to the quantitative methodologies.

This chapter discusses qualitative research in a cybersecurity context and provides analysis of cybercrime legislation and national cybersecurity strategies through document analysis, using the NVivo software. The aim of the chapter is to assess the suitability ...