Prof. ir. Panchito M.

Labay
FORD Fellow

Historical methods of
research
Exploring social life in the past in order to understand dimensions
of social change by means of
DOCUMENTS from..
statistics
official

records
journals
diaries
personal
correspondence
pictures
written memoirs

Authenticity of
these materials
are needed for
analysis

If there are no existing documents / materials, then oral history approach

is applied. That is by conducting exhaustive non-formal interviews with
surviving people who have relations to the subject in question

Oral history refers

to accounts of....
...personal lives
...lived over periods of social
change
and also of things like plants,
animals, objects and
developmental process

Oral history is also

about peoples
knowledge about
plants, animals, etc.
that they used as part

What is life history

research?

The investigation of the past or present

by means of personal recollections,
memories, evocations and life stories.

A systematic collection of the voiced

experiences of real people, kept for
posterity.

Interpretation of a persons life as a

biography or career.

Data that is solicited rather than already

present in existing documents.

The purpose of life / oral

history

To tap knowledge of historical times of

people still living - especially ordinary
people

To learn about how people understand

and make sense of aspects of social life

Characteristics of life
history research

Research is
participant-orientated.
Research comes from
an interpretive
standpoint.
More recent interest
in the structure and
purpose of stories
and narrative forms of
talk

The Life History Method

Goal = to gain original information and reminiscences (Lance 1978)
Large sample = mix of structured & semi-structured interview techniques.
Small samples or individuals =mix of semi-structured & unstructured techniques +
participant observation.
Multiple sessions:
Oral History = several sessions over a few weeks
Life History Analysis = sessions lasting a few hours repeated every 1 or 2 weeks
over several years (Plummer).
results of the interview are taped or videoed, then a transcript of the results
will be written and submitted to the interviewed sources for
counterchecking.
respondents to these strategy is self-contained, that is, it never applies the
ramdomnization of the respondents.
historical research also applies life histories of important people, of other
living things e.g. animals, plants, etc. and of developmental process.
It also cut-across with case studies.
it also applies geneological studies, that is by mapping out or tracing out
family lineages

--it also applies network analysis or social capital network analysis for clearcut understanding of the past relationships of the subject e.g. attaining his
achievements, experiences he gained positively and negatively.

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Example of a Life-Story Interview

Guide

(Thompson (2000) The Voice of the

rd
Past,
3
edition
Preliminaries
Grandparents generation
Parents
Siblings/cousins/uncles/aunts
Daily life in childhood
Community and class
School
Employment
Leisure and courting
Marriage and children
Changing daily life
Later life
Conclusion

Conducting a life history

interview
(Thompson 1988)

Do:
Be prepared
Be friendly and
reassuring
Be clear (meaning,
audibility)
Show an interest
Be flexible in use of
standardised research
instruments
Be prepared for
interviewees to find
some reminiscences
distressing.

Dont:
Talk too much
Interrupt
Impose your own
views
Contradict or argue
Makes encouraging
sounds (if quality of
recording important)
Rush away as soon as
the interview ends.

Special issues
Oral history =
learning about the past and...
archiving material for future researchers / society.
Implications for:
quality of recording required
on-going consent
anonymity of participants.
Example of archived life history material:
www.qualidata.ac.uk/edwardians

Managing the data

Data management

main file / analytical files & memos / personal

research diary.

Transcription

very time consuming

first stage in analysis - ideally done asap after
interview
level of detail wanted?
feedback to participants?
use different fonts / number exchanges.

Approaches to analysis

thematic / comparative
narrative.

Narratives are...
...storied forms of talk
...underlying themes about a central
event
or feature of the narrators
life
...about identity
... a way of seeking resolution
...a reflection of cultural forms
and values.

Lillians Story
The only time I felt poor and I did feel this. Because the war had
started in 1939 and I was thirteen and the school had left to be
evacuated, they allowed me to leave school at thirteen although
the school age was fourteen. And my mother (LAUGHS) went
and found me a job at Broadleys the tailors. Can you imagine
going to a top quality shop as poor as a church mouse? And she
was told that the uniform, you had to provide the uniform for shop
work in those days, and I was told the uniform was black. So
Lillian arrives at Broadleys, a shop where all the people from
Park Road used to get their clothes on appro and send them
back if they didnt like em. [..] ...And Lillian arrives from X in her
black crpe dress cut down. Uneven hem because the crpe in
those days wasnt crpe as it is now and in this shop with all the
ladies or all the assistants [...] And Ive never felt so embarrassed
in all my life cos they made me feel so (pause), I dunno. But my
mother, because of the area we come from, didnt see anything
in this. She didnt see what shed done to a young girl who erm
(pause). Cos er, thats how life was in those days. (Lillian, aged
75)

I think people were nicer in those times. They

helped each other. But I dont think I
personally could live in (those times). Im
talking about now what I see of London and
that, and how this area was. I dont like
squalor. That hurts me how I read how (town)
was. If you read that book on (town), its
disgusting and I dont like that. I dont think I
could have lived with that. (Lillian, aged 75)

Analysing narratives
Descriptive, thematic, structural?
Concerned with the whole story or
specific components/ categories?
Concerned with the content or the form?
Echoes of cultural repertoires epic;
tragic; comic etc.

Lieblich et al (1998) identified 4

approaches to narrative analysis:
holistic-content
categorical-content

holistic-form
categorical-form.

The narrative form

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Abstract
Orientation (who? when? where?)
Complicating action (core narrative)
Evaluation (so what?)
Resolution
Coda (handing back the
conversational lead)

Example Lillians story

1.
2.

3.

4.

5.
6.

Abstract The only time I felt poor..

Orientation wartime, evacuation,
leaving school, mother getting her a job,
Broadleys as a shop & an environment.
Complicating action arrival in crepe
dress, embarrassment
Evaluation how the event made her
feel, her mothers lack of understanding.
Resolution - ?
Coda How life was in those days...

Advantages and disadvantages of

life history approaches
Key advantages
Rich
Captures experiences for posterity
Can be representative
Involves both interviewer and
interviewee.
Key disadvantages
Retrospective biases and memory lapses
Small samples = not representative
Large samples = expensive and unwieldy
Time consuming.