Historical Perspectives and Methodologies: Their Relevance for Housing Studies?

Abstract

Though there has been a willingness by housing researchers to embrace new methodologies such as discourse analysis and social constructionist perspectives in their efforts to make sense of contemporary policy developments, there has been, with notable exceptions, only passing references to historical methodologies and their utility for housing research. Very often where historical methods are used these are implicit with little discussion of the methodological challenges that arise. The first part of the paper discusses some of the general arguments for using historical methods in the social sciences as well as specific matters of relevance to the study of housing policy. It reviews the contribution historical scholarship has made to the study of housing policy. The second part of the paper discusses how specific historical methodologies can be utilised by housing researchers - for example: - oral history; textual analysis; archival research; visual studies; and statistical analysis. The conclusion argues that though there are pitfalls that need to be overcome, historical methodologies provides housing researchers with the techniques to sharpen their conceptual framework and provide a more contextualised reading of the policy process than has hitherto been the case.