Abstract
The Pioneers of Social Research, 1996–2018 is a rich qualitative collection of life story interviews with over fifty pioneering academics, who are regarded as having played a significant role in developing the practices of social research across key disciplines. The project was directed by Paul Thompson, himself a pioneer of oral history in Europe. The interviewees are essentially British pioneers, all but six born within what was then the British Empire, but they worked worldwide in Europe, Africa, Australasia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States. The collection includes full interview transcripts and detailed summaries, YouTube playlists, thematic highlights and associated teaching resources, all openly accessible through the UK Data Service. The following data paper provides an overview of Thompson’s data collection approach, the archiving and publishing of the data materials, and a discussion of the resources available. It also highlights opportunities of this unique research data for future use.
Highlights
The Pioneers of Social Research, 1996–2018 is a rich and in-depth qualitative collection of over fifty life story interviews with eminent academics and scholars who played a role in shaping social research as we know it today
While most were sociologists and anthropologists, some worked the fields of economics, geography, political science and statistics
Citation facility in Qualibank, displaying citation for a selection of Pat Caplan’s interview uk data service sn6226: pioneers of social research, 1996–2018, qualibank can cite specific paragraphs or selections of text and a tailored persistent citation is created for them, which can be used in subsequent publications when referring to the quote (Corti & Fielding, 2016)
Summary
The Pioneers of Social Research, 1996–2018 is a rich and in-depth qualitative collection of over fifty life story interviews with eminent academics and scholars who played a role in shaping social research as we know it today. The Pioneers of Social Research, 1996–2018 is a qualitative data collection which is archived jointly at the UK Data Service and the British Library and includes full interview transcripts, interview summaries, biographies, thematic highlights, selective playlists of audio excerpts on YouTube and associated teaching resources (Thompson, 2019). These resources serve both as biographical accounts of key researchers and weave a tapestry of significant topics, themes and issues in social, political and cultural history that are still pertinent in social science today, such as gender, kinship, ethnicity and methods of research. The interview collection is of unique value presenting rich opportunities for exploring the development of social research from the mid-20th century to the present
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