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A step-by-step ESDS Qualidata study guide to:
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Family Life and Work Experience Before 1918, 1870-1973
Principal Investigators: Thompson, P., Lummis, T.
Study Number: 2000 "We would sometimes be advised to keep away
from a certain clique or the 'lamb brow' lot. One hotel on the corner of
Seymour Road is called. The Lamb Hotel and the road that runs up there is
called Old Road. But we in our boyhood days it was known as the lamb brow for
some reason or other, and it was a rather slummy area with a rough lot of lads.
Big catholic families very roughly brought up, some of them hadn't any
footwear. We used to challenge them to our patch to play football or cricket
and this would generally {ILLEGIBLE} end with stone throwing going on and this
was terribly discouraged. Possibly for two reasons. First of all these lads
didn't hesitate to use bad language which we were never permitted. And second
because the stone throwing usually ended in somebody's window being broken and
this would mean we forfeited pocket money until the window was paid for, so
that there was discouragement to associate with this group of boys. But it
never prevented us because there was something of a challenge here, you see, if
it came to a fight we were as good as they were. This would involve sometimes
interference by parents these sort of stone-throwing fights, and sometimes
fisticuffs or wrestling would be broken up by parents."
(Interview 054)
Introduction
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This study comprises life story interviews originally collected as part of the
study: Family Life and Work Experience Before 1918, 'The Edwardians'.
The interviews were undertaken in the early 1970s and formed the basis of the
first national oral history project in the United Kingdom, as well as the basis
for Professor Paul Thompson's, 'The Edwardians, the remaking of British
society', (1975, 1992).
The original study materials were initially archived, catalogued and
disseminated by Qualidata. Full paper/microfiche transcripts are held at the
National Social Policy and Social Change Archive at the University of Essex and
the original sound recordings are deposited at the British Library National
Sound Archive.
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Method
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A total of 537 life story interviews were recorded with a cross-national sample
of people born before 1918 in the UK. Six major occupational groups and three
classifications of location, gender and regional distribution were used as the
basis for the sample.
The respondents were chosen by a variety of means, including through social
workers, old people's homes, personal contact and advertisement.
The interviews were recorded on reel-to-reel audio tape and later transcribed as
typed, paper documents. The interviews were open-ended, guided by a schedule
and of between one and six hours' duration.
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Archive resources
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The interview transcripts are available from the UK Data Archive (UKDA) as SN
2000, and through ESDS Qualidata Online, which aims to improve access to
archived qualitative data. The Edwardians collection actually formed the basis
of the development work for the online resource, providing content-based access
to a multimedia collection of these life story interviews. ESDS Qualidata
Online now provides access to other collections too. The original audio
recordings have also recently been digitised and will be available for download
in the coming year.
Explore Edwardians data at ESDS Qualidata Online:
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Teaching resource
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Interview extracts from the study have been used in the ESDS
teaching resource. The resource provides instructors and students with
materials designed to assist in teaching qualitative interviewing. This study
has been used as an example of the oral history approach to interviewing.
Guidance is provided on how it can be used in teaching activities.
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User documentation
ESDS user documentation for Family Life and Work Experience Before 1918,
1870-1973 can be downloaded in the form of a user guide in PDF format from the
UKDA catalogue record page. It covers an overview of the study currently held
by ESDS Qualidata.
Study description and documentation:
More detailed information, including press reviews and an interview with the
depositor is also available from the ESDS Qualidata Online pages:
Publications and other resources
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The main published outcomes arising from this study are:
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Thompson, P.R. (1975/1992) The Edwardians: the remaking of British society,
London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1975; London: Routledge, 2nd edition, 1992.
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Thompson, P.R. (1978/1988) The voice of the past, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1978; 2nd edition, 1988.
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Thompson, T. (1981) Edwardian childhoods, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
There have also been many secondary users of this study, some 88 between 1973
and 1996, originating not only from the UK but also from Italy, Canada, the
USA, Australia and Greece. This has led to the data being used in many books,
articles and BA, MA and PhD theses.
Many of these can be found at:
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www.esds.ac.uk help@esds.ac.uk
Q2000 - Family Life and Work Experience Before 1918, 1870-1973
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