Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    1/20

    Auto/Biographies and Life Histories1

    © Pat Sikes, 2006

    Introduction

     As each year passes, biographical and autobiographical approaches(auto/biographical because the distinction is often unclear – see Stanley, !!2" areincreasingly used in the social sciences generally and in educational research inparticular# So$e %riters ha&e clai$ed that the endea&our to understand social lifehas taken a narrati&e, auto/biographical turn and that this turn has funda$entali$plications for all aspects of the research process, and for ho% %e $ake sense of the %orld# 'ithin the space a&ailable here, can do no $ore than gi&e you atantalisingly brief and basic )ook*s +our type of introduction to %hat is a fascinatingarea# y ai$ is to %het your appetite to go a%ay and read further and also, $aybe, toundertake your o%n -ife .istory study of your o%n educational and research career#

    +hus %e %ill eplore

    • 'hat is auto/biographical research1

    •  A brief history of -ife .istory research

    • 'hy use -ife .istory in educational research1

    • oing -ife .istory

    •  A fra$e%ork for a personal -ife .istory

    See also

    • )onclusion/su$$ary

    • Points to reflect on

    • Suggested further reading

    • 3eferences

    What is auto/biographical research?

     A &ariety of particular approaches co$e under the heading of auto/biographicalresearch# 4or$an en5in gi&es so$e idea of ust ho% %ide the field is %hen he notesthat it enco$passes

    life, self, eperience, epiphany, case, autobiography, ethnography, auto7

    +o$ado de http//%%%#edu#ply$outh#ac#uk/resined/narrati&e/autobiographiesfinal#ht$

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    2/20

    ethnography, biography, ethnography story, discourse, narrati&e, narrator,fiction, history, personal history, oral history, case history, case study, %ritingpresence, difference, life history, life story, and personal eperience story#(!8!, p# 29"

    +o that list $ight also be added testi$onio, perfor$ance ethnography, participatoryaction research, confessional tales, socio7poetics, collecti&e autobiography, diaryresearch – and there are $ore, each %ith its o%n distincti&e characteristics, intentionsand rationale#

    :ssentially though, and as %e are using the ter$ here, auto/biographical research isresearch that starts fro$ and focuses on the personal and subecti&e perceptions andeperiences of indi&idual people# 'here it goes net and %hat for$s it then takesdepends on the particular &ariant being e$ployed# ;ur concern here is %ithauto/biographical approaches that locate the indi&idual in the %ider social, culturaland historical contets they inhabit, and %hich use sociological or psychologicaltheory as interpretational and eplanatory tools# -ife history, the for$ of 

    auto/biographical research that is our especial focus follo%s this general pattern#'riting about life history %ork %ith teachers, &or +he lifehistory is the life story located %ithin its historical contet# (!!2, p# 6"

    +he funda$ental assu$ption that underlies life history is that li&es are not, cannot be,li&ed in isolation either fro$ other people or fro$ social, cultural, historical and naturale&ents, $o&e$ents, trends, and &alues in the %orld at large# ?arl ar*s $uch

    @uoted co$$ent is pertinent here

    en $ake their o%n history, but they do not $ake it ust as the please theydo not $ake it under circu$stances chosen by the$sel&es, but under circu$stances directly encountered, gi&en and trans$itted fro$ the past(!6! B8CDE, p# F8!"

    +hus, %hilst %e $ight ha&e so$e say o&er the things that happen to us it is difficult, if not i$possible, to totally escape the influence of our o%n personal histories and thehistories that ha&e shaped the societies in %hich %e li&e# n order to understand this,)# 'right ills ad&ocated the use of =the sociological i$agination* (!D!" to connect

    the pri&ate and personal to the public and social life historians fully e$brace thisinunctionG

    'ith its initial focus une@ui&ocally being on subecti&e kno%ledge, interpretations andunderstandings, auto/biographical research is clearly @ualitati&e# .o%e&er, it $ay bee$ployed %ithin proects alongside @uantitati&e $ethods# Hor instance, a statisticallybased study that looked at rates of recruit$ent to, retention in, and attrition fro$,teaching could be all the richer and $aybe e&en $ore eplanatory, $eaningful and

    2

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    3/20

    accessible if life histories of teachers falling into each of the categories %ere to beincluded#

     As %ell as being used to in&estigate substanti&e topics, auto/biographical approachescan also beco$e key research foci in their o%n right# 'hen this happens the$ethodology and $ethod are, in a sense, turned back on the$sel&es %ith theresearch process and the researcher/s beco$ing a, if not the, =subect* of thein&estigation# +his shift in attention can be linked to %hat en5in and -incoln refer toas =a triple crisis of representation, legiti$ation and prais (that, since the mid-1980s)confronts @ualitati&e researchers in the hu$an disciplines* (2000, p# 9"# Put &erysi$ply, the influence of ideas arising fro$ post7$odernis$ and post7structuralis$,%hich e$phasise that there are $ultiple realities and that eperience of the %orlddepends, crucially, upon ho% a person is socially positioned, ha&e $eant that $anyresearchers ha&e felt a need to eplicitly reflect on and be reflei&e about their o%npart in the research process# Iery $any research accounts, regardless of the$ethodologies and $ethods they use, no% contain at least so$e reference to issuesconcerning ho% the researcher*s biography, their positionality, $ight ha&e i$plicationsfor all aspects of their in&ol&e$ent in a specific proect, fro$ their initial decision tostudy a particular topic through to their analysis and ho% they %rite up their %ork# nso$e cases though, notably in auto7ethnographic %ork, the researcher researchestheir o%n eperience of a particular aspect of life such as, illness, their first year in aparticular ob, berea&e$ent, being a researcher, i$ple$enting a curriculu$ or using ane% teaching strategy – and so on (for detailed discussion of auto7ethnography see:llis J Kochner, !!6 and 2000 3ichardson, !!9"#

    A brief history of Life History research

     Although, as %e noted at the start, auto/biographical research approaches continue to

    gain in popularity, a glance at their histories sho%s that this is $ore in the nature of arenaissance than a ne% departure#

    'ilhel$ ilthey, a

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    4/20

    difficulty of obtaining at the $o$ent a sufficient nu$ber of such records toco&er the totality of sociological proble$s, and of the enor$ous a$ount of %ork de$anded for an ade@uate analysis of all the personal $aterialsnecessary to characterise the life of a social group# f %e are forced to use$ass pheno$ena as $aterial, or any kind of happenings taken %ithout

    regard to the life histories of the indi&iduals %ho participated, it is a defect,not an ad&antage, of our present sociological $ethod# (!8 – !20 pp#8F7F"

    Hollo%ing on fro$ this, the life history %ork undertaken by $e$bers of the Mni&ersityof )hicago School of Sociology laid a solid foundation, $aybe could e&en be said toha&e created a canon, for the approach# Studies such as The Gold oast  and The!lum (Lorbaugh, !2!", The "ac#-$oller   (Sha%, !F0", and The Professional Thief ()orn%ell and Sutherland, !F9" published during life history*s peak years, are no%regarded as classics# .o%e&er, as ?en Plu$$er points out (200, p#", the roots of life history do not lie solely in )hicago# Hor ea$ple, sla&e narrati&es fro$ theeighteenth century on%ards (e#g# Hrederick ouglas* (8DD" %& 'ondae and %& reedom", life stories presented in nineteenth century studies of po&erty and %orkingclass eperience (e#g# .enry ayhe%*s (8D" *ondon *a+our and the *ondon Poor ",accounts of %o$ens* li&es used for fe$inist agendas (e#g# the eighteenth century%ritings of ary 'ollstonecraft and the autobiography of Hrancis Place %ho li&edbet%een 99 and 8DC", all ha&e contributed to atte$pts to understand both theeperiences and perspecti&es of particular indi&iduals in society and society throughtheir eperiences and perceptions#

    ;n the %hole, the people %hose life histories (and her stories as so$e fe$inistsinsist" ha&e been presented by social scientists ha&e tended to be people %ithrelati&ely little social po%er, often those %ho are $arginali5ed in so$e %ay and/or 

    %ho $ay be considered =de&iant*# +here are &arious reasons as to %hy this is thecase, including so$e %hich are ethically dubious such as it being easier to doresearch %ith people %ho lack po%er and because there is often a &oyeuristic interestin the =eotic* and different# ;n the other hand, researchers %ho use auto/biographicalapproaches, and life historians particularly, $ay %ell be doing so because they ha&ea political co$$it$ent to gi&e &oice to and na$e, silenced and hidden li&es# 'hilstthe notion of e$ancipatory or e$po%ering research is proble$atic, raising as it does@uestions around the po%er of the researcher &is a &is their infor$ants (see Hine et al 2000 +royna, !!C", looking at li&es fro$ the point of &ie% of the people li&ing the$forces a confrontation %ith alternati&e subecti&e perceptions and, as Kecker put it inco$$enting on The "ac# $oller , offers the possibility =to begin to ask @uestions about

    delin@uency fro$ the point of &ie% of the delin@uent* (!90 , p#9"# oing this couldpro&oke a @uestioning of orthodoies as it $ight lead us to begin to understand %hyindi&idual people faced %ith certain co$binations of social and personal eperiencestake particular decisions and act in the %ays that they do#

    Being An Excluded Pupil

    C

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    5/20

    Life history research ith pupils ho ha!e been excluded fro" "ainstrea"schools and gi!en a place in a Pupil #eferral $nit %P#$& shos ho so"eyoung people find it difficult to confor" to the sorts of rules and constraintsthat are co""on in secondary schools' (any of these students areconcerned to obtain )ualifications and go on to further and/or higher 

    education' Attending a P#$ does* in so"e cases and ironically* ulti"atelylead to the educational inclusion of so"e students' +ee (olinari* ,' %-..&0Being Excluded A 2ase +tudy of a Pupil #eferral $nit 0 $npublished Ed3thesis* $ni!ersity of +ussex

    -ife history*s focus on the indi&idual and the conse@uences of differential socialpositioning clearly accords %ith post7$odern and post7structural sensibilities andunderstandings regarding $ultiple realities and subecti&ities, %hich goes so$e %ayto eplain its increasingly co$$on usage# Auto/biographical research fits thepreoccupations of the present age as it no longer did %hen it %ent out of fa&our in the!C0s %hen statistical $ethods, large scale sur&ey research and an e$phasis onsituation and the de&elop$ent of abstract theory beca$e do$inant %ithin sociology#+his do$inance did not co$e about because these approaches, $ethods andconcerns %ere necessarily superior but because it is $ore likely that, as Hly&bergsuggests, =style changes are %hat characteri5e social science it is not a case of e&olution but $ore of fashion* (200, p# F0"# All $ethodologies and $ethods ha&etheir o%n life histories (or genealogies in Houcault*s conceptualisation", %orthy of study in their o%n right, %hich ha&e influenced the for$s they take, and ho%, %here,%hy and by %ho$ they ha&e been used# .a&ing so$e basic a%areness of theantecedents of any particular approach $ay help potential users $ake a $oreinfor$ed choice about its appropriateness for their specific research endea&our#

    Why use Life History in educational research?

    =n understanding so$ething so intensely personal as teaching, it is critical%e kno% about the person the teacher is* (## the person co$es through %hen teaching (!!8, pp 20 – 2"# 'hilst inthat specific @uote, the =person* is the teacher, it could e@ually refer to the student or 

    D

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    6/20

    anybody else %ho $ay be in&ol&ed, such as a classroo$ assistant or an educationalpsychologist# +eacher, student, and contets all interact, inetricably $elding personaland public, %ith any outco$es being the result of the $i# +his is %ell recognised ando&er the years there ha&e been &arious atte$pts to produce curricula and pedagogiesthat are, to a greater or lesser etent, =teacher proof*# Policies and practices, syste$s

    and structures ha&e also been designed %ith a &ie% to reducing the &arious socialand personal disad&antages that so$e students are percei&ed to co$e to their education %ith# Hor instance, in recent years in :ngland and 'ales, the 4ational)urriculu$, the -iteracy and 4u$eracy .ours and the Kaseline and Standard

     Assess$ent +ests can be considered as ea$ples of such strategies# ;n the %hole,the success of any $o&e to $ini$ise the personal has tended to be li$ited# -ifehistory research can help to shed light on %hy this is by taking an holistic &ie% andin&estigating ho% teacher and student beliefs, &alues and understandings, %hich arelargely a product of personal and social histories influence ho% teachers interpret,$ediate and realise %hat goes on in educational institutions A4 ho% studentseperience and $ake sense of it#

    n retrospect and in the M?, the publication in !8D of t%o books (Kall J

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    7/20

    • teachers %orking in $iddle and senior $anage$ent

    • ho% beco$ing a parent can i$pact on professional perceptions and practice

    • at parent teachers %ho ha&e children %ith special educational needs

    • ho% teachers percei&e, eperience and enact i$posed curricular, pedagogical

    and organisational changes

    • the %ays in %hich the biographies of teachers ha&e influenced the

    de&elop$ent and nature of particular subects, areas of the curriculu$,pedagogies, pastoral practice, organisation and cultural &alues in indi&idualschools and $ore %idely#

    +hese studies ha&e sho%n ho% personal and social histories influence the %ays in%hich teachers percei&e and $ake sense of their %ork, affecting their beliefs and

    &alues, the %ays in %hich they teach, ho% they &ie% the content they teach and theinterpretation they put on that content, and ho% they relate to students andcolleagues# At the sa$e ti$e, the influence being a teacher has on life outside of school, on relationships %ith fa$ily and friends and %ithin the co$$unity is alsore&ealed#

    Parents Who 4each

    Ha!ing had a child* Pat +i5es beca"e aare that her attitudes* beliefs and!alues 6 as a teacher 6 underent a radical change' +he as interested infinding out hether other parents ho teach ere si"ilarly affected andconse)uently set up a life history research pro7ect hich focused on

    teachers8 perceptions of the ays in hich parenthood had influenced allaspects of their professional li!es' 4his or5 is reported in

    +i5es* P' %199:& Parents Who Teach: Stories From Home and From School London* 2assell

     As %ell as yielding infor$ation that can further understanding of aspects of educationand schooling, life history has considerable potential as a strategy for personal andprofessional de&elop$ent, helping teachers, and other educational professionals, at

    all stages of their career to reflect critically on their beliefs and practices leading toinfor$ed de&elop$ent and change (see

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    8/20

    learning difficulties or %ith special needs, teenage $others, students ecluded fro$$ainstrea$ schools, college drop outs, refugees/asylu$ seekers – and so on#

     Although the focus has often been on students %ho are considered to lack socialpo%er or %ho are, in so$e %ay $arginali5ed, life historians ha&e also turned their attention to those %hose educational careers are successful, %ith studies of doctoral

    students, $edical students, and high achie&ers#

    +here is a lot to be learned fro$ in&estigations of ho% students eperience schoolthat could be used to infor$ policy and practice# Hor instance, a study that used lifehistory to eplore the inclusion in $ainstrea$ schools of students %ith &arious kindsof special need could yield infor$ation that other approaches %ould not pro&ideinfor$ation that could help indi&idual schools, parents and teachers plan and %ork$ore effecti&ely in this area and infor$ation that could infor$ local and nationalpolicy#

    -ife history pro&ides a depth and richness of infor$ation and insight that other $ethodologies cannot# t also produces research %riting that is interesting,

    $eaningful and accessible# +his is i$portant because it is in their potential to $ake=i$aginati&e contact* %ith readers (see

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    9/20

    and episte$ological positioning, upon ho% they &ie% the nature of the social %orldand the nature of kno%ledge# As %e ha&e seen, life historians &alue subecti&eperceptions, eperiences and accounts they take an holistic &ie%, locating theindi&idual %ithin the social contets they inhabit presently and ha&e inhabited in thepast# +hus, the general type of @uestions they are likely to be seeking ans%ers to

    include 'hat is your story1 'hat do you consider to ha&e influenced your beliefs,&alues, understandings and actions1 'hy has your life taken this particular course1.o% ha&e you co$e to ha&e a particular philosophy of education1 'hy do you teachin the %ay that you do1 'hat %ere the conse@uences for you of being a girl/boy,%orking class/$iddle class, a $e$ber of your ethnic, religious or deno$inationalgroup, heteroseual/lesbian or gay – or of belonging to your particular fa$ily, li&ing ina particular part of the country at a specific historical ti$e, attending a particular typeof school, ha&ing particular abilities or disabilities – and so on# f the @uestions thatare being asked are $ore of the %ho, %here, ho% $any and %hat kind &arieties, thenchoosing life history could %ell be unnecessary and unecono$ic in ter$s of the ti$eand effort and resources it re@uires# -ife history can, of course, be used inco$bination %ith other $ethodologies and $ethods if this see$s appropriate#

    #esearch Populations

    +a"ple si;e

    3esearch sa$ples for life history research are usually relati&ely s$all# As %e ha&enoted, inter&ie%ing, transcription and analysis are ti$e consu$ing and epensi&eacti&ities# 3egardless of econo$ic considerations though, life historians usually,although not ine&itably, use life history because they take a particular ontological andepiste$ological position %hich &alues the subecti&e and idiographic# +heir ai$ is notto $ake to $ake the sorts of no$othetic generalisations that need to be based on

    findings fro$ a large sa$ple#

    t is i$possible to state ho% $any infor$ants should be in&ol&ed in any proect# So$uch depends on the ai$s of the research, on the topic, and on %hat is actuallypossible gi&en the resources that are a&ailable# any life histories, including $ost of the =original*, ones, undertaken by $e$bers of the )hicago School in the !20s and!F0s, %ere of one person and ai$ed to gi&e detailed insight into a specificindi&idual*s perception and eperience of their life# .arry 'olcott*s classic, The %anin the Principals hair  is the ob&ious ea$ple fro$ education# f, ho%e&er, the ai$ isto re&eal shared patterns of eperience or interpretation %ithin a group of people %hoha&e so$e characteristic, attribute or eperience in co$$on, then ideally sa$ple si5e

    %ill be ade@uate %hen you get =saturation* – or repetition# Hor instance, if you %erein&estigating teachers* eperiences of an i$posed change and, your first four infor$ants talked in ter$s of feeling deskilled and professionally dissatisfied then youcould ha&e so$e confidence that these stories =taken fro$ the sa$e set of sociocultural relations support each other and $ake up, all together, a strong body of e&idence* (Kertau, !8, p 89"

    +a"ple selection

    !

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    10/20

    -ife history research rarely in&ol&es a rando$ sa$ple of infor$ants# Hor a start, thesole ai$ is seldo$ to $ake generalisations and so, therefore, such a group is notre@uired#

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    11/20

    co$$it$ent on the part of the infor$ant since life history inter&ie%ing can take up$any hours# Perhaps the best and $ost honest policy is si$ply to eplain the natureof the %ork, to say that it can stretch o&er a considerable period and lea&e it at that,gi&ing the infor$ant the assurance that they can back out at any ti$e#

    nfor$ants also need to be a%are that, ob&ious though it is, in&ol&e$ent in life historyresearch does $ean that that they %ill be reflecting on, and talking about the$sel&esand things that ha&e happened to the$# +here is a clear si$ilarity bet%een personalcounselling and life history inter&ie%ing and, depending on the focus of any researchproect and ho% that relates to a particular infor$ant*s life, there is a possibility thatpainful areas and eperiences $ay be touched upon or e&oked# Hor instance, e&entalking about the i$ple$entation of a curriculu$ proect that a teacher %as in&ol&ed inat the ti$e %hen a $e$ber of their fa$ily %as ill could bring back difficult $e$ories#.o%e&er, researchers are not counsellors# n the research setting they are collectinginfor$ation, not setting out to practice therapy, e&en if they are @ualified so to do#Koth parties need to be clear about this and potential infor$ants be gi&en the chanceto understand the sorts of areas that are likely to be co&ered so that they can $akean infor$ed choice about participating# )larity is, therefore, of the essence#

    t is a good idea to gi&e infor$ants a %ritten docu$ent to %hich they can refer if necessary, setting do%n epectations, =rules*, clauses etc# f there is to be anyde&iation fro$ this initial agree$ent, then the onus is on the researcher to negotiatethe change#

    Infor"ation to Life History Infor"ants

    A docu"ent for Life History infor"ants "ight co!er the folloing

    • confidentiality and anony"ity the researcher should be clear aboutho is going to listen to tape recordings* ha!e access to inter!ietranscripts and other types of data and so on' 4hey should explain hothey are going to disguise* anony"ise or otherise protect the identityof infor"ants' An approach hich often pro!es popular is gi!ingpeople the opportunity to choose their on pseudony"'

    • anything about 0or58 the researcher ould li5e the infor"ant to do*

    such as 5eeping a diary or riting accounts of particular experiences'

    • 0onership8 of any tapes and/or transcripts'

    • the infor"ant8s 0rights8 to change* co""ent on* contribute to analysis

    and the e!entual presentation of findings'

    • here and hen inter!ies ill ta5e place'

    • contact nu"bers and addresses'

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    12/20

    +trategies for 2ollecting 3ata

    Inter!ie=2on!ersations

     A one to one inter&ie%7con&ersation bet%een infor$ant and researcher is perhaps the$ost co$$only used strategy for collecting life history data#

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    13/20

    these can be &ery &aluable# .o%e&er, asking infor$ants to keep diaries for thepurpose of a proect doesn*t al%ays %ork that %ell because so$e people take to itbetter than others do# t can also be re@uiring ust that bit too $uch fro$ people %hoare already gi&ing of their ti$e and energy# n addition it is the case that personal%riting is an eplicitly self7conscious acti&ity – perhaps e&en $ore so that talking

    about oneself# 3esearchers need to take an interrogati&e and analytical approach toany language, oral or %ritten, that they decide to use as dataG

    $sing 3ocu"ents

    ocu$ents of &arious kinds, including syllabi, prospectuses, school reports, agenda,$e$os, letters, publicity $aterial, school $aga5ines, ne%spaper accounts andprogra$$es of e&ents, $ay cast further light on the life or li&es being considered#3esearchers $ay collect these the$sel&es and/or ask infor$ants to bring the$ along

    Wor5ing ith Life History 3ata

    #ecording 3ata

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    14/20

    +ranscription of taped inter&ie%s is difficult and ti$e consu$ing and if the researcher is paying a transcriber, can be &ery epensi&e# oing your o%n transcription is a reallygood %ay of getting to kno% the data inti$ately and is an aid to analysis in thatrepeated listening can alert you to the$es and issues# t is not al%ays necessary to$ake a full transcription# A su$$ary transcript using key %ords and phrases %ith a

    note as to %here this occurs on the tape (a $achine %ith a counter is essential" canbe $ore than ade@uate# Again, $aking a su$$ary transcript is an analytical acti&ityin that it in&ol&es the researcher in categorising their data right fro$ the start#

    Analysis

    +he purpose of analysis is to interpret and re7present infor$ation in a %ay that $akessense and %hich tells us so$ething about the %orld# 3esearchers tell an eplanatorystory about the situation they ha&e in&estigated, usually by presenting data they ha&ecollected %ithin a fra$e%ork of so$e kind# +his fra$e%ork $ay take the for$ of classifications, $odels, typologies, categories, concepts, narrati&es, cases – and soon, usually held together under a theoretical u$brella# 'hat constitutes a fra$e%ork

    can be &ariously interpreted and it is up to the researcher to be as eplicit as they canabout their particular position and about the analytical $ethods, processes andtechni@ues they ha&e used to generate it# -eading on fro$ this, increased a%arenessof the role of the researcher in the research process $eans that $ore people aretaking the &ie% that the biography of the researcher also needs to be $ade eplicitbecause this has a significant influence both on the %ay they approach analysis andthe analysis they e&entually $ake# Hor those using life history approaches to studyother people*s li&es self reflection and a%areness and an eplicit ackno%ledge$ent of the researcher*s &oice, %ould see$ to be aio$atic#

    #espondent ,alidation

    -ife history %ork tends to be a collaborati&e &enture bet%een researcher andinfor$ant# Koth parties fre@uently play a part in reflecting on the life story and thenlocating it in historical and other contets# 3espondent &alidation refers to the processof taking theories and interpretations back to infor$ants and asking if they $akesense to the$ and if they ade@uately describe and/or account for their eperiencesand perceptions# Although respondent &alidation has been seen as an i$portant testfor @ualitati&e research it is not unproble$atic# +his is because infor$ants $ay notal%ays like the interpretation that is $ade or, if research is reported in specialistlanguage or in ter$s of co$ple theories, they $ay not be able to understand it# +his$ay place the onus on the researcher to $ake their %ork accessible but this $ay not

    al%ays be easily done# t $ay also so$eti$es be the case that infor$ants %ant noother part in the research than to be inter&ie%ed and this has to be respected#

    t is good practice to seek respondent &alidation but researchers need to think about%hat they %ould do if infor$ants disagree or ask for alterations# f these areappropriate, all %ell and good, but if not then one %ay for%ard $ay be to add a noteto the effect that infor$ants took a different &ie%#

    C

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    15/20

    3ata Presentation

    ;n a nu$ber of occasions %e ha&e noted that life history accounts tend to beinteresting, $eaningful and accessible to readers# +his is largely because of thesubect $atter – $any of us do find other people*s stories fascinating, especially &is a&is our o%n eperiences – but it is also, probably, because $ost life historians areconsciously %riting a narrati&e account# +his shapes the for$ of their %riting# Also lifehistorians %ill be talking about e&eryday life e&ents in e&eryday language, often@uoting directly fro$ %hat infor$ants ha&e said# 'ith regard to @uoting and editing,researchers need to be able to eplain %hat they ha&e done and to ustify their actions# +hen there is the issue of ho% far infor$ants* %ords should be left to speakfor the$sel&es and ho% $uch co$$entary and analysis there should be# ;f course,the for$ presentation takes %ill depend on the nature of the particular researchproect and the audiences for %hich the presentation is intended# f the %ork is to besub$itted for a @ualification, students need to be certain that they $eet officialre@uire$ents and criteria and that, if they challenge con&entional epectations, they$ake a strong case for doing so#

    A brief note on ethics

    :thical considerations should be to the forefront in all researchers* $inds andper$eate all research endea&ours# +he bre&ity of our treat$ent here, %ith regard toethic and auto/biographical research in no %ay reflects the significance %e attach tothe area#

    3esearch per se is an inherently political acti&ity in that it has a bearing on ho%hu$an beings $ake sense of their %orld# )onse@uently, because it i$pacts uponpeople, all research potentially in&ol&es ethical issues and considerations# +he

    i$plications of this, for anyone touched, in any %ay, by any particular researchproect, &ary tre$endously, fro$ the insignificant to the life altering# -ife history %orkin&ol&es people in a &ery inti$ate %ay, therefore the potential for being affected by itis all the greater and, therefore, the responsibility of the researcher to%ards their infor$ants is considerable at all stages of the research process# At the $ostele$entary le&el they need to guard against choosing to study a topic out of si$ple –or &oyeuristic – curiosity they need to be a%are that, as %e ha&e noted, talking aboutany area of life can e&oke distressing $e$ories they need to be careful not to$anipulate relationships %ith a &ie% to obtaining =better* data and they need to beconscious of the difficulties in&ol&ed in ensuring confidentiality and anony$ity# +heyalso need to be a%are of the patronising and i$perialistic o&ertones associated %ith

    clai$s that being in&ol&ed in life history %ork can be e$ancipatory and e$po%eringG

    Klanket ethical codes, such as those produced by the Kritish :ducational 3esearch Association, the Kritish Sociological Association and the Kritish Psychological Societyare i$portant and useful but %e %ould reco$$end that the ethical i$plications of each specific research proect be carefully considered#

    Hor detailed discussion of @uestions of ethics and po%er in life history research,

    D

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    16/20

    readers are referred to

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    17/20

    'hen you ha&e co$piled the basic infor$ation, you should begin to think about ho%your life fits in to the historical contets through %hich it %as li&ed# epending on your interests, you $ay %ant to consider ho% gender attitudes and epectations, or changes in educational policy or organisation, or being in&ol&ed in a particular curriculu$ or pedagogical inno&ation $ight ha&e influenced the things that happened

    to you# f you are thinking about your =research career* you should look at ho%paradig$ fashions and shifts in thinking $ight ha&e i$pacted on your researchrelated beliefs and &alues# Oou should also eplore ho% beliefs and &alues arisingfro$ upbringing and eperience could ha&e played a part in shaping your interestsand concerns, and so on#

    .a&ing undertaken this eercise, not only should you ha&e an infor$edunderstanding of your o%n positionality as a researcher, but also an eperientiala%areness of an i$portant and &aluable research $ethodology#

    2onclusion/+u""ary

     Auto/biographical approaches in general, and life history $ethodology in particular focus on and eplore both the eperiences and perspecti&es of particular indi&idualsin society, and society through their eperiences and perceptions# )onnecting thepersonal and the public has e&er been the key task for social scientists and,conse@uently, auto/biographical %ork has a long and distinguished, if so$e%hatche@uered history# Hor those concerned to understand aspects of life as they relate toschools and schooling and education, life history is often a highly appropriateapproach# +his is because education and schooling are inherently personal andrelationship based#

    -ife history is detailed and intensi&e research# -ife historians need to possess the

    personal characteristics that %ill enable the$ to establish trusting and positi&erelationships %ith their infor$ants#

    Points to #eflect on

    N s it possible to do any social research %ithout gi&ing so$e attention tohistorical di$ensions1

    N +he essence of social research concerns the relationship bet%een indi&idualsand the &arious social %orlds they inhabit# .o% can research %hich does notpri&ilege this relationship be ustified1

    N 'hat can research that focuses upon one or a s$all nu$ber of people tell usabout general eperiences and concerns1

    N .o% can you critically e&aluate research if you kno% little or nothing about theresearcher/s1

    N f research $ethodologies and $ethods are subect to fashion, %hat are thei$plications for kno%ledge and understanding at any particular ti$e1

    9

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    18/20

    N -ife history re@uires researchers to possess particular personal characteristics(i#e# the ability to establish trusting relationships %ith infor$ants"# oes thisre@uire$ent differ substantially fro$ the need for other specific research skills(eg in @uestionnaire design"1 f so, ho% and %hy, and %hat are thei$plications1

    N o the si$ilarities bet%een life history inter&ie%s and counselling $ean that lifehistorians need to be $ore sensiti&e about their infor$ants than other researchers1

    +uggested urther #eading

    KSA (!!F" =Special ssue Auto/Kiography in Sociology* !ociolo& 29,, Hebruary

     A collection of papers that explore, criticall&, the role of auto+ioraph& in socioloical in2uir&3

    :rben, # (:d" (!!8" 'ioraph& and Education. A $eader  -ondon, Hal$er 

    This useful collection includes su+stantie contri+utions on +ioraphical researchmethods and theor&, and uses empirical studies to sho4 ho4 +ioraphical 4or# can+e used to stud& a rane of areas and topics in educational contexts3

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    19/20

    +housand ;aks, Sage

    This chapter illustrates ho4 post-modern understandins can +e used to ma#econtemporar& sense of indiidual lies3

    #eferences

    Kall, S# J

  • 8/16/2019 Auto-Biographies and Life Histories - Sikes (2006)

    20/20