Robert MillerSchool of Sociology, Social Policy & Social Work
Queens University, [email protected]
ARK is a Joint Project betweenThe Queen’s University of Belfast
and the University of UlsterSupported by ESRC Large Grants
Programme
Rough Guide to ARK
A joint initiative of staff at Queens University, Belfast & University of Ulster
Mission: To make material on the social and political life of Northern Ireland available to the widest possible audience
Provides Access, Research, Knowledge
History
Established in 2000Brought together 2 independent
resources:Northern Ireland Life and Times
Survey (NILT)Conflict Archive on the INternet
(CAIN)
SurveysNorthern Ireland Life & Times Survey of adults
[NILT]Young Life & Times Survey of 16 year-olds [YLT]A new development - Kids Life & Times Survey
of 11 year-olds [KLT]Facilitates uptake of Northern Ireland
Household Panel SurveySurveys Online (SOL) gives access to
information from other major non-government surveys
International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
Online Research Bank (ORB)Online searchable Bibliography of social
policy researchAbstracts & links to research reportsSearch by:
Subject GroupYearAuthor(s) SurnameTitle of Document or Keywords
Elections
Online election results since 1973 (and before)
Definitive source for European, Westminster, Assembly, Referenda, local government by area
Prediction contests
ARK Research Centre
Technical and statistical support; including ‘high end’ and ‘low end’ training
Large scale projects involving all aspects of the research process
Small projects needing minimal research support and advice
Secondary analysis
Other outreach & dissemination activities
Seminar series, including a new critical social policy series
Lay-friendly Research Updates, occasional papers & fact sheets
‘ARK in schools’ educational support material
ARK Social Policy UnitNew development sparked by post-conflict
‘civil society culture’Limited to Northern Ireland, but with British
Isles comparative slantQuantitative and Qualitative research ‘State of the province’ publication in
collaboration with government research bodiesIndependent policy briefing documentsPlanning a regular series of policy
seminars/debates
CAIN – Conflict Archive on the INternetBegin in 1996
The definitive source for information and material on ‘the Troubles’ since 1968
Very eclectic mix of material: chronologies; victims’ database; info on key issues & events; abstracts of organisations and ‘players’; political biographies; visual material; full text of documents; bibliography of the conflict; etc. etc.
For example . . .
Hume, John (Nobel Laureate) (b. 18 January 1937)Politician; Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) 1979-2001; SDLP MP 1983-present; SDLP MEP 1979-present
Born in Derry and educated at St Columb's College, Derry, and St Patrick's College, Maynooth, from which he graduated with a BA. honours degree before beginning work as a teacher. Before he became involved in active politics at the end of the 1960s, Hume's profile in his native city of Derry had been raised by his participation in a number of community initiatives. For instance he had involved himself in the local Credit Union movement and had been one of the most prominent figures in the unsuccessful campaign aimed at ensuring the city became the site of Northern Ireland's second university. Frustrated and increasingly disillusioned with the apparent unwillingness of the Unionist government at Stormont to adequately address the growing calls from the minority community in Northern Ireland for a thorough programme of economic, political and social reform, Hume chose to participate in the civil rights campaign. Following violence at a civil rights march in Derry on 5 October 1968 he was elected on to the Derry Citizens' Action Committee as Vice-Chairman and attempted to try to ensure that future protests remained peaceful. This role allowed him to challenge and win a parliamentary seat, representing the Foyle constituency in the city (1969-72) in theStormont election of February 1969.
Conflict Archive on the Internet
An online catalogue of material (interview transcripts, audio &
video, photos etc.) of relevance to qualitative researchers
Two types1. Academic material generated by social
science researchers2. ‘Lay’ material:
o Large-scale ‘institutional’ archive material (e.g., BBC & UTV, Linenhall Library)
o Material ‘accumulated’ by private individuals
Developments in recent years have transformed the political situation from its previous stalemate of non-democratic Direct Rule from London and ‘an acceptable level of violence’ to a hopeful situation of developing civil society institutions and the coming to adulthood of a generation that has no direct memory of the worst violence of ‘the Troubles’. Laudable as these development are, they do mean that there is a real danger that the experiences of the decades of violence will be lost from memory. Sectarian divisions and tensions still lurk beneath the surface in Northern Ireland and it would unfortunate to lose the hard-gained wisdom of the recent past. The N.I. Qualitative Archive is a catalogue of secondary sources and potential sources of material for qualitative analysis of the N.I. Conflict.
In keeping with the philosophy of the ARK Project, the completed catalogue is unrestrictedly available to the public at no charge through ARK and takes the form of an online searchable database.
Context
3
Accessing the NI Conflict Archive
As part of ARK, the Northern Ireland Conflict Archive can be accessed by going to the ARK website – www.ark.ac.uk and selecting NIQA from the ‘Explore ARK’ menu. Alternatively, the Conflict Archive can be entered directly by going to www.ark.ac.uk/qual/conflict. Both routes link to the searchable database.
A example of the search web page is given below. The database provides for searches on four criteria: author/investigator; words in the title or abstract; a set of topic categories; year of research.
Searching the database
A list of all holdings in the database that match the search criteria will be given. Here, the search has produced five entries.
Search results
Below is a listing of record references that match your query. You can view a detailed overview of each of the listings by clicking on the title where it appears highlighted in blue or by clicking on the icon at the end of the row.
You searched for: Subject is 'Identity' and Investigators Surname is like 'Mitchell' and Abstract/Title contains Protestant and Year of coverage is 2000
5 Results
Title: Discourses of Equality in Post-Agreement Northern Ireland(45)
Principal Investigators: Claire Mitchell, Queen's University Belfast, School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work
Coverage Years: 1998-2000
Title: Religion, Identity and Politics in Northern Ireland(24)
Principal Investigators: Claire Mitchell, Queen's University Belfast, School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work
Coverage Years: 2000-1
Title: Behind the Ethnic Marker: Religion and Social Identification in Northern Ireland(42)
Principal Investigators: Claire Mitchell, Queen's University Belfast, School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work
Coverage Years: 2000-1
Title: Protestant Identification and Political Change in Northern Ireland(43)
Principal Investigators: Claire Mitchell, Queen's University Belfast, School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work
Coverage Years: 2000
Title: From victims to equals? Catholic responses to political change in Northern Ireland(44)
Principal Investigators: Claire Mitchell, Queen's University Belfast, School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work
Coverage Years: 2000
Clicking either on the Title or the ‘More’ box will bring up the full entry.(The Description field has been abbreviated to allow it to be shown on a single page).
A full entry in the database
Title: Discourses of Equality in Post-Agreement Northern Ireland
Principal Investigator(s): Claire Mitchell, Queen's University Belfast, School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work
Description: This study sought to examine the process of political change in Northern Ireland through an analysis of discourse in relation to the specific issue of the “equality” agenda since the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement of 1998. The study explored how the notion of equality was interpreted by people from a range of backgrounds, but specifically how the two communities differed in their understanding of equality and how this had been affected by developments proceeding from the 1998 Agreement. As well as analysing texts relating to the main political parties and how they presented the notion of equality in relation to the 1998 Agreement to their respective followers, the study also involved in-depth interviews with 32 individuals undertaken in 2000. The interviews were structured so as to allow access to and exploration of a personal, political and religious identities, this to see how these factors related to competing conceptions of equality. The process was therefore episodic, a mixture of narrative and semi-structured forms of interviewing in which participants . . . . range of backgrounds, differing in terms of age, gender and practice of faith as well as their communal identification. Initial contacts were made with community leaders across Northern Ireland and, using these leads, a snowballing technique was used to elicit further participants. The interviews lasted between one and three hours. (Adapted from Katy Hayward and Claire Mitchell, “Discourses of Equality in Post-Agreement Northern Ireland”, Contemporary Politics, vol. 9, no. 3, September 2003)
Complete Archive: Discourses of Equality in Post-Agreement Northern Ireland
Record 45
. . . continued ///
Time Period Covered :
1998-2000
Holder/Depositor: Claire Mitchell, Queen's University Belfast, School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work
Sponsors: The Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences
Subject Categories: Communities; Culture; History; Identity; the Peace Process; Politics; Religion
Main Topics: Northern Ireland; the “equality agenda”; competing conceptions of equality amongst Catholics and Protestants; the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement
Publications(based on
study): Katy Hayward and Claire Mitchell, “Discourses of Equality in Post-Agreement Northern Ireland”, Contemporary Politics, vol. 9, no. 3, September 2003
Coverage
Date from: 01/01/1998 Date to: 31/12/2000
Fieldwork Dates: 2000
Country: Northern Ireland
Geography:
Spatial Units: No spatial units
Observation Units: Individuals
Kind of Data: Audio tapes of in-depth, narrative/semi-structured interviews with 32 individuals; transcripts of interviews
Universe Sampled
Location of Units: Subnational
Population: Protestants and Catholics from a range of backgrounds, differing in terms of age, gender and practice of faith as well as their communal identification
. . . continued ///
Methodology
Time Dimensions : Cross-sectional (one-time) study
Sampling Procedures : Purposive selection/case studies; snowball sampling
Additional info: Sampling was not random or statistical, but aimed to select participants from a range of backgrounds, differing in terms of age, gender and practice of faith as well as their communal identification. Initial contacts were made with community leaders across Northern Ireland and, using these leads, a snowballing technique was used to elicit further participants
Number of Units : 32
Method of Data Collection : Face to face interview
Weighting: Not Applicable
Access
Access Conditions : Access currently restricted by the author/holder
Availability: Not currently available
Contact: Claire Mitchell, Queen's University Belfast, School Sociology & Social Policy, e-mail: [email protected]
Misc.
Languages: Study Description: English; Study Documentation: English
Copyright: Research subjects
MIsc/Other:
Qualitative Archive on AgeismARK has been exploring the placement of video interview
material online. This has raised issues of access & confidentiality and their effects on each other.