ORAL HISTORY

Dr Sue Onslow, Senior Lecturer, Institute of Commonwealth Studies

sue.onslow@sas.ac.uk

Oral history is a deep and dialogical form of interviewing which can significantly
enhance our historical understanding. This session will discuss oral history as an
academic method and qualitative/quantitative data-source collection, as well as
issues concerning life histories and memory. It will address practical aspects of
interviewing (including interview preparation, phraseology of questions, copyright,
transcription, summation and archiving), analysis and evaluation of material.

The session will also consider issues around objectivity and subjectivity; how to
determine the usefulness of information gathered, and to make the most effective
use of the information for the research project; how to distinguish between fact and
opinion; and the place of secondary sources. The session will look at sensitivity and
cultural awareness and address issues of ethical interviewing.

1. WHAT IS ORAL HISTORY?

• Unstructured or In-Depth Interviewing
• Cultural interviews
• Life Histories
• Structured interviewing/standardized interviewing
• Semi-Structured interviewing
• Focus groups
• Witness seminars

2. WHY DO ORAL HISTORY?

• Hidden histories
• Information gathering
• Personal insights
• Gaps
• No Documents
• Unhelpful Documents
• Understanding an archive

3. ISSUES RELATING TO ORAL HISTORY

• Is it appropriate?
• It is ‘EXPENSIVE’
• A problematic source
• Choice of questions
• How specific should these be
• Neutrality
• Positivism
 • Post-positivism
• How to stay focussed
• Trust: Are they lying?
• Recording
11. HOW TO INTERPRET THE RESULTS
• The ‘Truth’
• Relativism
• Different perspectives
• Memory is fallible

12. USES OF ORAL HISTORY

• Testimony as Narrative
• What IS the narrative?

13. HOW DO YOU CONTROL ORAL HISTORY?

• Triangulation
• Use of other sources/other interviews
• Be realistic!

14. WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR

• Verbal cues
• Non-verbal cues
• Encourage elaboration – the THICK description
• Supplementary written questionaire/questions
• Relatively passive
• One shot interview
• Flexibility (the irascible/bizarre)

Suggested Reading:
** Rob Perks and Alistair Thomson (eds), The Oral History Reader (3rd edition, 2015)
Lynn Abrams, Oral History Theory (2016)
Susan Armitage, Patricia Hart and Katherine Weathermon, Women's Oral History:
the Frontiers Reader (Lincoln, 2002).
J. Bornat and H. Diamond, 'Women's history and oral history: developments and
debates', Women's History Review, 16, 1 (2007), 19–39
George Ewart Evans, 'Approaches to interviewing', Oral History, 1, no. 4 (1971).
DA Ritchie, Doing Oral History (2014)
DA Ritchie, The Oxford Handbook of Oral History (2014)
Herbert J Rubin & Irene S Rubin: Qualitative Interviewing. The Art of Hearing Data
(1995)
Anthony Seldon and Joanna Pappworth: By Word of Mouth: Elite Oral History (1985)
Patricia M. Thane, 'Oral history, memory and written tradition: an introduction',
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 6th Series, 9 (1999), 161–68
Paul Thompson, The Voice of the Past: Oral History (Oxford, 1978).
Alistair Thomson, ‘Four paradigm transformations in oral history’, The Oral History
Review, 34,1, 2007
http://125.22.40.134:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/137/1/Four%20Paradigm%20Transformations%
20in%20Oral%20History.pdf

Alistair Thomson, Michael Frisch and Paula Hamilton, 'The memory and history
debates: some international perspectives', Oral History, 22, no. 2 (1994).
Alistair Thomson, 'Four paradigm transformations in oral history', Oral History
Review, 34, no. 1 (2007), 49–70.
Paul Thompson, 'Problems of method in oral history', Oral History, 1, no. 4 (1971)
See special issues of Oral History,

1. 'Black history', special issue, Oral History, 8, no. 1 (1980).

2. 'Ethnicity and national identity', special issue, Oral History, 21, no. 1 (1993).

See also The Oral History Society, www.ohs.org.uk

DATA PROTECTION

Following the introduction of the 2018 General Data Protection Regulation, the School of Advanced
Study and the University of London have now updated the Research Ethics policy and guidance on
the matter. Below is an outline summary of the impact GDPR has on academic research and the
requirements all students and academic staff undertaking research on behalf of the School and the
University must abide by.

For further information, please contact the research services at research.ethics@sas.ac.uk

1. Are we affected by GDPR?

Yes. Academic research is central to the University’s role and function and the mission of the School
and its Institutes. In some areas of academic research, the University processes the personal data of
living individuals and is therefore subject to data protection law, currently the General Data
Protection Regulation and the UK Data Protection Act 2018.

2. Does GDPR support the use of personal data in academic research?

Yes. There are a range of provisions in the General Data Protection Regulation and the UK Data
Protection Act 2018 to support academic research. The provisions have to be balanced against the
essence of the right to data protection and make suitable and specific measures to safeguard the
rights of individuals.

3. How do I find out more?

There is a lot of common ground between data protection law and long established principles and
policies around research ethics. A guidance document has been produced which maps the GDPR to
research practice – this can be found on the SAS research ethics
page https://www.sas.ac.uk/research/research-office/research-ethics

Data protection compliance in the management of research data should be understood in context
with the overall University of London data protection policy and procedures, for which the following
links may be useful:

• https://uolonline.sharepoint.com/Pages/VCO/GDPR-and-data-protection.aspx
• https://uolonline.sharepoint.com/news/Pages/5-Things-you-need-to-know-about-
GDPR.aspx
• https://london.ac.uk/about-us/how-university-run/policies/data-protection

Any comments or questions from staff or students arising from this document are most welcome
to data.protection@london.ac.uk

4. Where do I find out more about research ethics?

For Ethical Conduct: https://www.sas.ac.uk/research/research-office/research-ethics

5. What do I need to do now?

Anyone undertaking research needs to carry out an ethical assessment(the form can be found
here:https://www.sas.ac.uk/research/research-office/research-ethics ) , if you have not done so
already, and clarify if your research data contains personal data. For avoidance of doubt:

- any student or member of staff, or fellow, who has already submitted a

form, does not need to resend it (unless methodology has changed, as per
policy);

- any member of staff who have not yet submitted a form for institutionally
and/or externally funded projects, including ongoing projects, needs to fill in an
ethical assessment form and submit it to research.ethics@sas.ac.uk ;

- any student who have not yet submitted a form and are due to either submit
their viva or finish their Master’s, must urgently fill in an ethical assessment
form and submit it to research.ethics@sas.ac.uk.