Oral History as Process-Generated Data

Abstract

This article describes how to use (archived) oral histories as process-generated data. It explains how social scientists may locate and use such data in an informed way and assess the qualities of such data systematically and effectively. The article describes oral history as a method and as form of source or data; it surveys aspects of oral history that affect data analysis and interpretation, including project design, recording technology, interview strategies and interviewer skills/training, interviewee-interviewer relationship, the dialogic construction of the source, legal and ethical aspects, summaries and transcriptions, the orality of the sources and the importance of listening to sources. The article then problematizes the use of oral histories as evidence by discussing subjectivity, memory, retrospectivity, and narrativity and exploring the meanings, values, and validity of this kind of data.