Documentary & Archival Research

Jason Hughes is Professor of Sociology in the School of Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leicester. Jason is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Science, a Member of the European Academy, Academia Europaea, a Member of the Board of the Norbert Elias Foundation, Amsterdam, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His recent research has focused on problematised consumption (e.g. vaping, smoking, social media) particularly by young people, and he has published widely relating to these and other sociological topics. He is currently researching the lay pharmaceutical use of psychedelics (e.g. via microdosing).John Goodwin is a Professor of Sociology and Sociological Practice at the University of Leicester. As a sociologist, John has a broad range of research interests including education to work transitions, sociological research methods, and the history of sociology. He is a recognized expert on the life and sociology of Pearl Jephcott, and he also has a significant interest in the works of Norbert Elias, C. Wright Mills, and Stanley Milgram. In terms of his sociological practice, John has expertise in qualitative secondary analysis, restudies, biographical methods, and the use of unconventional data sources in sociological research.

• VOLUME ONE: Human Documents – Perspectives and ApproachesBasic Themes: Use, Production and Content - Lindsay PriorAn Appraisal of Thomas and Znaniecki’s The Polish Peasant in Europe and America - Herbert BlumerComment on Herbert Blumer’s Appraisal - Florian ZnanieckiNomothetic and Idiographic uses - G. AllportThe Use of Personal Documents in Historical Sociology - Hyman Marianpolski and Dana HughesTo the Letter: Thomas and Znaniecki’s the Polish Peasant and Writing a Life, Sociologically - Liz StanleyFor a Humanistic Way in Social Science - Ken PlummerEvidence and Proof in Documentary Research: Part I – Some Specific Problems of Documentary Research - J. PlattEvidence and Proof in Documentary Research: Part II – Some Shared Problems of Documentary Research - J. PlattBiographical Turn in the Social Sciences? A British-European View - Tom Wengraf, Prue Chamberlayne and Joanna BornatFoucault and Critique: Kant, Humanism, and the Human Sciences - M. OlssenCritical Humanism in a Post-Modern World - Ken PlummerAssumptions of the Method - Norman DenzinAutobiography and Biography - Brian RobertsAuto/Biography and Sociology - Brian RobertsThe Social Science of Biographical Life-Writing: Some Methodological and Ethical Issues - Ann OakleyIs There a Feminist Auto/Biography? - L. StanleyRepositioning Documents in Social Research - Lindsay PriorHistorians and Oral History - P. ThompsonConstructing Credible Images: Documentary Studies, Social Research and Visual Studies - Jon WagnerVOLUME TWO: Analysing Human DocumentsAssessing Documentary Sources - John ScottAnalysing Documentary Realities - Paul Atkinson and Amanda CoffeyDoing Historical and Documentary Research - Ben GidleyContent, Meaning and Reference - Lindsay PriorAn Introduction to Content Analysis - B. Berg and H. LuneThe Interpretation of Documents and Material Culture - Ian HodderUsing Visual Methods and Documents - Jennifer MasonThe Interpretation of Pictures and the Documentary Method - Ralf BohnsackComments on Elias’s “Scenes from the Life of a Knight” - Eric DunningHow to Look at Family Photographs: Practices, Objects, Subjects and Places - G. RoseVideography: Analysing Video Data as a “Focused” Ethnographic and Hermeneutical Exercise - Hubert Knoblauch and Bernt SchnettlerWhat Is Discourse Analysis? - B. PaltridgeTheoretical Background - Linda Wood and Rolf KrogerExploring Conversations about and with Documents - Tim RapleyThe Epistolarium: On Theorizing Letters and Correspondences - Liz StanleyAnalyzing Biographies and Narratives - G. GibbsPearls, Pith, and Provocation: Ethical Issues in the Documentary Data Analysis of Internet Posts and Archives - Judith Sixsmith and Craig MurraySociology and, of and in Web 2.0: Some Initial Considerations - D. Beer and R. BurrowsTowards a Sociological Understanding of Social Media: Theorizing Twitter - Dhiraj MurthyVOLUME THREE: Human Documents in Social ResearchMethods of Field Research 2: Interviews as Conversation - R. Burgess“DEAR RESEARCHER”: The Use of Correspondence as a Method within Feminist Qualitative Research - Gayle Letherby and Dawn ZdrodowskiDocuments in Action I: Documents in Organisational Settings - Lindsay PriorDocuments in Action II: Making Things Visible - Lindsay PriorThe Journal Project: Research at the Boundaries between Social Sciences and the Arts - Judith Davidson“Thanks for the Memory”: Memory Books as a Methodological Resource in Biographical Research - Rachel Thomson and Janet HollandImagining The Sociological Imagination: The Biographical Context of a Sociological Classic - John BrewerIntroduction - M. KeenFilling the Silences? Mass-Observations’s Wartime Diaries, Interpretive Work and Indexicality - Andrea SalterAutoethnography and Therapy Writing on the Move - Jeannie WrightNarratives of the Night: The Use of Audio Diaries in Researching Sleep - J. Hislop, S. Arber, R. Meadows and S. VennMaking Use of Audio Diaries in Research with Young People: Examining Narrative, Participation and Audience - N. WorthThe Photograph in Theory - E. ChaplinPicture This: Researching Child Workers - Angela Bolton, Christopher Pole and Phillip MizenMourning the Family Album - Tahneer OksmanGood Young Nostalgia: Camera Phones and Technologies of Self among Israeli Youths - Ori SchwarzDigital Biography: Capturing Lives Online - Paul Longley ArthurCelebrity Bio Blogs: Hagiography, Pathography, and Perez Hilton - Elizabeth Podnieks‘My Vagina Makes Funny Noises’: Analyzing Online Forums to Assess the Real Sexual Health Concerns of Young People - A. Cohn and J. RichtersVOLUME FOUR: Archival ResearchBehind the Scenes: Records and Archives - G. McCullochSecondary Analysis of Archived Data - Louise Corti and Paul ThompsonSecondary Analysis of Qualitative Data - Clive SealeThe Ordinariness of the Archive - Thomas OsborneArchive - Mike FeatherstoneThe Archive, Disciplinarity, and Governing: Cultural Studies and the Writing of History - Craig RobertsonEthical Problems in Archival Research: Beyond Accessibility - Pamela InnesArchival Research as a Social Process - N. LernerKeeping the Conversation Going: The Archive Thrives on Interviews and Oral History - B. Lucas and M. StrainMuseums, the Sociological Imagination and the Imaginary Museum - Gordon FyfeIlya Neustadt, Norbert Elias, and the Leicester Department: Personal Correspondence and the History of Sociology in Britain - John Goodwin and Jason HughesOn Behaviour at the Table - Norbert EliasOn the Relationship between Literature and Sociology in the Work of Norbert Elias - Helmut KuzmicsExtracts from Human Documents of the Industrial Revolution in Britain - E. PikeWriting to the Archive: Mass-Observation as Autobiography - Dorothy SheridanUsing the Mass-Observation Archive as a Source for Women’s Studies - Dorothy SheridanResearch Methodology in Mass Observation Past and Present: “Scientifically, about as Valuable as a Chimpanzee’s Tea Party at the Zoo? - Annebella PollenWorking-Class Identities in the 1960s: Revisiting the Affluent Worker Study - Mike SavageData and Archives: The Internet as Site and Subject - Fiona Gill and Catriona ElderRecent Developments in Archiving Social Research - Louise Corti