Secondary analysis in reflection: some experiences of re-use from an oral history perspective

1
Secondary analysis in reflection some
experiences of re-use from an oral history
perspective

• Novella ESRC seminar
• Institute of Education
• 4 June 2013
• 4 June 2013

2

• Secondary analysis reuse of ones own o r
  anothers archived data - why?
• assess the credibility of new research and/or the
  generalisability of small studies by looking at
  established data
• supplement ones own primary data, e.g. as
  exploratory analyses prior to new data collection
  
• provide rich descriptive information, e.g. to
  provide an historical perspective
• reveal new methodological insights by reflecting
  on previously conducted research
• generate new findings by analysing old data
  from a new research context and/or lens
• gain further insight on hard to reach populations
  or sensitive topics without further intrusion
  into vulnerable populations

3

• Or simply to
• share data
• take part in a natural research activity
• to undertake research in cash-limited
  times

4

• Early encounters with secondary analysis -
  1970s onwards - unreflected borrowing and an
  ethical question

5
Researching the history of the geriatric specialty

• The Jefferys dataset
• 54 oral history interviews carried out with
  doctors who pioneered the geriatric specialty by
  Professor Margot Jefferys and colleagues in
  1990-1 (Wellcome funded, deposited in British
  Library)
• The South Asian geriatricians dataset
• 60 oral history interviews carried out in
  2007-09 with retired and serving geriatricians,
  all overseas-trained (ESRC funded, Bornat, Henry
  Raghuram, deposited in British Library)

6
Noting a presence

• Well, yes. One of the problems has been that
  staffing of geriatric departments hasn't always
  been easy, we have had to appoint quite a lot of
  doctors from the Indian sub-continent to be
  registrars and even senior registrars, so for
  quite a period the only applicants for consultant
  jobs were in fact not British citizens trained by
  British methods.
• They had been to respectable geriatric
  departments and learnt the trade but when they
  got appointed to x, y, z, they had Indian or
  Pakistani names or whatever else. And it tended
  to get known as the sort of, you know,
  dark-skinned specialty.
• John Agate Jefferys interview b.1919

7
The overseas trained doctors perspective

• First of all in the initial days they filled the
  jobs when nobody else would take it. And they
  tried to copy the best leaders. And implement
  changes in their own patch like the best leaders
  had done. So there were geriatricians in
  hospitals where facilities were so poor I
  probably wouldnt work in those even today. And
  so thats one of the things that they went to the
  areas where local doctors didnt go. And they
  filled those jobs where local doctors werent
  interested. It wasnt that the local doctors
  didnt get those jobs. They werent interested
  in those jobs.
• DS, Male, SAG interviewee, consultant physician
  in general medicine, interviewed 2008, born India
  1945, arrived in UK 1973

8
Ethical issues in re-interpretation

• Does asking new questions and finding new
  interpretations in the archived data of another
  researcher raise ethical issues?
• But
• if you only work on the basis of your own
  personal history...your one-person-panel
  sociological imagination will be weak and
  partial (Wengraf, 2001 258)

9
The Oldest Generation a Timescapes project

• Over an an eighteen month period, autumn 2007 to
  summer 2009
• Twelve diverse families, each including at least
  one person aged 75 or more, recruited through
  the UK-wide Open University network
• One member of the family aged 75 or more,
  nominated as the Senior
• One member nominated as the Recorder
• Life history interviews with the 12 seniors,
  autumn 2007
• Diaries kept by the 12 recorders over an 18-month
  period
• Photographs taken by the recorders and others
• Monthly contact with the recorders
• (Data archived at http//timescapes.leeds.ac.uk)

10
Two examples of insights from reconsidering the
TOG data

• Family communications - from Intergenerational
  Exchange project
• Ways of becoming a father - from the Men as
  Fathers project

11
Developing guidelines - the Timescapes approach

• The 7 Timescapes projects - differing histories
• - earlier waves of data ready for deposit
• - differing experiences of ethical requirements
  from light touch to conservative scientific
  norms
• - levels of access the chosen solution

12
Continuing discussion points

• Knowability of data
• Strategies for sharing
• Dissemination of findings
• Researcher reputation

13
Bibliography

• Biernacki, R (2012) Reinventing Evidence in
  Social Inquiry Decoding facts and variables,
  BasingstokePalgrave Macmillan.
• Bishop, L (2007) A reflexive account of reusing
  qualitative data beyond Primary/Secondary
  dualism, Sociological Research Online, 12, 3.
  
• Bornat, J (2003) 'A second take revisiting
  interviews with a different purpose', Oral
  History, vol.31, no.1 pp.47-53
• Bornat, Joanna (2005). Recycling the Evidence
  Different Approaches to the Reanalysis of
  Gerontological Data 37 paragraphs. Forum
  Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum Qualitative
  Social Research, 6(1), Art. 42,
• Bornat, J, Henry, L Raghuram, P (2009) '"Don't
  mix race with the specialty" interviewing South
  Asian overseas-trained geriatricians', Oral
  History, vol.38, no.1 pp.74-84.
• Bornat, J (2010) Remembering and reworking
  emotions the reanalysis of emotion in an
  interview, Oral History, 38, 2 43-52.
• Bornat, J Bytheway, (2010) Perceptions and
  presentations of living with everyday risk in
  later life, British Journal of Social Work, 20
  1118-1134
• Bornat, J. and Bytheway, B. (2010) Late Life
  Reflections on the Downturn Perspectives from
  The Oldest Generation, 21st Century Society,
  5(2) pp.183-92
• Bornat, J, Raghuram, P Henry, L (2012)
  Revisiting the archives a case study from the
  history of geriatric medicine, Sociological
  Research Online, 17, 2, 11.
• Bornat, J (forthcoming), Epistemology and ethics
  in data sharing and analysis a critical
  overview, in L Camfield, ed, Research in
  International Development a critical overview,
  Basingstoke, Palgrave.
• Corti, Louise Thompson, Paul (2004). Secondary
  analysis of archived data. In Clive Seale,
  Giampetro Gobo, Jaber F. Gubrium David
  Silverman (Eds.), Qualitative Research Practice
  (pp. 328-343). London Sage.
• Elliot, R (2001) Growing up and giving up
  smoking in Paul Thompsons 100 Families, Oral
  History, 29, 1, pp 73-84.
• Hammersley, M (1997) Qualitative data archiving
  its prospects and problems, Sociology, 31, 1, pp
  131-142.
• Irwin, S Winterton, M (2012) Qualitative
  secondary analysis and social explanation,
  Sociological Research Online, 17, 2, 4.
• Moore, N (2007) (Re)Using Qualitative Data?,
  Sociological Research Online, 12, 3.
• Neale, B Bishop, L (2012) The Ethics of
  Archiving and Re-Using Qualitative Longitudinal
  Data a stakeholder approach, Timescapes Methods
  Guides Series, Guide No, 18. Available at
  http//www.timescapes.leeds.ac.uk/assets/files/met
  hods-guides/timescapes-neale-ethics-archiving.pdf.
  
• Thompson, P (2000) Re-using qualitative research
  data a personal account, Forum Qualitative
  Social Research, 1, 3, Art. 27.
• Wengraf, T (2001) Qualitative Research
  Interviewing, London Sage