Explaining Macro-Social Change with Archived Data: Reading against the Grain

Jane Gray

doi:10.18778/1733-8069.15.1.02

Autor

Jane Gray Maynooth University, Department of Sociology and Social Science Institute, County Kildare, Ireland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8131-9432

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8069.15.1.02

Słowa kluczowe:

social change, qualitative longitudinal data, secondary analysis, families, Ireland

Abstrakt

This article examines some of the opportunities and challenges associated with using archived qualitative data to explain macro-social change through a biographical lens. Using examples from a recent research project on family change in Ireland, I show how working across qualitative datasets provided opportunities for generating new explanations of social change by ‘reading against the grain’ of established social science narratives and tracing innovation in social practices. I also discuss some of the methodological challenges associated with working across datasets and how we addressed them in the study.

Pobrania

Brak dostępnych danych do wyświetlenia.

Biogram autora

Jane Gray - Maynooth University, Department of Sociology and Social Science Institute, County Kildare, Ireland

Jane Gray is Professor of Sociology and a research associate in the Social Sciences Institute at Maynooth University. Her scholarship centres on questions relating to families, households and social change. She led the development of the Irish Qualitative Data Archive and is a member of the management team for the Digital Repository of Ireland. Her co-authored textbook (with Ruth Geraghty and David Ralph), Family Rhythms: Changing Textures of Family Life in Ireland, was published by Manchester University Press.

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