INTERSECTIONS, PARALLELS AND DIVERGENCES: (IN)VISIBLE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ORAL HISTORY AND ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELD SURVEYS?
Abstract
The author compares the standard processes of ethnographic field survey and oral-historical data collection. The introduction defines both methods of survey (ethnography, oral history) and their related disciplines (ethnology, modern history), considering the influence (both positive and negative) of interdisciplinary trends on the present state of the social sciences.
The author then compares a number of methodological techniques commonly used in field surveys, with emphasis on field entry, selection of survey samples, technical parameters, forms of documentation and interaction between participants, while paying particular attention to the specifics of oral history research (significance of life story for analyses and interpretation, ethical level in the relationship between researcher and narrator). The author argues that despite a number of parallels and intersections between the survey methodologies, we can also find some divergences proving that the combination of both methodological approaches might be beneficial for researchers, regardless of their primary focus.