Revisiting the Archives: A case study from the history of geriatric medicine

Abstract

Using two data sets in parallel, generated at different times by different researchers, the case is made for the re-use of archived qualitative data. Two sets of oral history interviews one, dating from 1990-1, with doctors and others who pioneered the development of the geriatric specialty in the early years of the National Health Service, the other, ESRC funded during 2007-9, with South Asian doctors who came to work in the UK and found work in geriatric medicine, are subjected to parallel investigation. The article argues that by considering the two sets of interviews together, each informs the other, leading to reconceptualisation and unexpected links between the data sets, new research questions and finally suggests additional dimensions to issues relating to the ethics of secondary analysis.

8. “Without racism there would be no geriatrics”: South Asian Overseas-Trained Doctors and the Development of Geriatric Medicine in the United Kingdom, 1950–2000

“…It is produced in a dialogue that encourages narration and reflection and thus provides evidence of subjective lived experiences. 28 Comparing two different data sets has produced its own richness, revealing hidden links in the experiences of both groups 29 and providing evidence on the ways in which opportunity may be fashioned and created under conditions of adversity and perversity. 30 The oral history interviews have been supplemented by archival research.…”

Geriatric medicine and the management of transitions into old age: the hospital bed as a site of spatial practice

“…The process of analysis was aided by searches of the National Archives, professional archives and datasets of workforce statistics. Drawing on the two parallel data sets we were able to identify commonalities as well as differences in the experiences of these doctors (Bornat et al . 2009).…”

The Value of Moral Theory for Addressing Ethical Questions When Reusing Qualitative Data

“…In the third case, Bornat and her colleagues re-examine oral history interviews conducted by Margot Jeffreys in the 1990s (Bornat 2003, Bornat et al 2012. Jeffreys studied the growth of the medical specialty of geriatrics through interviews with founders of the sub-discipline.…”

“…Finally, Bornat et al (2012) extend their research by creating a second collection of interviews with South Asian doctors who worked in geriatrics. They present this course of action primarily in methodological terms; it is a way of bringing the original interviews into conversation with a group who were not directly present in Jeffreys' original account.…”