Contexts and recontextualisation Libby Bishop ESDS Qualidata, University of Essex Context Workshop - QUADS Southbank University, London 3 May 2006
Jan 02, 2016
Contexts and recontextualisation
Libby BishopESDS Qualidata, University of Essex
Context Workshop - QUADSSouthbank University, London
3 May 2006
Context for “secondary” data
• The objective is not to recreate original context (which is not possible), but rather…
• …to recontextualise data
‘Secondary’ analysis
“Thus secondary analysis is not the analysis of pre-existing data; rather ‘secondary analysis’ involves the process of re-contextualising data… [T]hrough recontextualisation, the order of the data has been transformed, thus secondary analysis is perhaps more usefully rendered as primary analysis of a different order of data.” (Moore, 2005)
Levels of contexts
Holstein and Gubrium (in Seale, 04)
van den Berg (FQS, 05)
Institutional, cultural
Extra-discursive
Situational Conditions of discursive production
Conversational, interact ional
Intra-discursive
Contexts and reusing dataOriginal project
Current project
“Data” records
transcripts, audio, etc.
transcripts, often no more
Interview setting
room, dress, appearance
often not documented
Project original questions, messy analysis
new questions, ‘official methodology’
Cultural,institutional
relevance depends on the res. Q
relevance depends on the res. Q
So, how much context?
• It always depends…on research goals, questions, data, but
• We have to start somewhere– Conversational context (interview)
– Situational context– Institutional context
• Project context• Cultural context
Metadata for model transcript output
Study Name <titlStmt><titl>Mothers and Daughters</titl></titlStmt>
Depositor <distStmt><depositr>Mildred Blaxter</depositr></distStmt>
Interview number <intNum>4943int01</intNum>Date of interview <intDate>3 May 1979</intDate>Interview ID <persName>g24</persName>Date of birth <birth>1930</birth>Gender <gender>Female</gender>Occupation <occupation>pharmacy assistant</occupation>Geo region <geoRegion>Scotland</geoRegion>Marital status <marStat>Married</marStat>
Situational context
• “Knowable or visible” background characteristics-all participants
• Place, time, setting• Selection and recruitment
(project knowledge, gatekeepers) vdBerg, 2005(n.b. TEI supports these categories)
Cultural context
• Project– Objectives– Any published methodology– Unpublished analyses– Funding source(s)
• Cultural/institutional
Cultural context is most difficult
• Defining men “interrupting” women is linked to context of social structures of gender inequality
• In one study, contexts shaped not the themes found, but their framing (Armstrong, 97)
• Health and food example
Transparency in original project is best foundation for recontextualisation
Selected references
• Hammersley, 1997• Moore, 2006• Van den Berg, 2005• Holstein and Gubrium, 2004• Armstrong, et al., 1997