ORAL-HISTORY AND TEACHING QUALITATIVE METHODS

Using oral history, students are able both to experience some of the issues in qualitative research as well as to carry out a piece of practical work. The three main sections of the paper deal with teaching reading-showing how students may come to appreciate how texts are constructed and may be introduced to the necessary use of theory in interpretation so as to confront the problem of naive empiricism; teaching listening-encouraging an interactive and empathetic mode of interviewing; and teaching writing-demonstrating models of reporting and interpretation. The conclusion outlines some of the problems encountered in teaching this material and some of the modifications to the leaching strategy designed to confront these difficulties.