Life Histories

LIFE HISTORIES

Life histories, a method allied to the use of case studies, has been a method used as an adjunct to many other methods, as well as on its own. It has often been a part of ethnographers' methods. Life histories are particularly useful when one wishes to extend the historical perspective of a study by both finding out what has happened to them, and to get an analysis of the past from the point of view of informants.

References:

Becker, H. S. (1970). Sociological Work: Method and Substance. Chicago: Aldine.

Brown, G. W., & Harris, T. O. (1978). Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women. New York: Free Press.