Oral History and Biographical Method. Common Framework and Distinctions Resulting from Different Research Perspectives

Abstract

Reflections undertaken in this article are a direct result of the research into the fate of Children Born of War (CBOW) in Poland and relate to the methodological, epistemological and ethical tension experienced while working with the interview partners and analyzing their biographical accounts. The encountered difficulties became a root cause of the critical reflection and an impulse to an attempt to systematize the knowledge about the mutual relations of two research traditions: oral history and biographical method which have coexisted over the past few decades, interfering and penetrating each other to such an extent that many researchers began to equate them or consider one of them as a part of the other and vice versa. The chaos of terms and concepts was of great importance in this process. The text also presents similarities and differences of the two approaches both in an epistemological and ethical sense. The attitude towards the narrator, which is mainly the result of different scientific goals that researchers aim at in both research fields was recognized as the fundamental difference. However, underscoring the differences has no purpose of setting boundaries, but it is a postulate to be more careful and bear theoretical and methodological self-awareness of researchers, it is also meant to foster mutual learning and inspiration, which can positively affect the quality of research and analysis.

Keywords

• oral history
• biographical method
• life story
• autobiographical narrative interview
• interdisciplinarity
• ethical dilemmas