Archival and Biographical Research Sensitivity: A European Perspective from Spain

Abstract

This FQS issue on archives and biographical methods is a special occasion to inform about a European initiative for the promotion and exchange of experiences of qualitative research in the social sciences. The whole project was designed as a a four-year (2006-2010) European Science Foundation program known by the acronym EUROQUAL. This article intends to provide some ideas and methodological reflections arising from the Madrid EUROQUAL-Workshop on Archives and Life-History Research (21-23 September 2009). The key point concerns what I suggest to name archival and biographical research "sensitivity." It has to do with the issues of research quality, research economy and the conception of social research as patrimony. Approaches in the European landscape also serve to highlight the contrasting situation in Spain. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs110327

Keywords

• archives
• biographical research
• archival research sensitivity
• qualitative methodology
• European overview
• Spain