Workshops as an Essential Practice in Doing Biographical Research

Kaja Kaźmierska; Joanna Wygnańska

doi:10.18778/1733-8069.15.2.09

Authors

Kaja Kaźmierska University of Lodz, Institute of Sociology, Department of Sociology of Culture, 41 Rewolucji 1905 year Street, 90-214 Lodz https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9044-7273
Joanna Wygnańska Uniwersytet Łódzki, Institute of Sociology, Department of Sociology of Culture, 41 Rewolucji 1905 year Street, 90-214 Lodz https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5995-3012

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8069.15.2.09

Keywords:

workshop, qualitative data analysis, biographical analysis, Grounded Theory

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to share our reflections on the meaning, goals, and course of analytical workshops, which are treated by the authors not only in terms of methodological procedures, but also as a process of grounded theory building, where the phase of collective work is pivotal. We present the idea of workshops worked out within interpretative sociology and qualitative analysis and developed in different fields, yet we mainly focus on biographical research analysis. The knowledge and practice transfer between scholars in this respect is also one of the frames of our reasoning. The paper consists of several sections: firstly, we present a short overview of workshop practices in the field of biographical research referring mainly to students’ workshops; in the second part, we describe advantages of workshop practices for researchers and their possible outcomes; the third section describes examples of research and analysis of the same empirical material done by researchers representing different methodological approaches; finally, we finish with concluding remarks.

Author Biographies

Kaja Kaźmierska, University of Lodz, Institute of Sociology, Department of Sociology of Culture, 41 Rewolucji 1905 year Street, 90-214 Lodz

Kaja Kaźmierska, is an Associated Professor, Head of the Department of Sociology of Culture, Director of the Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Economics and Sociology, University of Lodz, Poland. Her research interests include: biographical analysis, collective/national identity and memory, migration, borderland and European identity formation, and studies on Jewish identity. The author of six books, including one in English (Biography and Memory: The Generational Experience of the Shoah Survivors (2012 [Boston: Academic Studies Press]) and many scientific articles in Polish and English.
Joanna Wygnańska, Uniwersytet Łódzki, Institute of Sociology, Department of Sociology of Culture, 41 Rewolucji 1905 year Street, 90-214 Lodz

Joanna Wygnańska, M.A. in Sociology, is a research assistant in the Department of Sociology of Culture (University of Lodz) and in the Centre of Biographical Research and Oral History at the University of Lodz. Research interests: topic of national minorities, ethnicity, discourse analysis, sociology of culture, biographical research.

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