Since 2000, we have been undertaking a restudy of Elias’s ‘Adjustment of Young Workers to Work Situations and Adult Roles’ project (1962–64). We experienced a number of ethical dilemmas/questions in undertaking the restudy and in this article, we outline these and discuss how we resolved them as the project developed. In doing so, we focus our discussion around three central questions: (i) how did we reuse this data and balance the conflict between having access to personal biographical information with the wish to trace and reinterview the original respondents?; (ii) how do we responsibly analyze data that was collected but never used whilst providing an authentic voice for these ‘past’ young workers?; and (iii) how do we accurately represent the demise of the research project and the contribution of the researchers originally involved? We conclude by considering the ethical imperative of the greater reuse of existing data on young people.
AllenLouisa (2008) ‘Young People’s “Agency” in Sexuality Research Using Visual Methods’, Journal of Youth Studies, 11(6): 565–77.
2.
AshtonDavidFieldDavid (1976) Young Workers: From School to Work. London: Hutchinson.
3.
AshtonDavidMaguireMalcolm (1983) ‘Young Adults in the Labour Market’, Department of Sociology, (University of Leicester. ESRC data archive deposit study number SN2664.
4.
BessantJudith (2009) ‘Aristotle Meets Youth Work: A Case for Virtue Ethics’, Journal of Youth Studies, 12(4): 423–38.
5.
British Sociological Association (BSA) (2004) ‘Statement of Ethical Practice’, (consulted June, 2011): http://S:\word\guidelines\Ethics guidelines 2002 updated May04.doc
6.
BrownRichard (1987) ‘Norbert Elias in Leicester: Some Recollections’, Theory Culture and Society, 4(2): 533–39.
7.
BrymanAlan (1989) ‘The Value of Re-studies in Sociology: The Case of Clergy and Ministers, 1971 to 1985’, Sociology, 23(31): 31–53.
8.
CortiLouiseFosterJanetThompsonPaul (1995) Archiving Qualitative Research: Social Research Update. Working Paper No. 10. Guildford, UK: University of Surrey.
EliasNorbert (1994) Reflections on a Life. London: Polity.
13.
FerriElsa (ed.) (1993) Life at 33: The Fifth Follow Up of the National Child Development Study. London: National Children’s Bureau.
14.
FlickUwe (2002) An Introduction to Qualitative Research2nd edition.London: Sage.
15.
GoodwinJohnO’ConnorHenrietta (2005a) ‘Exploring Complex Transitions: Looking Back at the “Golden Age” of Youth Transitions’, Sociology, 39(2): 201–20.
16.
GoodwinJohnO’ConnorHenrietta (2005b) ‘Engineer, Mechanic or Carpenter: Boys Transitions to Work in the 1960s’, Journal of Education and Work, 18(4): 451–71.
17.
GoodwinJohnO’ConnorHenrietta (2006) ‘Norbert Elias and the Lost Young Worker Project’, Journal of Youth Studies, 9(2): 159–73.
18.
GoodwinJohnO’ConnorHenrietta (2007) ‘Researching Forty Years of Learning for Work: The Experiences of One Cohort of Workers’, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 59(3): 349–67.
19.
GoodwinJohnO’ConnorHenrietta (2009a) ‘Whatever Happened to the Young Workers?’, Journal of Education and Work, 22(5): 417–31.
20.
GoodwinJohnO’ConnorHenrietta (2009b) ‘Through the Interviewer’s Lens: Representations of 1960s Households and Families in a Lost Sociological Study’, Sociological Research Online, 14(4), http://www.socresonline.org.uk/14/4/6.html (accessed in January 2013).
21.
HammersleyMartyn (1997) ‘Qualitative Data Archiving: Some Reflections on its Prospects and its Problems’, Sociology, 31(1): 131–42.
22.
HelgelandIngeborg (2005) ‘“Catch-22” of Research Ethics: Ethical Dilemmas in Follow-up Studies of Marginal Groups’, Qualitative Inquiry, 11(4): 549–69.
23.
HonkatukiaPäiviNyqvistLeoPösöTarja (2003) ‘Sensitive Issues in Vulnerable Conditions: Studying Violence in Youth Residential Care’, Young: Nordic Journal of Youth Research, 11(4): 323–39.
24.
JamesNalitaBusherHugh (2006) ‘Credibility, Authenticity and Voice: Dilemmas in Online Interviewing’, Qualitative Research, 6(3): 403–20.
25.
LaubJohn H.SampsonRobert (2003) Shared Beginnings, Divergent Lives: Delinquent Boys to Age 70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
McMichaelCeliaGiffordScottCorrea-VelezIgnacio (2011) ‘Negotiating Family, Navigating Resettlement: Family Connectedness amongst Resettled Youth with Refugee Backgrounds Living in Melbourne, Australia’, Journal of Youth Studies, 14(2): 179–95.
28.
MennellStephen (1992) Norbert Elias: An Introduction. London: Blackwell.
29.
NogicAmandaRileyAlexander (2007 ‘“So What is the Normal Amount of Bumps Allowed in a Pit?”: Some Empirical Notes on the (Re)construction of a Youth Music Subculture/Scene’, Journal of Youth Studies, 10(3): 317–29.
30.
O’ConnorHenriettaGoodwinJohn (2004) ‘“She Wants to be Like Her Mum”: Girls’ Experience of the School-to-Work Transitions in the 1960s’, Journal of Education and Work, 17(1): 95–118.
31.
O’ConnorHenriettaGoodwinJohn (2010) ‘Utilising Data from a Lost Sociological Project: Experiences, Insights, Promises’, Qualitative Research, 10(3): 283–98.
32.
RichardsonJaneGodfreyBarry (2003) ‘Towards Ethical Practice in the Use of Archived Transcripted Interviews’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 6(4): 347–55.
33.
RobertsBrian (2002) Biographical Research. Buckingham: Open University Press.
34.
SampsonRobertLaubJohn (1993) Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points through Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
35.
SampsonRobertLaubJohn (2003) ‘Life-Course Desisters? Trajectories of Crime among Delinquent Boys followed to Age 70’, Criminology, 41(3): 301–40.
36.
SilvermanDavid (2001) Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction2nd edition.London: Sage.
37.
ThomsonRachel (2007) ‘The Qualitative Longitudinal Case History: Practical, Methodological and Ethical Reflections’, Social Policy and Society, 6(4): 571–82.
38.
WilesRoseCharlesVikkiCrowGrahamHeathSue (2006) ‘Researching Researchers: Lessons for Research Ethics’, Qualitative Research, 6(3): 283–99.
39.
WilliamsonHoward (2004) The Milltown Boys Revisited. Oxford: Berg.
40.
Yeadon-LeeTracey (2009) ‘Doing Extra-ordinariness: Trans-men’s Accomplishment of “Authenticity” in the Research Interview’, Qualitative Research, 9(3): 243–61.
