Introduction

The early seeds for this book were sown in our joint recognition of the changes that have occurred in the research environment of UK universities which each of us, now at the end of our careers, have experienced over the years with a mixture of growing alarm, disbelief and anger. As dedicated researchers in our various fields of interest we felt increasingly dismayed that the things we valued most about the process of doing research seemed to have become devalued and that there were fewer and fewer opportunities for us to do the kinds of research we wished. One conversation led to another and eventually to this book. We have gathered together here, therefore, a group of authors – sociologists, anthropologists and historians – who, on the one hand, share our concerns and give them their own eloquent voice and, on the other, offer powerful illustrations of the valuable contribution that qualitative research can make to our understandings of the social world.