Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The Mass Observation Project (MOP) is a unique UK-based writing project which has been running since 1981. It exists to:Provide a structured programme within which 'ordinary' people can write directly about their lives in the knowledge that what they send in will be archived for posterity and used for social research; and create a resource of qualitative longitudinal social data with an emphasis on subjectivity and self representation which will contribute to our understanding of everyday life in the late 20th and early 21st century.The MOP differs from other similar social investigations because of its historical link to the original Mass Observation and because of its focus is on voluntary, self-motivated participation. It revives the early Mass Observation notion that everyone can participate in creating their own history or social science. The Mass Observers do not constitute a statistically representative sample of the population but can be seen as reporters or 'citizen journalists' who provide a window on their worlds. The material is solicited in response to 'directives' or open-ended questions sent to them by post or email three times a year. The directives contain two or three broad themes which cover both very personal issues and wider political and social issues and events. The data in the Observing the 1980s collection is a sub-set of the MOP covering the writings of 23 correspondents between 1981-1990 and is the first set of data from MOP to be digitised and made available online for researchers. The data comprise in-depth written accounts (both opinion and experience) of everyday life: stories, memoirs, lists, letters, diagrams, drawings, diaries, confessions, reports on people, places and events, across a wide variety of topics, some of them asked in directives, some of them self-generated by the correspondents. The selection was based around themes from an undergraduate teaching module entitled 'Thatcher's Britain', and was used, in conjunction with oral history interviews from the British Library Sound Archive, to build an educational resource, Study Direct which can be accessed from the University of Sussex. Further information about the project can be found on the Observing the 1980s project blog page. The Mass Observation Archive is part of Special Collections at the University of Sussex Library and preserves the papers of the original Mass Observation and the MOP and makes them publicly available. The Mass Observation Archive is a Charitable Trust and is open to all bona fide researchers provided they agree to abide by the conditions protecting the collection. Selected parts of the Mass Observation Archive are now available through Adam Matthew Digital for public and university libraries to purchase. The only openly available digitised materials from the Mass Observation Project are those in this Observing the 1980s collection accessible via the project blog (link above) or via the University of Sussex catalogue. Digitised materials are also available via the UK Data Service Qualibank, an online tool for browsing, searching and citing the content of selected qualitative data collections held at the UK Data Service. A parallel collection of oral history interviews used in developing the Observing the 1980s open educational resource teaching module can be accessed at the British Library Sound Archive Observing the 1980s webpage. Downloading the data: Users should note that, due to size, the download files have been spread between two zip files, one covering 1981-1985 and the other covering 1986-1990. To obtain the complete study, both zip files should be downloaded.
Main Topics:
The titles of the Mass Observation directives provide some information about topics contained in the files but are not a complete indication of the subject matter discussed in the correspondents' replies. The directive titles include: Pocket Money; Falklands War; European Economic Community (EEC); Food; Housework; General Election 1983; Work; Christmas 1983; Well-being; USA; Banking; Relatives; Morality; Posters; Events; Christmas 1986; Car; Weather; General Election 1987; AIDS; Waste; Holidays; Past; TV; Clothing; Objects; Time; Britain; Drugs; Disasters; Food; Conduct; Retrospective; Social Divisions.
Volunteer sample
Convenience sample
Self-completion
See Abstract section above for more details.
