Host Researcher: Dr Monique Huysamen

The

Listening Project

is a partnership between the British Library, BBC Radio 4, and BBC local and national radio stations. The Listening Project invites people to share an intimate conversation about their life to be recorded and broadcast by the BBC and curated and archived by the British Library. Throughout the Covid 19 Pandemic, the Listening Project continued to collect people’s conversations. These Oral history recordings provide valuable first-hand testimony and are a living and growing archive of people’s experiences of everyday life during the Covid 19 pandemic in England. They provide valuable insight into how people narrate and make meaning of everyday life and experiences of risk, uncertainty, change, loss, isolation, resilience, and hope through the stories they tell. As the recordings span the entire pandemic, they provide a unique insight into how people’s narratives shifted and changed over time at different points throughout the pandemic.

In this internship, which will take place remotely, you will work closely with lead researcher, Dr Monique Huysamen. You will work with 10 verbatim transcriptions of these

Listening Project

conversations, conducting a qualitative analysis of them. Essentially, you will try your hand at qualitative data analysis using secondary data (data that already exists rather than data you have to collect first). You will identify common themes and points of interest within the conversations. This means you will develop skills in working with secondary data, archival data, and with qualitative data analysis.

You will engage in a short literature search, to identify other projects that have used secondary data in a similar way.

You will produce a blog-style article (or podcast or vlog if you prefer) to disseminate the key themes and findings of your analysis, developing valuable skills in dissemination for a general audience.

Person requirements: You must have an interest in qualitative research methods and want to learn more about how people use stories to make meaning of the world and to represent themselves.

Compulsory intensives: Key research skills

Commitment: The internship will take place remotely roughly between May and July and will entail approximately 10 days of work. This work can be done flexibly to suit the intern’s schedule.

Number of positions available: 2