Sociological Lives and Auto/Biographical Writing

This article arises from some reflections on the role of the researcher in the
context of writing an account of my educational experience (Roberts, 1998)
and the realisation that I had written various accounts of my educational
(university) experience within a short space of time as part of academic
‘routine’. It was also in the context of my longer interest in the role of the
researcher in biographical work and the current (increasing) discussion of the
topic in the fields of oral history, biography and auto/biography. Of course,
such discussion originates in debates in the 1980s, for instance, in work on
popular memory and feminist research practice, but perhaps we can take the
issue a little further - in relation to the auto/biographical writing of the
researcher. The influence of the researcher on the collection, writing,
presentation of research, eg. on the lives of others, is commonly noted - it is
obvious - but what does it entail? How much should or could we reveal - in
achieving ‘reflexivity’ - about our lives and experience in the research process
and wider relationships?