FAQs for Interviewees
Why participate as an interviewee?
Your story, your life, and your experiences are part of the history of Ireland! Unfortunately, Irish history has traditionally focused on the lives of men… We are determined to make it richer and fuller by including women’s stories.
We believe in capturing the breadth of Irish women’s experiences, from saint to sinner, student to sage, home-maker to office worker. No matter your path in life, we’re interested in hearing from you. Your story will help us to gather a wide range of memories about Ireland and what women born at different times experienced growing up. Whether you are near or far from home, your story is part of the history of Ireland and we would love to record it.
What does being interviewed involve?
Taking part is entirely voluntary and you can withdraw from the project at any time. If you’re curious, one of our interviewers can go through the Information Sheet with you and answer any specific questions you may have about the whole process. If you’re happy, they can then schedule your interview at a time convenient for you. We can conduct your interview online, or in-person if geography allows! If you wish to be interviewed online, our interviewer will discuss the best set up for you.
On deciding to take part, you will be asked to sign a Participation Form which outlines how we handle and store your data and confirms we have permission to hold your oral history interview in our archive.
Our particular focus is women’s lives between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. So, the interview will likely begin with a question about what your life looked like when you were fifteen. Depending on where the conversation goes, you might then discuss your home life, school life, work life, hobbies, friendships, and relationships.
After the interview, your interviewer will talk you through our Recording Agreement. This gives you the opportunity to specify any conditions you wish to put in place before depositing your interview in the archive. For example, you may wish surnames or place names to be removed; to seal the interview for a period; or to anonymise your interview if you feel it is particularly sensitive.
Am I eligible to participate?
If you have a connection to Ireland and identify as a woman, YES! We welcome all races and cultures, the LGBTQ+ community, all faiths and those of no faith.
What happens after the interview?
The interviews are transcribed, according to our Style Guide for Transcribing. Please note that we may use an online automated process (AI) to produce the first draft of the transcript, but we will check with you to make sure that you are happy with that. If you do not want a draft to be produced using automation, we will manually transcribe your interview from the recording. All transcripts are carefully edited and checked by a human person. Once you are happy with the interview transcript text and the audio, you will sign a recording agreement and it will be stored digitally in the Birkbeck, University of London data repository. Best practice is to deposit your interview under your own name. However, we will make time to talk to you about any sensitivities in relation to parts of the interview; we can redact (silence in the audio and hide in the transcript) any parts of the interview that you/we feel are sensitive and if you prefer to deposit your interview under a different name /pseudonym, we can do that.
The data is also held securely by the project co-ordinator Dr. Ruth Beecher. Personal data is password-protected to prevent unauthorised access. Forms are scanned to a secure folder and paper copies destroyed.
Publications or reports produced by this project may use quotations from interviews depending on the conditions you set in your recording agreement. Your interview may be used by other researchers / public depending on the conditions you set in your recording agreement.
Who has reviewed the study?
The research proposal for this project has been ethically approved by the School of Social Science, History and Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London. We also follow the best practice guidance issued by the UK Oral History Society.
To participate…
For more information and to get in touch about participating, fill in the form below. We would love to hear from you!
