ARK is currently working on a new project to develop a Qualitative Archive based on Northern Ireland reflecting social and political changes and developments over the years.

There are currently two archives in development but we envisage more in the future:

Qualitative Archive on Ageism

ARK has developed a pilot archive of in-depth interviews with older people looking at attitudes to ageing and ageism. The valuable information contained within these qualitative interviews complements the facts and figures produced by our other projects including: Attitudes to Older People, Grandparenting, Pensions and Pensioners and Older People in Northern Ireland.

In this section you can view interview extracts from these interviews. Depending on the consent given by the interviewees, you can either listen to them, see them talking or read what they had to say. The extracts are ordered by subject areas, such as employment, family, health, housing, fear of crime, finance matters and entertainment. Click to view this section.

Qualitative Archive on Conflict

The conflict in Northern Ireland over the last 35 years has generated a vast body of qualitative material such as interviews, video and audio recordings, photographs etc. that can be utilised to address the issues of violence and reconciliation. Effective use of the bulk of this material, however, has been thwarted by its wide dispersion, much of it located outside Northern Ireland, and the lack of any central index or cataloguing system. The situation has been that some people may know quite a bit about some of the material but no one has a comprehensive overview of it all. This projecl centres on the collation of information about qualitative material covering the 35 year span of 'the Troubles' in NI (content, availability, recording format etc.) into a single catalogue;

****** You can search the database by clicking here ******

Suggestions, comments and/or ideas about the site in general or this section are welcomed.
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