Σύγκριση μεθόδων

	Μέθοδος Ιστορίας από Προφορικές Μαρτυρίες	Βιογραφική Έρευνα
Πεδίο	Μέθοδοι Πεδίου	Ποιοτικές Μέθοδοι
Οικογένεια	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Έτος προέλευσης	1948 (systematic practice); broader theorisation 1970s–1990s	Late 19th–early 20th century (Dilthey ~1883; Thomas & Znaniecki 1918–1920)
Δημιουργός	Columbia University Oral History Research Office (Allan Nevins); later theorised by Alessandro Portelli and Donald Ritchie	Wilhelm Dilthey (hermeneutic foundations); Thomas & Znaniecki (sociological application); Norman Denzin (interpretive biography)
Τύπος	Qualitative historical-empirical method	Qualitative research method
Θεμελιώδης πηγή	Ritchie, D. A. (2015). Doing Oral History (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978-0199329960	Denzin, N. K. (1989). Interpretive Biography. Sage Publications.
Εναλλακτικές ονομασίες	oral history research, life history interviewing, oral testimony research, OHM	life history research, biographical method, life story research, biographical narrative inquiry
Συναφείς	6	6
Σύνοψη	The oral history method is a qualitative research approach in which researchers conduct in-depth, recorded interviews with individuals who have direct personal experience of a historical event, social process, or community life. It captures subjective perspectives, memory, and lived experience that written records rarely preserve, making it indispensable for recovering voices absent from official archives — particularly those of marginalised communities, minority groups, and ordinary people.	Biographical research is a qualitative method that examines individual lives in depth — through life-history interviews, personal documents, letters, and autobiographical narratives — to understand how personal experience intersects with social, historical, and cultural forces. Rooted in Wilhelm Dilthey's hermeneutics and made prominent in sociology by Thomas and Znaniecki's study of Polish immigrants, it treats the individual life story as a window onto broader social structures and processes. It belongs to the narrative inquiry subfamily alongside oral history and life-story research.