Implications: Oral history interviews can add to historical inquiry by collecting memories of interactions, relationships, dynamics, and contexts that may be missing or incomplete in print data. These interviews, then, document individual memories of events pertinent to topics in nursing history and can collect data that would otherwise be lost. A basic assumption of oral history methodology is that research is not done 'to' a human subject, but is a collaborative process 'between' humans, the historian (interviewer) and the narrator (subject of the interview). Since oral history is, by definition, a mechanism for capturing personal stories within the research relationship of the researcher and subject, language is at the center of this research method. Therefore, the culture of both the interviewer and interviewee can affect how the story is told and how the story is understood and interpreted since, even among people of the same linguistic tradition, the meaning of words and stories varies culturally.

This paper will examine the steps of the interview process, challenges of accessibility to oral history subjects, dynamics of interviewer/interviewee relationship, how oral history data are analyzed, cultural perspectives of interviewing, and methods of cataloging oral history narratives for future access by scholars. Time, expense and equipment factors will be presented and ethical and legal considerations will be discussed, focusing on international standards for human subjects research and variations in cultural contexts.

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Sigma Theta Tau International
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