Identifying dissonant and complementary data on women through the triangulation of historical sources

Abstract

Abstract If triangulation and its worth have long been contested amongst social scientists, historians have not discussed it. In this paper, a historical demographer practises data triangulation by combining qualitative and quantitative sources. The aim is to explore how these sources identify nineteenth‐century women's occupations and thus challenge the gender bias found in population registers as they report incomplete information on women's work. This bias is acknowledged by feminist historians and also evident in quantitative records in developing countries. To explain the outcome of dissonant data that this historical study shows and shares with modern triangulation approaches, women's ability to represent their occupational identities in the different sources is discussed. Some of the epistemological implications that arise from the triangulation of data that subsists under separate paradigms are also reflected upon. Although triangulation is far from infallible, it is argued that it helps to gain, view and question knowledge. Keywords: multi‐methods researchpopulation registersqualitative dataquantative datatriangulationwomen's work Acknowledgements An earlier version of this paper was presented at the International Conference on Feminist Methods, held in Stockholm, Sweden, 4–6 February 2009. The session was organised by, and followed by discussions led by, Professor Christina Hughes and Dr. Rachel Cohen. I am most grateful for their comments and those from the anonymous feedback. I would also like to thank Nick Ye Myint for editing my English and my colleagues at the Centre for Population Studies, Umeå University, Sweden, for providing me with constructive criticism. Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (Forskningsrådet för Arbetsliv och Socialvetenskap) for financing the project ‘Gendered occupations and opportunities: Aspects of women's work, family life and independence in nineteenth‐century urban Sweden’.