Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Mass Observation Project (MOP) is a unique UK-based writing project which has been running since 1981. It exists to:Provide a structured programme within which 'ordinary' people can write directly about their lives in the knowledge that what they send in will be archived for posterity and used for social research; and create a resource of qualitative longitudinal social data with an emphasis on subjectivity and self representation which will contribute to our understanding of everyday life in the late 20th and early 21st century.The MOP differs from other similar social investigations because of its historical link to the original Mass Observation and because of its focus is on voluntary, self-motivated participation. It revives the early Mass Observation notion that everyone can participate in creating their own history or social science. The Mass Observers do not constitute a statistically representative sample of the population but can be seen as reporters or 'citizen journalists' who provide a window on their worlds. The material is solicited in response to 'directives' or open-ended questions sent to them by post or email three times a year. The directives contain two or three broad themes which cover both very personal issues and wider political and social issues and events. The data in the Observing the 1980s collection is a sub-set of the MOP covering the writings of 23 correspondents between 1981-1990 and is the first set of data from MOP to be digitised and made available online for researchers. The data comprise in-depth written accounts (both opinion and experience) of everyday life: stories, memoirs, lists, letters, diagrams, drawings, diaries, confessions, reports on people, places and events, across a wide variety of topics, some of them asked in directives, some of them self-generated by the correspondents. The selection was based around themes from an undergraduate...