Professor Jennifer Mason
Co-Director, Morgan Centre
Email: jennifer.mason@manchester.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0) 161 275 2494
Jennifer is co-director of the Morgan Centre (with Professors Sue Heath and Carol Smart). She joined the University of Manchester in September 2005, having previously been a Reader in Sociology at the University of Leeds, and before that a Lecturer in Applied Social Science at Lancaster University. She has directed two 'nodes' of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods: Real Life Methods (2005-2008) and Realities (2008-2011).
Research interests
Jennifer's research involves asking questions about 'relatedness', affinities, and connectedness in everyday personal lives. She has an enduring interest in kinship in particular, as well as other forms of relationship and association. Her recent research has also begun to explore connections between human and non-human worlds. As an indication of the range of her interests, recent projects (all conducted collaboratively with colleagues in the Morgan Centre/Realities ESRC Node) have included a study of family resemblances; a study of 'critical associations' (including positive and more 'toxic' forms of friendship and association); and a study of the way children create kinship with others.
Throughout Jennifer's research career, she has also cultivated a very strong interest in the methodologies that social scientists can use to explore these kinds of questions and generally to generate meaningful knowledge of lived realities. This has broadened into an interest in methodology and epistemology more generally. She is particularly interested in qualitative, creative and mixed methods approaches, and in the challenge for social scientists of creating vibrant and resonant knowledge that lives up to the richness and vitality of real life experience, yet which is also robust and rigorous.
Research Projects
- Critical Associations
- Intergenerational Dynamics
- Living Resemblances
- Family Backgrounds and Everyday Lives
- Children Creating Kinship
Books
Understanding Social Research: Thinking Creatively about Method, Mason, J. and Dale, A. (eds) (2011) London: Sage Buy on Amazon [new window]
Qualitative Researching, Mason, J (2002) London:Sage, pp223. Buy on Amazon [new window]
Passing On: Kinship and Inheritance in England, Finch, J and Mason, J, (2000) London: Routledge, 196pp. Buy on Amazon [new window]
Wills, Inheritance and Families, Finch, J, Mason, J, Hayes, L, Wallis, L, and Masson, J (1996) Oxford University Press, 191pp. Buy on Amazon [new window]
Negotiating Family Responsibilities, Finch, J and Mason, J (1993) London: Routledge, 228pp. Buy on Amazon [new window]
Recent Articles
Muir, S. and Mason, J. 'Capturing Christmas: the sensory potential of data from participant produced video' Sociological Research Online 17, no 1 (2012): 15. View Online [new window]
Mason, J. and Davies, K. 'Coming to our senses? A Critical Approach to Sensory Methodology' Qualitative Research, 2009
Smart, C., Davies, K., Heaphy, B. and Mason, J. "Difficult friendships and ontological insecurity". The Sociological Review 60, no.1 (2012): 1-19
"Facet Methodology: The Case for an Inventive Research Orientation." Methodological Innovations Online http://www.pbs.plym.ac.uk/mi/ 6, no.3 (2011) : 75-92. eScholarID: 142400 / View Online [new window]
Mason, J. and Burke, H. "Grandparents and the family" Sociology Review 19, no.3 (2010) : 2-5
Mason, J. and Davies, K. "Coming to our senses? A critical approach to sensory methodology" Qualitative Research 9, no. 5 (2009) : 587-603
Mason, J. and Tipper, R. " Being Related: how children define and create kinship" Childhood-Copenhagan then London-Munksguaard then Sage - 15, no. 4 (2008) : 441-460 View Online [new window]
Mason, J. "Tangible Affinities and the Real Life Fascination of Kinship" Sociology 42 (1) (2008) View Online [new window]
Mason, J., May, V. and Clarke, L. "Ambivalence and the paradoxes of grandparenting" The Sociological Review 55, no.4 (2007) : 687-706
Mason, J. "Re-Using Qualitative Data: on the merits of an investigative epistemology" Sociological Research Online Vol 12, Issue 3 (2007)
Mason, J. "Mixing Methods in a Qualitatively Driven Way" Qualitative Research 6 (1) (2006) : 9-25 View Online [new window]
Mason, J. "Managing Kinship Over Long Distances: the Significance of 'The Visit'" Social Policy and Society 3 (4) (2004) : 421-429 View Online [new window]
Mason, J. "Personal Narratives, Relational Selves: Residential Histories in the Living and Telling" Sociological Review 52 (2) (2004) : 162-179 View Online [new window]
Chapters in books
May, V., Mason, J., Clarke, L. 'Being there yet not interfering: the paradoxes of grandparenting' in S. Arbor and V.Timonen (eds.) Contemporary Grandparenting, Policy Press (2012)
Mason, J. and Tipper, B. 'Children as Family Members' in Ben-Arieh, J. Cashmore, G. Goodman, J. Kampmann, G. B. Melton (eds) Handbook of Child Research Sage (forthcoming)
Mason, J. and Dale, A. "Creative Tensions in Social Research" In Understanding Social Research, Mason, J. and Dale, A. (Eds). 1-26. London: Sage, 2011
Mason, J. and Davies, K. "Experimenting with Qualitative Methods" In Understanding Social Research, Mason, J. and Dale, A. (Eds). 33-48. London: Sage, 2011
Mason, J. 'What it means to be Related' (2011) in May, V. (ed) 'The Sociology of Personal Life' Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978-0-230-27897-4
Mason, J. and Tipper, B. (2008) 'Children and the Making of Kinship Configurations' in E. Widmer and R. Jallinoja (eds) Beyond the Nuclear Family: Families in a Configurational Perspective Vol 9, Population, Family and Society series, overall editor M. Oris, Peter Lang Publishing Group
Mason, J. 'Mixing methods in a qualitatively-driven way', reproduced in A Bryman (ed) Qualitative Research 2, (2007) London: Sage.
Mason, J. 'Qualitative Interviewing: asking, listening and interpreting' in T May (ed) Qualitative Research in Action, (2002) pp 225-241 London: Sage.
Online Resources/Working Papers
Mason, J. "How many qualitative interviews is enough? Expert contribution" In How many qualitative interviews is enough? ed Sarah E. Barker and Rosalind Edwards View Online [new window] eScholarID: 159559
Mason, J. and Muir, S. Conjuring up Traditions: atmospheres, eras and family Christmases (2011) Realities at the Morgan Centre Working Paper #18
Mason, J. Knowing the In/tangible (2011) Realities at the Morgan Centre Working Paper #17
Mason, J. Creative Interviewing (videocast) 2010
Mason, J. What is creative interviewing? (audio recording) 2010
Mason, J. "Six strategies for mixing methods and linking data in social science research." National Centre for Research Methods Working Paper View Online [new window]
Supervision areas
Jennifer is available to supervise students in the following areas: personal life; relatedness; relationships; affinities and associations; the 'everyday'; family; kinship; gender; childhood; ageing; life course; qualitative, creative and mixed methodologies/epistemologies. Where appropriate, Jennifer is happy to co-supervise students who have a particular interest in methodology and who wish to use qualitative and mixed methods approaches in substantive contexts outside of her own research fields.
My current PhD students are:
- Becky Tipper (ESRC) 'Creaturely Encounters: an ethnographic study of human-animal relations in a British suburban neighbourhood'. Co-supervisor with Carol Smart.
- Julia Hiscock (jointly with Centre for Primary Care) 'Health Interactions in Social Networks'. Co-supervisor with Anne Rogers)
Courses taught