- Welcome
- Important notice
- About the author
- About this site
- Site guide + Search box
- Dedications
- Acknowledgments
- My personal pantheon (of the great and the good in survey research)
- Recent and planned activities
- Textbooks for Research Methods and Data Analysis
- 1: Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS)
- 1a: Statistical concepts and methods
- 1b: Teaching with Survey Data
- 1c: Developing research projects using survey data
- 1d: Workshop and presentations for ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe)
- 2: Survey Research Practice
- 2a: Survey Research Methodology, Practice and Training
- 2b: Major survey series
- 3: Subjective Social Indicators (Quality of Life)
- 4: Survey Unit, Social Science Research Council (UK)
- 5a: Polytechnic of North London (1976-1992)
- 5b: Survey Research Unit (1978-1992)
- Village life in Normandy
- Contact
- Origins of the British Crime Survey
- British Crime Survey
Dedications
[New page 28 Feb 2017: updated 2 November 2017]
This site is dedicated:
To my father, Conrad Edwin Hall (1908-1964, Probation Officer) who, throughout my school and university education, offered nothing but his full support and encouragement. He died suddenly on my 24th birthday (and my daughter's 2nd) before I even got my first research post and saw nothing of my subsequent career.
To Mark Abrams (1906-1994) Director of the SSRC Survey Unit (1970-1976) who took me on as Senior Research Fellow (the first full time appointee). I was never quite sure why, but I suspect it was because I was an "outsider" to some of the methodological agendas propounded by traditional social statistics interests or untainted by the anti-empiricism then fashionable in British Sociology. To Mark, I was a "proper" survey researcher who had conducted hundreds of personal interviews, managed several survey projects, captured the data and written computer programs to manage and analyse them. I had also submitted a final report within budget and on time, in the 1960s a rarity for SSRC- funded research. He introduced me to a whole new world of survey research and senior survey researchers world-wide and we worked closely together on the Quality of Life in Britain and other surveys. When the SSRC closed the Survey Unit in 1976 and I moved to the then Polytechnic of North London (to design and head up the Social Research and Planning option of a brand new undergraduate degree, B.A.Applied Social Studies) he became my first External Examiner. He supported me in establishing my new Survey Research Unit in 1978 and was a constant visitor and collaborator. After his son Philip died, Mark and I were more more like father and son than research colleagues: we enjoyed a long and fruitful collaboration until the late 1980s.
To Angus Campbell (1910 - 1980) Director of the Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) with whom I worked on survey measures of Quality of Life, and who, during his sabbatical at the SSRC Survey Unit, had lunch wit the research staff every day. He gave me much support and valuable advice ("Never employ anyone whose job you can't do yourself if you have to." " A research unit is no place for anyone with high personal ambition.") both then and on his annual visits to the Survey Research Unit.
To Roger Jowell (1942 - 2011) kindred spirit and comrade-in-arms, together developing and defending survey research.
To Bernard Blishen (1920-2017) Director, Inst of Social and Behavioural Research, York University, Ontario, who spent a sabbatical year at the SSRC Survey Unit writing up:
Porter, Porter and Blishen, Does Money Matter? (Macmillan 1979)
He had lunch with the research staff virtually every day and regaled us with stories of his experiences after emigrating from Britain to Canada aged 15. His stories of life in Canada are still thrilling: the isolation of the Rockies (a whole valley to himself) being sent out with a cart on a wild goose chase as a joke, but finding some fish by a remote lake which he took back: it belonged to the native Canadians! War service in the Navy entitled him to a university place, which is how he came to Sociology. He told us he could "smell" social class as soon as he got off the plane in London. During his commutes by rail, he revelled in walking along the railway platforms talking to workers on the track as the snooty commuters tilted their noses. In 1992, on a post-retirement vacation in Canada, my wife and I spent a lovely evening and meal with him in his log cabin in 1992 (apart from the mosquitoes!). Wonderful memories. (See also Obituary in Ottawa Citizen)
Last, but not least:
To all the students (both under- and post-graduate) who, from 1976 to 1992, took my hands-on classes in the capture, management and analysis of data from real general population surveys, many of whom went on to hold senior positions in social research, including at least seven who obtained full Professorial Chairs in UK universities. My self-teaching course Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS) owes so much to their enthusiasm and feedback.
To my father, Conrad Edwin Hall (1908-1964, Probation Officer) who, throughout my school and university education, offered nothing but his full support and encouragement. He died suddenly on my 24th birthday (and my daughter's 2nd) before I even got my first research post and saw nothing of my subsequent career.
To Mark Abrams (1906-1994) Director of the SSRC Survey Unit (1970-1976) who took me on as Senior Research Fellow (the first full time appointee). I was never quite sure why, but I suspect it was because I was an "outsider" to some of the methodological agendas propounded by traditional social statistics interests or untainted by the anti-empiricism then fashionable in British Sociology. To Mark, I was a "proper" survey researcher who had conducted hundreds of personal interviews, managed several survey projects, captured the data and written computer programs to manage and analyse them. I had also submitted a final report within budget and on time, in the 1960s a rarity for SSRC- funded research. He introduced me to a whole new world of survey research and senior survey researchers world-wide and we worked closely together on the Quality of Life in Britain and other surveys. When the SSRC closed the Survey Unit in 1976 and I moved to the then Polytechnic of North London (to design and head up the Social Research and Planning option of a brand new undergraduate degree, B.A.Applied Social Studies) he became my first External Examiner. He supported me in establishing my new Survey Research Unit in 1978 and was a constant visitor and collaborator. After his son Philip died, Mark and I were more more like father and son than research colleagues: we enjoyed a long and fruitful collaboration until the late 1980s.
To Angus Campbell (1910 - 1980) Director of the Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) with whom I worked on survey measures of Quality of Life, and who, during his sabbatical at the SSRC Survey Unit, had lunch wit the research staff every day. He gave me much support and valuable advice ("Never employ anyone whose job you can't do yourself if you have to." " A research unit is no place for anyone with high personal ambition.") both then and on his annual visits to the Survey Research Unit.
To Roger Jowell (1942 - 2011) kindred spirit and comrade-in-arms, together developing and defending survey research.
To Bernard Blishen (1920-2017) Director, Inst of Social and Behavioural Research, York University, Ontario, who spent a sabbatical year at the SSRC Survey Unit writing up:
Porter, Porter and Blishen, Does Money Matter? (Macmillan 1979)
He had lunch with the research staff virtually every day and regaled us with stories of his experiences after emigrating from Britain to Canada aged 15. His stories of life in Canada are still thrilling: the isolation of the Rockies (a whole valley to himself) being sent out with a cart on a wild goose chase as a joke, but finding some fish by a remote lake which he took back: it belonged to the native Canadians! War service in the Navy entitled him to a university place, which is how he came to Sociology. He told us he could "smell" social class as soon as he got off the plane in London. During his commutes by rail, he revelled in walking along the railway platforms talking to workers on the track as the snooty commuters tilted their noses. In 1992, on a post-retirement vacation in Canada, my wife and I spent a lovely evening and meal with him in his log cabin in 1992 (apart from the mosquitoes!). Wonderful memories. (See also Obituary in Ottawa Citizen)
Last, but not least:
To all the students (both under- and post-graduate) who, from 1976 to 1992, took my hands-on classes in the capture, management and analysis of data from real general population surveys, many of whom went on to hold senior positions in social research, including at least seven who obtained full Professorial Chairs in UK universities. My self-teaching course Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS) owes so much to their enthusiasm and feedback.