Lives and Labours in the Emergence of Organised Social Research, 1886-1907.

Charles Booth's seventeen volume Life and Labour of the People of London has been called the first social survey, it demonstrated the techniques of organised social research, and proved an impetus to the Social Survey Movement. In spite of its key position in the emergence of empirical sociology, little attention has been paid to the organisation of Booth's research team winch was to provide a template for the subsequent development of organised social research, nor to the identities of the twenty people who made up the research team, Remarkably for the time, one-quarter of the researchers were women, including the young Beatrice Webb and Clara Collet. This paper looks closely at the personalities and the organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]