Objective 2
Introduction
Combining qualitative and quantitative methods in the historical study of genomics
Our rationale in mixing qualitative and quantitative methods from history and the social sciences was to expand existing historical accounts of genomics both chronologically and analytically. We also aimed to articulate an approach to bringing these disparate methods together and reflect on the implications of these mixed methodologies for history of science and historical research more generally.
Content
The methods included the identification and inspection of various kinds of institutional and personal archives, as well as oral history interviews. In parallel to this, we systematically compiled a dataset concerning DNA sequence submissions and associated publications.
The dataset includes information on the institutions that submitted over 13 million yeast, human and pig DNA sequences to the European Nucleotide Archive and other open access databases between 1980 and 2015. From these, we derived the 28,328 publications that described these sequences for the first time in the scientific literature. Based on this dataset, we constructed networks that visualised co-authorship relationships between institutions publishing DNA sequences. These allowed us to identify particular clusters of collaborating institutions, and forms of work that were not featured in previous historical studies of genomics.
In combining our qualitative and quantitative evidence, we reflected on the relationship between historical research methods, visual analysis of networks and statistical inferences that can be drawn from the data. Our methodological and historiographical reflections were published in a special issue of the journal Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences. This complemented a more technical data note that described our collection and parsing strategies.