Understanding 'Tomas Bata Social Entrepreneurship Program' with qualitative research methods

Abstract

The paper is based on the first author's bachelor thesis on 'Tomas Bata Social Entrepreneurship Program', in which oral history was used as the main research method. The authors aim to highlight the need for the theoretical development of oral history, as well as to point out to practical possibilities of its employment in research. The paper describes the uses of oral history in the analysis of interviews with the witnesses of time: graduates and former staff participating in 'Tomas Bata Social Entrepreneurship Program'. The aim of the research was to apply oral history to examine the participants' authentic experiences, views and memories of the given historical period. Neither modern, nor historical literature does provide us with such a complex view of the given period as the testimony of people who have experienced it.