Who are the respondents? This question is not as straightforward as it might appear. At one level, one can identify them by name, place and date of birth, together with a skeletal outline of their lives's activities. That is the level of response offered in this chapter. But one might also interpret this question at a much deeper level: who are the respondents really? What makes them who they are? Not only what do they do, but why do they do it? Reflections on these questions are woven throughout this book, and most particularly in Chapters 6, 7 and 8.

Here we shall consider the question in its most simple form. Nevertheless, writing these sketches has not been a thoroughly easy task, for several reasons. Obviously in our long hours spent together, I have learned far more about the people in this study than I could ever include in a few paragraphs on each of them. Thus, the choice of which biographical facts to include and which to omit was a leap of interpretation. I was guided in my decisions by a consideration of which events respondents themselves seemed to accord the greatest importance during our conversations.