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Home Intelligence was a division of the
Ministry of Information (MOI) which was a government
social research
Social research is a research conducted by social scientists following a systematic plan. Social research methodologies can be classified as quantitative and qualitative.
* Quantitative designs approach social phenomena through quantifiable ...
organisation responsible for monitoring civilian morale in Britain during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Initial planning
The Ministry of Information understood that its success would rest on its ability to measure morale and had included plans for a ‘collecting division’ since July 1936. However these functions remained under-developed by pre-war planning and there were few means of gauging public opinion when the Second World War began.
Trial surveys with
Mass Observation
Mass-Observation is a United Kingdom social research project; originally the name of an organisation which ran from 1937 to the mid-1960s, and was revived in 1981 at the University of Sussex.
Mass-Observation originally aimed to record everyday ...
and the British Institute of Public Opinion were abandoned in September 1939 due to a fear of political criticism. The ‘collecting division’ was closed in October 1939 in effort to cut the number of people employed by the MOI.
The
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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Mary Adams was appointed director of a re-formed Home Intelligence division in November 1939. Her division started work in February 1940.
Methods
Home Intelligence aimed to provide the government with ‘A continuous flow of reliable information’ that would act as a ‘barometer of public opinion’. It used both
qualitative and
quantitative
Quantitative may refer to:
* Quantitative research, scientific investigation of quantitative properties
* Quantitative analysis (disambiguation)
* Quantitative verse, a metrical system in poetry
* Statistics, also known as quantitative analysis ...
research methods.
The division compiled daily reports on morale from 18 May to 27 September, and weekly summaries from 27 September until 29 December 1944. Each report was based on material submitted by Regional Intelligence Officers, Mass Observation reports, BBC listener surveys, questionnaires and secret sources such as postal censorship.
Home Intelligence also undertook more detailed reports on particular subjects and used the semi-autonomous Wartime Social Survey unit to undertake
sample survey
In statistics, quality assurance, and survey methodology, sampling is the selection of a subset (a statistical sample) of individuals from within a statistical population to estimate characteristics of the whole population. Statisticians attem ...
s. This part of the division’s work was expanded under the guidance of Dr
Stephen Taylor, Baron Taylor
Stephen James Lake Taylor, Baron Taylor (SJL Taylor) (30 December 1910 – 1 February 1988) was a British physician, civil servant, politician and educator.
Biography
Born in High Wycombe, Stephen was the son of John Taylor, a civil engineer, ...
(who replaced Mary Adams as director in April 1941).
Findings
The daily, and later weekly, reports produced by the Home Intelligence Division were circulated within the
Ministry of Information and other government departments. The circulation list from summer 1940 stood at around 100 copies. The director of Home Intelligence maintained that their work "provided a rapid and effective link between the people of the country and the machine of Government". Their work helped to promote an understanding of morale as something which was expressed by a mixture of attitudes and behaviour. The special reports conducted by Home Intelligence after 1941 were used by the Ministry of Information to plan and assess publicity campaigns. Over 60 reports were undertaken on campaigns including "
Careless Talk Costs Lives" and
Paper Salvage. Home Intelligence reports are now used as a
primary source
In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...
by historians researching the "
Home Front
Home front is an English language term with analogues in other languages. It is commonly used to describe the full participation of the British public in World War I who suffered Zeppelin#During World War I, Zeppelin raids and endured Rationin ...
".
Criticisms
Home Intelligence was the subject of recurrent political controversies. The best known example occurred in July 1940 when information about the previously secret Wartime Social Survey was obtained by the editor of the ''
Daily Herald''. The paper began a fierce campaign against the use of "gestapo techniques", and coined the epithet "Cooper's Snoopers" (after
Duff Cooper
Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, (22 February 1890 – 1 January 1954), known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician and diplomat who was also a military and political historian.
First elected to Parliament in 192 ...
, the Minister of Information).
Post-war
Home Intelligence was gradually wound down after 27 December 1944 and was officially abolished on 31 August 1945. However the Wartime Social Survey was maintained and its functions are now part of the
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for th ...
.
See also
*
Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Information (MOI), headed by the Minister of Information, was a United Kingdom government department created briefly at the end of the First World War and again during the Second World War. Located in Senate House at the Univer ...
- United Kingdom government department created during World War II
*
Mass Observation
Mass-Observation is a United Kingdom social research project; originally the name of an organisation which ran from 1937 to the mid-1960s, and was revived in 1981 at the University of Sussex.
Mass-Observation originally aimed to record everyday ...
- United Kingdom social research organisation founded in 1937.
External links
*http://www.moidigital.ac.uk/
References
{{Reflist
United Kingdom home front during World War II