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Research in the Rhondda (d. Harley Jones, 1969) is a rare filmed record of
pioneering work in epidemiology, a medical science dedicated to surveying the
occurrence of a disease in a population, its distribution or spread, and its
control.
Members of the research unit based in Ferndale, in the Rhondda, are seen
x-raying people from the Rhondda Fach Valley community and taking case
histories. At the heart of this research was a Scotsman, Archibald Leman
Cochrane (1909-1988). He played a significant part in the development of medical
research, setting worldwide standards, and had a lifelong interest in dust
disease, a graphic example of which can be seen in the Karl Francis' docu-drama
Above Us The Earth (1977).
Before any research could take place, volunteers were needed. Field Survey
Workers visited people at home in the valley to encourage them to take part in
the surveys. One FSW says he never uses the words 'survey' or 'research': the
word 'survey' having been "abused by people flogging detergents" and the word
'research' leading people to see themselves unhappily as "guinea pigs".
Aspects of such research were undoubtedly patronising. Archive footage of the
first surveys - undertaken in the 1950s and included in this film - shows a man
with a megaphone, calling on people to be x-rayed and suggesting, from his
commanding position, that conditions will improve, if everyone co-operates.
Archive shots also show, however, Cochrane and others talking to a group of
miners, suggesting that the research aims were discussed with the volunteers.
Certainly a very high percentage of people in the Rhondda Fach took part in the
surveys, although there is a suggestion in Cochrane's obituary that a lift to
the clinic in his smart jaguar was a powerful persuasion for many.
It is evident that Cochrane's research benefits the community, a community
initially to be exploited as raw material but which, it is understood, will be
the beneficiary of any findings.
Elements of scientific research are as subject to human error and emotion as
any other research. Cochrane himself was concerned at how accurately x-rays were
interpreted. In the Rhondda, various steps were taken to try and minimise the
effects of human fallibility: x-rays from the various survey years were mixed up
together to avoid bias, several people would read the same x-ray, and readers
would be shown the same x-ray twice, without warning.
Mary Moylett
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Complete film (15:59)
