Real Life Methods ran from October 2005 to January 2009. This website is archived and no longer maintained. For up to date information, please see www.manchester.ac.uk/realities
Vital Signs: Paper Session 6c
Thursday 11 September, 11.30-1pm, Cordingley Theatre
6c. Symposium: Identity and insight: Qualitative longitudinal methods as a route into the psycho-social
‘Identities in process: Methodological reflections on a study of first-time motherhood’ – Professor Wendy Hollway and Heather Elliott (Open University)
Download presentation slides [new window]
‘Creating family case histories: Subjects, selves and family dynamics – Professor Rachel Thomson, Dr Mary Jane Kehily, Lucy Hadfield and Sue Sharpe (Open University)
‘Researching masculine and paternal subjects in times of change: Reflections from a QLL and psychosocial study’ – Dr Karen Henwood (Cardiff University), Dr Mark Finn and Fiona Shirani
There is a growing interest within the research community in methods that capture temporal processes and the making of meaning. The term qualitative longitudinal methods refers explicitly to prospective research designs involving repeat research encounters over time (Elliot et al. 2007). Such methods have characteristics which can enable insight into psycho-social processes including the accumulation of often contradictory accounts of self and the presence of researcher subjectivity and intrapersonal dynamics within the data (McLeod and Yates 2006). The psychological depth promised by these intensive methods raises a ethical and practical issues concerning the invasion of privacy, confidentiality (for researcher and researched) and the representation of revealing case study data (Thomson, 2007).
The roundtable will explore the value of QL methods as a tool for capturing the interplay of psychodynamic, social and historical dimensions of processual phenomona. The papers will address how hindsight, foresight and insight interact in the research process (Thomson and Holland 2003) and the ways in which researcher subjectivity becomes a central source of data and knowledge (Lucey et al. 2003). It brings together three examples of current research into the formation and remaking of parenting identities, each of which employs a QL research design. Approaches to the generation of data include infant observation, repeat interviews, psychoanalytically informed field notes, photo-elicitation and the use of intergenerational case studies. Methods of analysis include collaborative working and the use of groups in order to explore hidden meanings, researcher investments and alternative interpretations. The studies are associated with the ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and/ or Timescapes - a major ESRC funded programme of Longitudinal Qualitative Research.
Elliott, J. et al. (2007) 'Qualitative and quantitative longitudinal research' in Bickman, L., Brannen, J. and Alasuutari, P. Handbook of Social Research Methods, London/Thousand Oaks: Sage,pp228-248.
Lucey, J., et al.. (2003) 'Project 4:12 transitions to womanhood: developing a psychosocial persepctive in one longitudinal study' IJSRM, 6 (3): 279-284.
McLeod, J. and Yates, J. (2006) Making modern lives: subjectivity, schooling and social change, NY: Suny.
Thomson, R. and Holland J. (2003) ‘Hindsight, foresight and insight: the challenges of longitudinal qualitative research’ IJSRM (3), pp233-244.
Thomson, R. (2007) ‘The qualitative longitudinal case history: practical, methodological and ethical reflections’ Social Policy and Society, 6(4): 571-582.
