Young Lives
Project Summary
In ‘Young Lives’ we are investigating the nature and dynamics of young people’s lives and times across three domains:
- home/family life
- school/working life
- personal/social life.
We are exploring young people’s identities, their values and role models. Time is a key theme in the project, and we are investigating how young people construct life-plans and how they make sense of their past, present and future
View project leaflet, 253kb [opens in new window]
Research Methods
Our project uses an innovative blend of qualitative and quantitative methods in a longitudinal time frame. There are three dimensions to this:
- A qualitative longitudinal study, carried out with a creative range of tools involving diaries, interactive website, visual methods, and interviews
- A survey of young people’s expectations, aspirations and values as they link to both standard socio-economic indices and the young people’s reference groups (see below for a findings leaflet circulated to schools)
- Links to a national survey tracking 20,000 young people (the DfES Longitudinal Study of Young People in England).
Project Findings
Questionnaire survey: Leaflet for schools
Part of our research programme is a questionnaire survey of young people, aged 13-14, about their experiences, attitudes and expectations of the future. We have done the survey and are analysing the data collected. We have circulated a leaflet with summary findings to participating schools, and further analysis will be reported in academic journals and other outlets.
View the report on the schools survey [132Kb, opens in new window]
Children's activities, childhood and being a parent today
We surveyed parents of children who went to organised activities like sport, performing arts and chess club. We asked them what they thought about the activities their children took part in, what they thought their children got from them and their views on being a parent today. Click on the link below to see what parents said.
See more about this survey and read our leaflet about what we found out >
Research Team
Dr Bren Neale (Project Leader, under the auspices of her ESRC Fellowship ‘Time, Texture and Young Lives: Developing Qualitative Longitudinal Research’).
Dr Anna Bagnoli (Researcher); Dr Sarah Irwin, Dr Jon Prosser, Prof Jennifer Mason.
Project associates: Prof Inge Bates, Prof Phil Hodkinson, Dr Aisha Walker.
Enquiries
For further information about this project please contact Dr Bren Neale (b.neale@leeds.ac.uk)
