Wednesday 11 April 2012 at 16:30 - 18:00 METHODOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS


ROGER STEVENS 08


RESEARCHING TIME: DEVELOPMENTS AND INNOVATIONS IN QUALITATIVE LONGITUDINAL METHODS The ESRC funded Qualitative Longitudinal (QL) study, ‘Timescapes’, is conducting inquiries into how personal identities and family relationships unfold in and through time. Core to Timescapes, has been the investigation of how different QL methods may extend analytical ‘reach’ into the complexities of lived experience. innovation and development in QL methods has been paramount.


Timescapes is producing a Methods Guides


series covering a range of such innovations, and this proposed session draws together a selection of papers as exemplars of key methodological development in the use of QL. These guides will be available in hard copy. In considering the complex interplay between methodological and substantive development and research practice, these papers discuss the complexity and creativity of working qualitatively through time. Indeed, the name ‘Timescapes’ derives from Barbara Adam’s concept of multiple vantage points for looking in and across time that bring our lives and worlds into view. The papers in this presentation explore methodological implications of the extent to which the space-time horizons of those we research may be made accessible through the use of QL, and what theoretical insights are generated through such methodological engagement. Introduced by Professor Bren Neale,


the session will provide an overview of key methodological insights and


reflections developed through Timescapes. In particular, presentations will cover sampling; possibilities for impact through research; the use of specific ‘temporal’ techniques such as timelines and relational maps; secondary analysis; case methods; and reflections on working in, and on, time.


Neale, B., Henwood, K. Introduction to the Timescapes Methods Guides Series


This presentation will provide an overview of the key themes and insights emerging from the Timescapes methods guides series. The series ranges from methodological reflections in specific disciplinary contexts (oral history, third sector research, evaluation research, psycho-social research) through to practical guides on research design, sampling, fieldwork practice, sample maintenance, analysis, ethical considerations, archiving and secondary qualitative analysis. This introduction will highlight the complexities and creative possibilities for building time into qualitative research.


Holland, J., Henderson, S., McGrellis, S., Sharpe, S., Thomson, R. Developing and Using Case Histories in Qualitative Longitudinal Research


The writing up and representation of qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) is one of the least debated, but most important aspects of QLR methodology involving questions of ethics, generalisability, and scale. In this paper we consider some of the implications of ways of writing qualitative longitudinal data and describe our attempt to develop one particular approach to its analysis and representation, the individual case history.


These long


longitudinal case studies - case histories - draw on and condense all sources of data we have on an individual participant, their individual archive, into a meaningful narrative. Briefly recalling relevant elements of the use of case study and case history in social science, we go on to describe how we developed the method through the progress of a (now) 15 year study of young people’s transitions to adulthood, Inventing Adulthoods. Key methodological issues of sequence, voice and motif are considered in the context of this work, with a discussion of our process and examples from our analysis and representation of the young people participating in the study.


Irwin, S., Winterton, M. Qualitative Secondary Analysis: Concepts and Practice


Qualitative secondary analysis allows researchers to gather further evidence and insight from pre-existing qualitative data. Whilst not new, qualitative data re-use has garnered increasing interest alongside the growth of digital archives, and the linked ability to make qualitative data accessible to analysts not involved in the original research project. ESRC Timescapes has run a strand of secondary analysis activities, including a dedicated Secondary Analysis Project undertaken by the authors within the final two years of Timescapes funding. This project had differing remits including an exploration of the possibilities of undertaking secondary analysis within, and across, Timescapes projects, appraising the scope for extending the analytic reach of qualitative research beyond the boundaries of the original project designs and, additionally, exploring possibilities for making links with quantitative data sets. In this guide we draw on some of the lessons we have learned, seeking to distil some principles from our work in practice and, through use of brief examples, highlight some issues qualitative secondary analysts need to grapple with.


129 University of Leeds London South Bank University University of Leeds In doing so,


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