Methods of Life Course Research


Book Description

What are the most effective methods for doing life-course research? In this volume, the field's founders and leaders answer this question, giving readers tips on: the art and method of the appropriate research design; the collection of life-history data; and the search for meaningful patterns to be found in the results.




Biographical Life Course Research


Book Description

This open access book explores an approach that connects individual and societal processes throughout history and shifting trends in sociological perspectives, influenced by C. Wright Mills’ theories of time and temporality. It traces its origins from American pragmatist thought and Chicago qualitative sociology in the early 20th century to the revival of biographical research in European and American sociology during the 1970s. The book shows empirical studies from this vibrant research approach can bridge methodological gaps between qualitative and quantitative biographical studies, applicable to various topics like class, gender, ethnicity, and intergenerational dimensions.




Event History Analysis in Life Course Research


Book Description

A compendium of studies drawn from an international conference, this volume includes the newest and most substantive work on event history analysis. Researchers at four institutions convened, shared models of analysis, and collected their findings for the first time. The studies included represent work done in the following organizations: The Max Planck Institute in West Germany; The U.S. Social Science Research Council's Committee on Comparative Stratification; The Special Research Unit of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; and MASO, and informal German working group on mathematical sociology. This book is one of twelve in the University of Wisconsin Press's Life Course Studies series, arranged by the series editors David L. Featherman and David I. Kertzer.




Sociological Life Course Research


Book Description

This introductory book provides an insight into sociological life course research and informs about its theoretical assumptions, analytical concepts and main results. Sociological life course research - like biographical research - has developed into an independent and fruitful field of research since the end of the 1960s. It is true that half a century earlier, in their famous study of "The Polish Peasant in Europe and America" (1918-20), Thomas and Znaniecki had already used life records to examine the connection between social change, social structures, and the life histories of individuals. However, such a research perspective was supplanted by other methodological-conceptual approaches to empirical social research for over fifty years. It was not until the 1960s that sociological interest in life course and biographical theoretical issues reawakened. Today, life course research is considered one of the most important conceptual innovations in sociology in recent decades. The content The life course as a social construction - What is "life course research"? - The life course as an institution - Collective life courses: generations, cohorts and social change - Structures of the life course - Life course research - a conceptual perspective - Life course research, quo vadis? The author Prof. Dr. Matthias Wingens teaches sociology at the University of Bremen, Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS).




Transitions to parenthood in Europe


Book Description

This collaborative study provides a subtle and multi-layered understanding of the transition to parenthood within a cross-national comparative framework.




Methods of Life Course Research


Book Description

Giele and Elder introduce the life course approach, show how it developed and what it entails, consider how to collect and organise longitudinal data, and explore the analysis and interpretation of life course data.




Biographical Research


Book Description

Studying people’s lives requires acknowledging the multiple entanglements between individual singularity and processes of social patterning. This book testifies how challenging and creative the study of these connections can be. It gathers international contributions that show, in imaginative ways, how a person’s life or specific domains of existence can be observed, tackled, and analysed across time. This volume reveals the potential of biographical research in the production of social theory, in the development of methodological innovation, in giving voice and protagonism to people, and in the understanding of the social unfolding of their lives. It is a testimony of a vibrant and youthful field, with a long tradition in social sciences, and with numerous connections with other study areas, namely the life course approach. The different chapters illustrate how the challenges posed by this type of research focused on the individual level of analysis are particular and what creative responses are required to continue analysing the link between biography and society. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Contemporary Social Science.




Using Biographical Methods in Social Research


Book Description

Using Biographical Methods in Social Research provides an informative, comprehensive, accessible and practical guide to the nature and use of biographical methods, combining a consideration of theoretical issues with practical guidance. Barbara Merrill and Linden West consider important questions about what research is for, what makes it valid, to the practical business of interviewing, analyzing and writing up of biographical data. The authors draw on their sociological and psychological orientations to provide a truly interdisciplinary approach to the subject, and provide numerous examples of biographical research across the social sciences.




Handbook of the Life Course


Book Description

Building on the success of the 2003 Handbook of the Life Course, this second volume identifies future directions for life course research and policy. The introductory essay and the chapters that make up the five sections of this book, show consensus on strategic “next steps” in life course studies. These next steps are explored in detail in each section: Section I, on life course theory, provides fresh perspectives on well-established topics, including cohorts, life stages, and legal and regulatory contexts. It challenges life course scholars to move beyond common individualistic paradigms. Section II highlights changes in major institutional and organizational contexts of the life course. It draws on conceptual advances and recent empirical findings to identify promising avenues for research that illuminate the interplay between structure and agency. It examines trends in family, school, and workplace, as well as contexts that deserve heightened attention, including the military, the criminal justice system, and natural and man-made disaster. The remaining three sections consider advances and suggest strategic opportunities in the study of health and development throughout the life course. They explore methodological innovations, including qualitative and three-generational longitudinal research designs, causal analysis, growth curves, and the study of place. Finally, they show ways to build bridges between life course research and public policy.




Researching the Lifecourse


Book Description

The lifecourse perspective continues to be an important subject in the social sciences. Researching the Lifecourse offers a distinctive approach in that it truly covers the lifecourse (childhood, adulthood and older age), focusing on innovative methods and case study examples from a variety of European and North American contexts. This original approach connects theory and practice from across the social sciences by situating methodology and research design within relevant conceptual frameworks. This diverse collection features methods that are linked to questions of time, space and mobilities while providing practitioners with practical detail in each chapter.