30th June-3rd July 2008 3rd ESRC Research Methods Festival, St. Catherines College, Oxford

Life Narratives as CasesLinking Qualitative and Quantitative Longitudinal Data in a Study of Social Change in 20th Century Ireland

Jane Gray and Aileen O’Carroll

Department of Sociology and NIRSA

National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Presentation topics

Overview of ‘Life Histories and Social Change Project’

Changing life courses in late modernity? Lives as cases Examples from the LHSC project Insights, problems, future agendas

The Life Histories and Social Change Project Objectives Develop a substantial database of qualitative life

history interviews incorporating some systematically collected data

Respondents selected from ‘Living in Ireland’ survey carried out as part of the European Community Household Panel (1994-2001)

Focus on three key cohorts of people born during the twentieth century

Co-directed with Professor Sean O’Riain Funded by Irish Research Council for Humanities

and Social Sciences

Changing life courses in late modernity Hypothesis of growing ‘de-standardization’ following

extended period of standardization Changing relationship between state and individual Mixed evidence from quantitative research

Continuing salience of class across the life course (Whelan and Layte 2002)

Significance of transition from childhood to adulthood (Whelan)

More de-standardization in family lives than in work lives (Bruckner and Mayer 2005)

Social change in 20th century Ireland and the LHSC Project cohorts Oldest cohort (born before 1935)

Economic hardship Rural economy with high levels of emigration Minimal state support

Middle cohort (born1945-1954) Born into rural economy Expanding state economic and social intervention Recession during respondents middle years (1980s)

Youngest cohort (born 1965-1974) Many reached adulthood during incipient years of ‘Celtic

Tiger’ Period of state deregulation and neo-liberal social policies

Lives as cases

Reconstruction of life narratives incorporating multiple longitudinal data sources Individual survey

responses Calendar sequences Network schedules Life story interviews

Benefits Validity and reliability Facilitate systematic

comparison Lives as wholes Location of lives in

historical times References

Laub and Sampson (1993)

Singer et al. (1998) Elliott (2005)

The Life History Calendar

Case selection strategies

Iterative selection of cases Initial consultation and

examination of cases from Living in Ireland Survey How easy to make ends

meet? Selection of cases for

reconstruction Two sample cases from

middle cohort Disappointed entrepreneur A Constrained Life Path

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Percent

Difficult to Difficult Difficult to Easy Easy to Difficult Easy to Easy

Perception of Household Ability to Make Ends Meet in Childhood and Present Day

Living in Ireland Sample Life Histories and Social Change Sample

The shape of lives

How much do you think you’ve been able to shape your own life? I suppose if you look at it and think

about you’d say very much so but after what life threw you just changed direction and shaped it that way

I don’t regret anything I’ve done, because I’ve done it for the right reasons but if my circumstances had been different, if my Daddy had lived to be 60, 70 and he had been there when Mammy was alive, I think that I would have loved, loved to be a midwife I would. There are two things that I would have loved to do with my life, I would like to be either a midwife or a long distance lorry-driver.

Insights, problems and future agendas Strengths and limitations of each data source

Multiplying or compensating for different varieties of error and omission?

Insights Class and perceptions/experiences of poverty Unanticipated turning points Shape of lives

Future questions and agendas