New frontiers in qualitative longitudinal research: an agenda for research

Abstract

This paper outlines the state of the art in qualitative longitudinal methodology, reflecting on more than 10 years of development since a previous special issue on qualitative longitudinal research was published by the International Journal of Social Research Methodology in 2003. The papers presented in this special issue emerge from a methodological innovation network that brought together an international community of researchers in order to map new frontiers for the method. This paper summarises the development of the method from a design to a sensibility, identifying three new frontiers as part of a future research agenda including: the need for a processual imaginary; experimentation with temporal perspectives and orientations and explicating the temporal affordances of our methods.

Keywords:

• qualitative longitudinal research
• literature review
• time
• temporality
• methods

Acknowledgment

The editors acknowledge and thank the referees whose contribution was a crucial element of this special issue: Lisa Baraister (Department of Psychosocial studies, Birkbeck, University of London); Janet Boddy (Centre for Innovation and Research in Childhood and Youth, University of Sussex); Karen Henwood (School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University); Janet Holland (Weeks Centre, London South Bank University); Mary Jane Kehily (Department of Childhood, Youth and Sport, The Open University); Sue Middleton (Faculty of Education, University of Waikato); Niamh Moore (School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh); Bren Neale (Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds); Lucy Robinson (Department History, University of Sussex); Deborah Warr (Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne); Johanna Wyn (Youth Research Centre, University of Melbourne); Lyn Yates (Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne).

Notes

1. See for example McLure’s blog site ‘The museum of Qualitative Data’ [online http://museumofqualitativedata.info/].

Additional information

Funding

The methodological innovation network ‘New Frontiers in QLR: definition, design and display’ was funded by the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods between Sept 2012–2013 and was directed by Rachel Thomson in collaboration with co-applicants Janet Holland, Niamh Moore, Liz Stanley, Karen Henwood, Rebecca Taylor and Cathy Urwin. Events were hosted at the University of Southampton (hosted by Ros Edwards), Cardiff (Karen Henwood), Manchester (Niamh Moore), Birkbeck (Lisa Baraitser) and the University of Sussex (Rachel Thomson). The series resulted in two working papers, one outlining new directions in the field (Thomson et al., 2014) and one exploring early career researcher perspectives on QLR (Hadfield, McGeeney, & Shirani, 2014). An archive of the series can be found at http://www.sussex.ac.uk/esw/circy/research/completedresearch/newfrontiers.