Thinking through cases: articulating variable and narrative logics on a longitudinal analysis of drug use and school drop out

ABSTRACT

Mixed methods longitudinal studies continue to be rare, yet have potential for transcending the limits of qualitative and quantitative paradigms. This article compares the life stories of 47 young people generated from a cohort study of 6000 children born in 1995. The cases were sampled through an association between two variables – drug use and leaving school early – generating a four-field table. Comparing the cases within and across each table cells, we question the ‘black box’ logic that underpins the assumption that cannabis smoking is consequential for educational success. Moving into a qualitative paradigm we reconceptualise the cases as butterflies captured in a net and work deductively to understand the species captured. Culminating with an analysis of a single case over time, we argue that narrative approaches are the starting point for understanding subsequent social action, providing a basis for larger scale quantitative modeling.

KEYWORDS:

• Mixed methods
• longitudinal studies
• narratives
• drug use
• school drop-out

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Research is still inconclusive. Some studies argue that drug use leads to school drop out (Bachman et al., 2008; Ehrenreich, Nahapetyan, Orpinas, & Song, 2015; McCaffrey et al., 2010; Patrick, Schulenberg, & O’Malley, 2016; see also Townsend, Flisher, & King, 2007 for a systematic review). Others argue that school drop out leads to increased drug use (Hill & Mrug, 2015; Mensch & Kandel, 1988; Reingle Gonzales et al., 2016).

2. At age 15 most young people in Denmark are enrolled in compulsory education (e.g. 9th grade). In the survey 72 % were in the 9th grade at age 15.

Additional information

Funding

This project is funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark, ID number DFF – 7015-00085 and VIVE.

Notes on contributors

Jeanette Østergaard

Jeanette Østergaard is Senior Researcher at the Department of Social Policy, The Danish Center for Social Science Research (VIVE). She is interested in mixed method research, in particular longitudinal studies about young people’s everyday life, marginality and risk behaviour. Her most recent article (with Boddy and Bakketeig) is ‘Navigating precarious times? published in the Journal of Youth Studies. She has also published in Youth and Society, Acta Sociologica, Addiction Research and Theory, Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, European Addiction Research and Drug and Alcohol Review.

Rachel Thomson

Rachel Thomson is Professor of Childhood and Youth Studies at the University of Sussex, School of Education and Social Work. She is interested in methods of researching social change. Her most recent book (with Berriman and Bragg) is Researching Everyday Childhood: Time, Technology and Documentation (Bloomsbury).