Conducting Qualitative Longitudinal Research: Fieldwork Experiences

This collection draws on the fieldwork experiences of some of the researchers involved in the ESRC 'Timescapes: Changing Relationships and Identities throughthe Life Course‘ programme. Timescapes, the first major Qualitative Longitudinal (QLL) study to be funded in the UK, aims to build a picture of life in 21st century Britain by gathering, archiving and analysing interviews from over 400 people living in a variety of circumstances across the UK.

Temporal understanding is central to the programme. In essence, Timescapes is concerned with the intersection between different dimensions of time and the ways in which temporality shapes and is shaped by the changing relationships and identities of different individuals and collectives. We are exploring how individuals perceive past, present and future, and the relationship between their biographies and wider historical processes. Our work is framed by Barbara Adam‘s (1998) notion of 'timescapes‘. Like a landscape, cityscape or seascape a timescape is a panorama or view of the world in which time is placed as central.