Intensity and Insight: Qualitative Longitudinal Methods as a Route to the Psycho-social

This working paper brings together papers presented at a symposium entitled Intensity and insight: qualitative longitudinal methods as a route into the psycho-social that was held as part of the conference Vital Signs: Researching Real Life, organised by the ESRC funded Realities node of the NCRM held at Manchester University on 9-11 September 2008. The aim of the symposium was to explore the value of QL methods as a tool for capturing the interplay of psychodynamic, social and historical dimensions of processual phenomona. We anticipated that contributors would address how hindsight, foresight and insight interact in the research process (Thomson and Holland 2003) and the ways in which researcher subjectivity becomes a central source of data and knowledge (Lucey et al. 2003). The symposium brought together three examples of current research into the formation and remaking of parenting identities, each of which employs a qualitative and longitudinal research design. Approaches to the generation of data included infant observation, repeat interviews, psychoanalytically informed field notes, photo-elicitation and the use of intergenerational research design. Methods of analysis included collaborative working and the use of groups in order to explore hidden meanings, researcher investments and alternative interpretations.