Johnny Saldana outlines the basic elements of longitudinal qualitative data, focusing on micro-levels of change observed within individual cases and groups of participants. He draws upon his primary experience in theater education to examine time and change in longitudinal qualitative studies; contending that "playwrights and qualitative researchers write for the same purpose: to create a unique, insightful, and engaging text about the human condition." Offering sixteen specific questions through which researchers may approach the analysis of longitudinal qualitative data, Professor Saldana presents a text intended as a primer for fellow newcomers to long term inquiry, based on traditional social science methods from traditional qualitative and quantitative paradigms, but enriched by an artist-educator's unconventional perspective.

Mary Lynne Derrington’s Qualitative Longitudinal Methods: Researching Implementation and Change addresses the use of the qualitative longitudinal methods, their unique methodological features, and the challenges and benefits to this approach. This short supplemental text uses examples of published studies, and the author’s own stories and examples, to show application of the concepts. A chapter on how to prepare a manuscript for publication concentrates on the distinctive aspects of publishing longitudinal studies. The book will be useful to those researching change and its impact on organizations and individuals resulting from the implementation of programs and policies.

Brimming with life maps, life history calendars, and extracts from transcripts and diaries, this book illustrates by example the unique principles, challenges, and applications of qualitative longitudinal research. Synthesizing current literature on qualitative longitudinal research, it brings together sociological theory and empirically driven longitudinal studies while also highlighting a range of possible research approaches. With a consistent balance of conceptual discussions with hands-on advice, it provides readers with the foundation to adapt lessons-learned from other researchers to fit their own qualitative longitudinal studies. Supported by research tools such as conceptual road maps, short data extracts, consent forms, and other data organization tools, this book provides everything postgraduate researchers need to transition from the classroom to the field.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. This volume offers a new introduction to an evolving research method in the social sciences. Qualitative Longitudinal (QL) research is conducted through time. In its qualitative dimensions it opens up the potential to 'think dynamically' in creative, flexible and innovative ways. QL enquiry is rooted in a long-established tradition of qualitative temporal research, spanning the fields of social anthropology, sociological re-studies and biographical research. But over the past two decades, a growing body of scholarship has begun to document this approach and explore its theoretical underpinnings. This in turn has fuelled a growing interest in and rapid uptake of QL methodology across the disciplines and in international context. This practical volume will be a first port of call for students and researchers wishing to use QL research in their own projects. The chapters follow a logical development, from conceptual and methodological foundations, to research practice and ethics, to the generation and analysis of data. Each chapter offers practical examples drawn from the research field to illustrate key themes and the rich possibilities for new applications.

One of the major changes in the social science research landscape in recent years has been the introduction of computerised panel surveys in Europe and the US which make longitudinal data widely available to graduate students for the first time. Elisabetta Ruspini here provides a concise yet comprehensive introduction to the issues involved in this kind of research. This book: * Defines the concept of longitudinal research * Gives guidance on sources of longitudinal data in Europe and the US and their strengths and weaknesses * Discusses the choices that need to be made in this kind of research - for instance the advantages and disadvantages of certain types of research data and of different types of analysis * Highlights some of the problems involved, e.g. the issue of comparability within longitudinal research

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Across the social sciences, there is widespread agreement that quantitative longitudinal research designs offer analysts powerful scientific data resources. But, to date, many texts on analysing longitudinal social analysis surveys have been written from a statistical, rather than a social science data analysis perspective and they lack adequate coverage of common practical challenges associated with social science data analyses. This book provides a practical and up-to-date introduction to influential approaches to quantitative longitudinal data analysis in the social sciences. The book introduces definitions and terms, explains the relative attractions of such a longitudinal design, and offers an introduction to the main techniques of analysis, explaining their requirements, statistical properties and their substantive contribution. The book is designed for postgraduates and researchers across the social sciences considering the use of quantitative longitudinal data resources in their research. It will also be an excellent text for undergraduate and postgraduate courses on advanced quantitative methods.

What are the most effective methods for doing life-course research? In this volume, the field's founders and leaders answer this question, giving readers tips on: the art and method of the appropriate research design; the collection of life-history data; and the search for meaningful patterns to be found in the results.

For undergraduates following any course of study, it is essential to develop the ability to write effectively. Yet the processes by which students become more capable and ready to meet the challenges of writing for employers, the wider public, and their own purposes remain largely invisible. Developing Writers in Higher Education shows how learning to write for various purposes in multiple disciplines leads college students to new levels of competence. This volume draws on an in-depth study of the writing and experiences of 169 University of Michigan undergraduates, using statistical analysis of 322 surveys, qualitative analysis of 131 interviews, use of corpus linguistics on 94 electronic portfolios and 2,406 pieces of student writing, and case studies of individual students to trace the multiple paths taken by student writers. Topics include student writers’ interaction with feedback; perceptions of genre; the role of disciplinary writing; generality and certainty in student writing; students’ concepts of voice and style; students’ understanding of multimodal and digital writing; high school’s influence on college writers; and writing development after college. The digital edition offers samples of student writing, electronic portfolios produced by student writers, transcripts of interviews with students, and explanations of some of the analysis conducted by the contributors. This is an important book for researchers and graduate students in multiple fields. Those in writing studies get an overview of other longitudinal studies as well as key questions currently circulating. For linguists, it demonstrates how corpus linguistics can inform writing studies. Scholars in higher education will gain a new perspective on college student development. The book also adds to current understandings of sociocultural theories of literacy and offers prospective teachers insights into how students learn to write. Finally, for high school teachers, this volume will answer questions about college writing. Companion Website Click here to access the Developing Writers project and its findings at the interactive companion website. Project Data Access the data from the project through this tutorial.

This book offers a complete, practical guide to doing an intensive longitudinal study with individuals, dyads, or groups. It provides the tools for studying social, psychological, and physiological processes in everyday contexts, using methods such as diary and experience sampling. A range of engaging, worked-through research examples with datasets are featured. Coverage includes how to: select the best intensive longitudinal design for a particular research question, apply multilevel models to within-subject designs, model within-subject change processes for continuous and categorical outcomes, assess the reliability of within-subject changes, assure sufficient statistical power, and more. Several end-of-chapter write-ups illustrate effective ways to present study findings for publication. Datasets and output in SPSS, SAS, Mplus, HLM, MLwiN, and R for the examples are available on the companion website (www.intensivelongitudinal.com).

This accessible, interdisciplinary and non-technical approach to longitudinal research identifies ways in which longitudinal research crosses the barriers between disciplines. The author covers a wide variety of subjects ranging from the differences between longitudinal and cross-sectional research in terms of consistency and accuracy of results to issues that may affect the quality of longitudinal data.