Methods of Life Course Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

by Janet Zollinger Giele (Editor), Glen H. Elder (Editor)

Overview

What are the most effective methods for doing life course research? 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506320441
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	03/10/1998
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	360
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Janet Zollinger Giele (AB, Earlham College; PhD, Harvard University) is Professor Emerita of Sociology, Social Policy, and Women′s Studies at Brandeis University.  She was the founding director of the Family and Children′s Policy Center in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management (1990-1996) and Acting Dean of the Heller School in 1993-94. In the 1960s, she taught at Wellesley College and in the 1970s was a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe and Principal Consultant to the Ford Foundation Task Force on Women. She has received grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation, National Institute on Aging, Lilly Endowment, Rockefeller and Ford Foundations.  In 2000, she was honored by Radcliffe with the Graduate Society Medal.  The author or editor of ten books, her special areas of interest are  women′s changing roles, methods of life course research, and sociology of the family and family policy. Since 1976 when she joined the faculty of the Heller School, she has directed over thirty doctoral dissertations and is currently writing a guidebook on doctoral research and the earmarks of a good dissertation.
Glen H. Elder, Jr. is Research Professor of Sociology and Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and manages a research program on life course studies. He has also served on the faculties of the University of California (Berkeley) and Cornell University. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Elder has served as Vice-President of the American Sociological Association (1989), and as President of the Sociological Research Association (1999) and of the Society for Research on Child Development (1995-97). His books (authored, co-authored, edited) include Children of the Great Depression (1974; 1999, expanded edition), Life Course Dynamics (1985), Children in Time and Place (1993), Families in Troubled Times (1994), Examining Lives in Context (1995), Developmental Science (1996), Methods of Life Course Research (1998), and Children of the Land: Adversity and Success in Rural America (2000: William J. Goode Award).

Table of Contents

Foreword - Anne Colby
Crafting Life Course Studies
PART ONE: THE LIFE COURSE MODE OF INQUIRY
Life Course Research - Janet Z Giele and Glen H Elder Jr
Development of a Field
A Life Course Approach - Matilda White Riley
Autobiographical Notes
The Craft of Life Course Studies - Angela M O′Rand
PART TWO: DATA COLLECTION AND MEASUREMENT
Data Organization and Conceptualization - Nancy Karweit and David Kertzer
Retrospective vs Prospective Measurement of Life Histories in Longitudinal Research - Jacqueline Scott and Duane Alwin
Finding Respondents in a Follow-Up Study - Donna Dempster-McClain and Phyllis Moen
Collecting Life History Data - Erika Brückner and Karl Ulrich Mayer
Experiences from the German Life History Study
PART THREE: STRATEGIES FOR ANALYSIS
Life Reviews and Life Stories - John A Clausen
Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Data - John H Laub and Robert J Sampson
Innovation in the Typical Life Course - Janet Z Giele
Linking History and Human Lives - Glen H Elder Jr and Lisa Pellerin

Editorial Reviews

With 15 other contributors, editors Giele (sociology, Brandeis U.) and Elder (psychology and sociology, U. of North Carolina-Chapel Hill) chart the life course model of development<-->going beyond stage theories such as Sheehy's . The first section details this mode of inquiry which views humans in a social as well as psychological context; the next considers methodological issues in collecting such longitudinal data; and the last interprets the individual differences of cohorts. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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