Gray, Jane and Dagg, Jennifer (2018) Using Reflexive Lifelines in Biographical Interviews to aid the Collection, Visualization and Analysis of Resilience. Contemporary Social Science. Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences. ISSN 2158-2041

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Abstract

This article demonstrates the use of a reflexive lifeline instrument within a study oriented towards documenting and explaining resilience from a sociological perspective. Informed by both life course and biographical perspectives, our research design comprised two interviews incorporating recursive co-construction of the participant’s lifeline. We aimed to meet three objectives with this method: (1) to collect accurate retrospective data about the timing of lives; (2) to garner biographical data that allowed us to explore lives as wholes; and (3) to elicit participant reflexivity on turning points associated with resilience. Our approach was distinctive in its explicit use of the lifeline both as a means to bring life stories into dialogue with life histories, and as a dynamic prompt to engage participants in the reflexive co-construction of turning points as fateful moments. We illustrate our approach through a case presentation and analysis of the reflexive lifelines co-constructed with two men who participated in our study. We also show how the reflexive lifeline interview generated opportunities for participant-led researcher reflexivity.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Biographical method; reflexivity; resilience; qualitative longitudinal;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
Item ID:	11340
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2018.1459818
Depositing User:	Jane Gray
Date Deposited:	16 Oct 2019 13:51
Journal or Publication Title:	Contemporary Social Science. Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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