Some of our learning from Qualitative Longitudinal Research
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Poverty affects children differently at differing ages, such that for older children, the psychosocial impacts of poverty are especially important, as the sense of stigma and shame and resulting social exclusion become more acute.
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Boys, girls and their families have high aspirations for their future. The teen years are a critical window in the life course when young people and caregivers adjust plans and expectations according to perceived future prospects. Gender disparities begin to widen noticeably from the age of twelve.
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Children’s trajectories and their experience of social transitions are fluid. Boys and girls take breaks from schooling, they get stuck in the same grade for years, they return to school sometimes only to leave again. Erratic trajectories are often explained by the instability of household economies and the way unexpected family crisis affect children’s everyday lives.
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A key aspect of everyday life that children spontaneously described, often when asked about their well-being, was the violence they experienced at home, and in schools, in various forms and at differing ages, according to gender.
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The quality of data generated through QLR relies heavily on maintaining good relationships with research collaborators, including children, families and fieldworkers. Attrition remains a risk of QLR, and sometimes alternative methods of data collection need to be employed, such as telephone interviews.
Other qualitative research
In addition to our qualitative longitudinal research, we have carried out a number of discrete qualitative sub-studies on specific topics of interest, involving children and families in Young Lives communities. We have used sub-studies to deepen understanding of child protection issues in the study countries, including children's experiences of violence, parental death and work. We have explored children's experiences of particular social protection programmes such as the Productive Safety Net Program in Ethiopia and participation in rural employment schemes (MGNREGA) in India. Other sub-studies have looked at the drivers of child marriage and early child-bearing in Ethiopia and India, and at fertility decision-making, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs, choices and behaviours, and experiences of parenthood amongst married adolescents in India.