Top

Quality & Quantity

Published in:

09-11-2023

Using biograms to promote life course research. An example of theoretical case configuration relating to paths of social exclusion

Author: Ivana Acocella

Published in: Quality & Quantity | Issue 3/2024

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to present how, if used to aid the conduction and analysis of interviews, biograms enable the peculiarities of biographical narrative to be incorporated more effectively in the life course perspective. The advantage of this tool is to promote the life course not only as an empirical category, but also as an analytical perspective capable of combining time, process and context, in order to bring out possible biographical paths. At the same time, biograms enable different types of identity-building process, such as analytical syntheses, to be drawn up. As a result, empirical cases can be transformed into theoretical cases (referring to the unit of analysis), moving from an individual story to a sociological ideal type in which to embed the biographical story. This article will first present how biograms can facilitate the conduction of a biographical interview by bringing out the main features of the life course as an analytical perspective. Then, it will be described how the device allows the researcher to inductively order, summarize and categorize the empirical materials collected in order to enucleate suitable conceptual categories for outlining possible identity profiles. For methodological purposes, the application of the biogram to three biographies collected to explore paths of social exclusion will be presented, defining conceptual categories for three identity profiles: The Combative Subject Fighting the Risk of Exclusion, The Intermittently Excluded Subject and The Chronic Outsider.

previous article Does scientific and technological innovation promote regional coordination of socio-economy, environment, and energy? Evidence from quantitative research in China

next article Does poverty respond asymmetrically to financial development? Evidence from India using asymmetric cointegration and causality tests

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

The researcher decides how many years to insert in the rows and which life domains to insert in the columns based on the question under investigation and the people whose life stories he/she has collected.

The completed grid did not always include direct references to the socio-historical context. However, from the information entered, the interviewer was able to introduce some references such as the economic crisis of 2009 or social and economic policies in support of precarious work and housing.

Analytical induction overcomes some of the limitations of simple induction. Indeed, the latter bases the relevance of arguments on the accumulation of the observations made: the higher the number of observations that give the same result, the greater the argumentative force of the rule found. However, in qualitative approaches the criterion of “saturation” should not be overestimated, since it seems to refer to a criterion of generalization typical of quantitative research (Cardano 2020).

Therefore, the aim of the sociological ideal type is to unify in a conceptual construct the set of features that the analytical path chosen by the researcher leads to emphasize as relevant. According to Max Weber (1904/1949, 90): “An ideal type is formed by the one-sided accentuation of one or more points of view and by the synthesis of a great many diffuse, discrete, more or less present and occasionally absent, concrete individual phenomena, which are arranged according to those one-sidedly emphasized viewpoints into a unified analytical construct […] In its conceptual purity, this mental construct […] cannot be found empirically anywhere in reality”.

Interview excerpts can be inserted to add to the analysis produced by the biograms. None have been included here so as not to make the text too long. The analyses are reported in a very concise manner for the same reason.

Bandura, A.: Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 52, 1–26 (2001)CrossRef

Barbeiro, A., Spini, D.: Calendar interviewing: A mixed methods device for a biographical approach to migration. Qual. Res. Psychol. 14(1), 81–107 (2017)CrossRef

Berends, L.: Embracing the visual: using timelines with in-depth interviews on substance use and treatment”. Qual. Rep. 16(1), 1–9 (2011)

Berney, L., Blane, D.: The life grid method of collecting retrospective information from people at older ages. Res. Policy Plann 21(2), 13–22 (2003)

Bonica, L., Cardano, M.: Introduzione In: Bonica, L., Cardano, M. (eds.) Punti di svolta. Analisi del mutamento biografico, 9–26. Il Mulino, Bologna (2008).

Bourdieu, P.: Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge University Press (1977).

Cardano, M.: Defending qualitative research: design, analysis, and textualization. Routledge, New York (2020)CrossRef

Castel, R.: De l’indigence à l’exclusion, la disaffiliation. In: Donzelot, J. (ed.) Face à l’exclusion, le modèle français, pp. 137–168. Éditions Esprit, Pais (1991).

Charmaz, K.: The grounded theory method: An explication and interpretation”. In: Emerson, R.M. (ed.) Contemporary Field Research, pp. 109–126. Waveland Press, Prospect Heights (1988)

Collins, R.: Interaction ritual chains. Princeton University Press (2004).

Denzin, N.K.: The reflexive interview and a performative social science. Qual. Res. 1(1), 23–46 (2001)CrossRef

Elder, G., Johnson, M., Crosnoe, R.: The emergence and development of life course theory. In: Mortimer J., Shanahan, M. (eds.) Handbook of the life course, pp. 3–19. Kluwer Academic Publishers New York (2003).

Engel, L., Keifer, M., Zahm, S.: Comparison of a traditional questionnaire with an icon/calendar-based questionnaire to assess occupational history. Am. J. Ind. Med. 40(5), 502–511 (2001)CrossRef

Freedman, D., Thornton, A., Camburn, D., Alwin, D., De Marco, L.Y.: The life history calendar: a technique for collecting retrospective data. Sociol. Methodol 18, 37–68 (1988)CrossRef

George, L.: Conceptualizing and measuring trajectories. In: Elder, G., Giele, J. (eds.) The craft of life course research, pp. 163–186. Guilford Press, New York (2009)

Giddens, A.: Central problems in social theory: action, structure and contradiction in social analysis. University of California Press, Berkeley (1979)CrossRef

Glasner, T., Van der Vaart, W.: Applications of calendar instruments in social surveys: a review. Qual. Quant. 43(3), 333–349 (2009)CrossRef

Goldenberg, S.: Analytic induction revisited. Can. J. Sociol. 18(2), 161–176 (1993)CrossRef

Hendry, L.B., Kloep, M.: Lifespan development. Thomson Learning, London (2002)

Kergoat, D.: Division sexuelle du travail et rapports sociaux de sexe. In: Dictionnaire critique du féminisme, 35–44. Puf, Paris (2000).

Kohli, M.: The institutionalization of the life course: Looking back to look ahead. Res. Hum. Dev. 4(3–4), 253–271 (2007)CrossRef

Lindesmith, A.R.: Addiction and opiates. NJ, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick (1947)

Marshall, V.W., Mueller, M.M.: Theoretical roots of the life-course perspective. In: Heinz, W., Marshall, V. (eds.) Social dynamics of the life course, pp. 3–33. Aldine De Gruyter, New York (2003)

Mayer, K.: Whose lives? How history, societies, and institutions define and shape life courses. Res. Hum. Dev. 1(3), 161–187 (2004)CrossRef

Millar, J.: The dynamics of poverty and employment. Soc. Policy Soc. 6(4), 533–544 (2007)CrossRef

Morselli D., Berchtold A.: Using a life history calendar to survey vulnerability. In: Spini, D., Widmer, E. (ed.), Withstanding Vulnerability throughout Adult Life, 319–336. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.

Nico, M.L.: Bringing life “back into life course research”: using the life grid as a research instrument for qualitative data collection and analysis. Qual. Quant. 50, 2107–2120 (2016)CrossRef

O’Rand, A.: Cumulative processes in the life course. In: Elder, G., Giele, J. (eds.) The craft of life course research, pp. 163–186. Guilford Press, New York (2009)

Ortner SB (2001)) Specifying agency The comaroffs and their critics in interventions. Int. J. Postcolon. Stud, 3(1), 76–84.

Parry, O., Thomson, C., Fowkes, G.: Life course data collection: Qualitative interviewing using the life grid. Sociol. Res. Online 4(2), 1–11 (1999)CrossRef

Ragin, C.C.: ‘Casing’ and the process of social inquiry. In: Ragin, C.C., Becker, H.S. (eds) What is a Case? Exploring the foundation of social inquiry, 217–226. Cambridge University Press (1992).

Ranci, C., Migliavacca, M.: Social vulnerability: A multidimensional analysis. In: Ranci, C. (ed.) Social vulnerability in Europe, 219–249. Palgrave, Basingstoke (2010).

Ricoeur, P.: Time and narrative. University of Chicago Press (1990).

Riemann, G., Schütze, F.: Trajectory as a basic theoretical concept for suffering and disorderly social processes. In: Miller, R. (ed.) Biographical research methods, pp. 107–155. Sage, London (2005)

Robinson, W.S.: The logical structure of analytic induction. Am. Sociol. Rev. 16(6), 812–818 (1951)CrossRef

Ruiu, G.: The origin of fatalistic tendencies. Econom. Sociol. 6(2), 103–125 (2013)CrossRef

Ryan, R.M., Deci, E.L.: Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. Am. Psychol. 55, 68–78 (2000)CrossRef

Saraceno, C. (ed.): Età e corso di vita. Il Mulino, Bologna (2001)

Saraceno, C., Benassi, D., Morlicchio, E.: Poverty in Italy: Features and drivers in a European perspective. Briston University Press (2020).

Schütz, A.: Common-Sense and Scientific Interpretation of Human action. In: Natanson, M. (ed.) Collected Papers: I. The Problem of Social Reality, 3–47. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague (1962).

Thomas, W.I., Znaniecki, F.W.: The Polish Peasant in Europe and America. Gorham Press, Boston (1918–1920).

Van der Vaart, W.: The time-line as a device to enhance recall in standardized research interviews: a split ballot study. J. Off. Stat.. 20(2), 301–318 (2004)

Weber, M.: Objectivity in social science and social policy [1904]. In: Shils, E.A, Finch, H.A. (eds. and trans.) The methodology of the social sciences, The Free Press, Illinois (1949).

Znaniecki, F.: The method of sociology. New York. Rinehart & Company, (1934).

Title: Using biograms to promote life course research. An example of theoretical case configuration relating to paths of social exclusion
Author: Ivana Acocella
Publication date: 09-11-2023
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Quality & Quantity / Issue 3/2024
Print ISSN: 0033-5177
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7845
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-023-01777-7

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Other articles of this Issue 3/2024

Calibration estimation of population mean in stratified sampling using standard deviation

Are religion and happiness on same side?

Analysing the intention to use blockchain technology in payment transactions of Turkish maritime industry

Is Abrams curve a myth or reality? Evidence from two Baltic countries

Religiosity and labour market attainments of muslim-arab women in Israel

Does scientific and technological innovation promote regional coordination of socio-economy, environment, and energy? Evidence from quantitative research in China

Premium Partner