Life Calendars for the Collection of Life Course Data

Abstract

Life course studies involve the use of longitudinal data. Focusing on vulnerability processes that unfold in the medium or long term only reinforces this use, by requiring long sequences of data. However, traditional prospective data collection methods are not always compatible with restricted research time. The alternative is to collect retrospective data, sometimes in combination with prospective ones, and life calendars are a tool of choice for this kind of task. Although several methodological studies have shown that calendar data outperform conventional retrospective question lists, the quality of retrospective and prospective data is likely not to be the same. Hence, it is crucial to develop life calendars able to enhance the correct recall of past information, and to be able to demonstrate the accuracy of the resulting data. Moreover, with the advent of online data collection, the perspective to replace paper-and-pencil life calendars by electronic ones, and to make them self-administered, could help generalize this kind of data collection, but it also implies additional challenges. This chapter draws on several experiments with life calendars performed within the NCCR LIVES. It shows that life calendars can capture accurate data, and that online calendars have now become more than just a possibility.