Combining In-Depth Biographical Interviews with the LIVES History Calendar in Studying the Life Course of Children of Immigrants

Abstract

In this chapter, we develop a methodology to collect data on second-generation residents based on the combination of a life history calendar and in-depth biographical interviews. The first tool comes from the life course perspective, and the second comes from the biographical tradition. Our goal is to take into account the methodological benefits of both tools, such as a more systematic process and increased validity in the “objective” life course data gathered by using life event calendars as well as the in-depth exploration of subjective life stories obtained from in-depth biographical interviews. The combination of both tools is tested in the case of the transition to adulthood of the children of Albanian-speaking immigrants in Switzerland.