Gathering Data on Meaning in Life among Older People: Two Explorative Approaches

Abstract

Wander van der Vaart and Pien Bos conclude this volume with a methodological reflection on research into meaningful aging. Using Derkx’s seven needs framework, they explore two methodological approaches toward collecting data on “meaning in life”: a sociological, semi-structured, basically deductive approach and an anthropological, unstructured, inductive approach. The first approach involved semi-structured (focus group) interviews with residents, health care staff, and clients’/residents’ councils of two long-term care organizations for older adults. The second approach involved analyzing life histories that were collected among religious, rural community dwellers. Van der Vaart and Bos discuss possible explanations of the contradictory outcomes, focusing on study design and population differences. Lessons are drawn about tailoring methods to vulnerable, older people aiming to obtain valid data on their perceptions and experiences of meaning in life. They describe the advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches and conclude that, even when tailoring data collection to a particular population or setting, each approach defines what may count as valid data on meaning in life.