This page introduces the 'research problem' that prompted me to undertake the Beyond 60 research project, which then led to the wider health & wellbeing issues covered in this blog.
For more detailed background see pp.12/15 of the research report, Becoming Older, Being Well based on fieldwork in North Muskham, a Trentside village a few miles north of Newark.
"A research problem […] is an issue or concern that needs to be addressed […] topics that have been neglected in the literature; [...] real-life problems found in the workplace, the home, the community, and so forth." Creswell (2013,p.20)
In 2012, my own retirement experience looked like a 'real-life problem' - like millions before me, leaving a hectic working life behind (combined with a period of illness) had left me with lots of questions, and a sense of unease. At the same time, the media seemed to have just discovered that the baby boom generation were moving into old age, and that this seemed about to cause problems! It struck me that at an individual and a society level there was a need to learn more about ageing, and what that implied for our local community.
Having identified the course of later life for many people as a "research problem", the B60 research asked ...
What is it like to retire and become older in our village?
How do we learn from, and feel about, 60+ life?
The B60 survey across our local community and analysis was supervised by the University of Lincoln and documented in my PhD thesis. The research led to a continuing interest in local Health, Care & Wellbeing issues.