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Overview
Overview
This module focuses on one of our research tools: life event calendars (LECs)!
Why are we using these? LECs are an effective method to gain longitudinal data, which is information collected over an extended period of time. LECs gain in-depth information over time and are cost-effective – they're easier than following a subject over a period of, in our case, 3-5 years depending on the project.
Learning Outcomes: You’ll understand how LECs are designed, how they work, and what they capture. You'll know more about why we're using them as well!
What we will do: We'll develop some analogies to understand LECs, see some examples of them, and discuss what kind of changes we may need or want to make to our LECs.
Digging In: What are LECs? How do they work? Why LECs for our study?
Digging In: What are LECs? How do they work? Why LECs for our study?
LECs are a relatively new way to collect data about people over an extended period of time. Usually, they’re designed like a spreadsheet. The rows (up and down) are different categories or domains of events. These can include places someone’s lived, jobs, relationships, etc. The columns (side to side) are different chunks of time. These chunks of time can be any size: days, weeks, months, or even years!
How do they work?
How do they work?
Think of each box like the dots in the game Battleship: B8 is a specific spot on the grid, and contains a specific piece of information. A ship can cover multiple spots on this grid. In our case, maybe a relationship lasts for 6 months, with each number (the columns!) representing a month. We’d record this relationship in our LEC/Battleship analogy as B4-12.
Note: how, unlike the game, our (relation)ship is only sideways. This is very important: events might overlap, but they won’t exist in two separate rows!
Example: Melvin lived at 123 Comfort Street from March 2022 –May 2023. At the same time, Melvin worked for Pat's Hot Dog Place from June 2022 – September 2023. We’ll record both of these, but make sure they’re in separate rows.
Image Source: Wieczorek, L. L., Tata, C. S., Penke, L., & Gerlach, T. M. (2020). Online implementation of an event history calendar with formr: A tutorial. Personal Relationships, 27(1), 176–208. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12305
Why are we using LECs?
Why are we using LECs?
We want to capture retrospective data from the mentees in our programs: we want to see into the past. This will let us look at how connecting with mentors has changed the lives of mentees. By understanding what mentees were doing before connecting with a mentor, we can see how that connection is making a difference.
Take a look at an example LEC to the left; the date/time might be hard to read, but you can see how each column represents a different time period.
LEC Advantages
LEC Advantages
LECs are a method for us to capture longitudinal data, in this case, retrospectively. This comes with a significant financial and labor advantage - we don't need researchers to follow subjects for years.
Following from this change from multiple data collections involved in other methods to one single data collection event with LECs is the elimination of a fear over participant retention! One of the hardest parts of longitudinal studies is participants drop out, due to a variety of circumstances and reasons. This LEC interview only needs to happen once, eliminating this challenge.
Another advantage is that we can keep in mind our framework of positive youth development, and structure the interview and questions around this. We can center and capture the good things LEC respondents do, relationships they build, and more. This is in direct contrast to many traditional research methods that emphasize an absence of negative outcomes.
A last major advantage of using LECs and their semi-structured interviews is the interview itself. It can be difficult to remember things on your own; having someone prompting recollection is helpful, even for simple questions such as "what did you have for breakfast this morning?" (An apple and avocado toast if you're asking me!)
Discord Discussion
Discord Discussion
For the Discord discussion Module 16, think and share about the following:
For the Discord discussion Module 16, think and share about the following:
What life events should we ask about?
What life events might be relevant to our study?
What youth in credible messaging may have exposure to?
What positive events are relevant as measures of youth development?
What CM mentoring could have affected or changed?
We'll come up with our interview guides together. For now, start thinking of how you would ask someone to begin talking about their life and history. And start thinking of what things we should center as developments.
This is your study: your knowledge and experience make you the expert.
The Takeaway: We're creating Life Event Calendars, a special interviewing technique, to collect the history of both mentees and non-mentees. Using this particular technique starts at the high level, and work its way down to the more personal. The data will be collected using Qualtrics, an online survey platform. You'll help us develop the questions and figure out what works best for guiding the interviews!
Questions, Comments, or Concerns? Email sbachman@urban.org, or reach out in our group Discord!
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