Living policy: reflections of a researcher on two related qualitative longitudinal studies of the experience of UK social security over time

Young, David

Abstract

Temporal aspects of claimant experience can be overlooked within UK social security policy and research. One reason for this is the tendency to focus on one point in time. In recent years, longitudinal research designs have added an important element to studies of UK social security policy, with researchers ‘walking alongside’ specific groups and focusing on specific periods of time. However, vast datasets can remain under-utilised at the end of each project, raising
questions about how data could be re-analysed or combined with other qualitative longitudinal studies to better understand temporal aspects of claimant experience. This paper explores how two qualitative longitudinal projects focusing on UK social security policy could be combined to trace related but distinct relationships with policy over time and create a dynamic ‘shared typical’ that helps us better understand how policy is lived. The Sanctions Support and Service Leavers project is a six-year qualitative longitudinal project
focusing on how military veterans experience claiming social security benefits and the Welfare at a Social Distance Project focused on how claimants experienced social security benefits and employment support during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. From the perspective of a researcher on both projects, the paper will also reflect on qualitative longitudinal methods, remote collaboration and the importance of building and maintaining relationships of trust with participants in order to fully understand inter-related aspects of their lives.

Citation

Young, D. (2024, June). Living policy: reflections of a researcher on two related qualitative longitudinal studies of the experience of UK social security over time. Paper presented at Contemplating Qualitative Longitudinal Research: Temporalities, Theories and Methods, Helsinki, Finland

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Contemplating Qualitative Longitudinal Research: Temporalities, Theories and Methods
• Conference Location: Helsinki, Finland
• Start Date: Jun 10, 2024
• End Date: Jun 11, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jul 31, 2024
• Publisher URL: https://ba9b5cf6a3.clvaw-cdnwnd.com/3e6cb96e9228f9a89e022302d0e01f1c/200000363-2037b2037e/Abstract%20Book.pdf?ph=ba9b5cf6a3