Life History Calendar Methods: An Innovative and Rigorous Approach to Collect Mixed-Methods Retrospective Longitudinal Data

The life history calendar method is a data collection approach that uses visual calendars to collect retrospective data about individuals’ life events, experiences, and behaviors. Life history calendar methods have been used in fields such as epidemiology, health behavior, and medicine to investigate general life events (e.g., marriage, childbirth, education, employment) and behavioral health issues (e.g., contraceptive use, criminal behavior, substance use, illness), with recall time frames of weeks, months, or years. Recently, more studies in social work have been using life history calendar methods, including studies by the presenters. The life history calendar method was developed to address concerns about recall error in traditional retrospective interviews, surveys, and questionnaires. Asking questions at an interview or on a self-report survey about chronological events (e.g., When did you first think about suicide as a young person?”) without visual aids or cognitive recall strategies raises concerns about recall error. The life history calendar method is responsive to these concerns, minimizing recall error and promoting recall accuracy through multiple cognitive strategies.

This workshop will provide an introduction and overview of life history calendar methods, provide illustrative examples of their use in social work research, and have workshop participants begin to plan and apply the use of life history calendar methods with social work populations and issues. The workshop presenters will: (1) Define and describe life history calendar methods; (2) Discuss the strengths and potential limitations of the method, including appropriate and inappropriate research problems and populations for their use; and (3) Describe data collection and analysis with life history calendars. To showcase the use of life history calendars in social work research, the presenters will provide illustrative examples from three research projects using life history calendars, relating them to study purpose, design, sample considerations, data collection methods, and data analysis. These three projects include the following: (1) Charting Trajectories of Sexual Identity Development and Mental Health Disparities Among Sexual Minority Youth ; (2) Mapping Victimization, Protective Factors, and Mental health Across Childhood; and (3) Gender-affirming Care and Dysphoria-related Distress Among Diverse Transgender and Nonbinary Young Adults.

To facilitate attendees’ thinking, brainstorming, and preliminary application of life history calendars to social work research, attendees will self-select into small groups for an activity. Attendees will join groups based on their interests in population-based topics in which life history calendar methods would be appropriate (e.g., adolescent sexual activity, intimate partner violence among young adults). Each group will be given questions to consider, discuss, and respond to (e.g., Why would the life history calendar method be appropriate/valid to investigate this population and this social/health issue? What are 2-3 research questions that could be answered with this population and issue using life history calendars? What recall time period should be used to answer the research questions? What quantitative data and qualitative data could be collected?). Each group will also draw a draft of a life history calendar that they could use in their fictitious project.