IoE Methodological Experience of Conducting Longitudinal Research Presented at International Conference in Germany
Valeriya Malik, a leading expert at the Center for Cultural Sociology and Anthropology of Education of the Institute of Education, took part in the annual conference of the Society for Longitudinal and Life-Course Studies (SLLS). It was held at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) in the German city of Bamberg on October 5–8, and its organizer was the University of Bamberg.
This year, the international interdisciplinary conference was dedicated to the issue of education. Its theme was “Education and the Life Course: Determinants and Consequences of Unequal Educational Opportunities”.
The conference was opened by a plenary report by Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Professor of Sociology at European University Institute (EUI). He spoke on the results of a large scale comparative project on studying inequality in education (EduLIFE). It involved scientists from nearly 20 countries, Russia among them, and was dedicated to the problems of students’ equality from preschool to higher education. IoE researchers Dmitry Kurakin and Diana Yanbarisova joined their efforts at the stage of analyzing high-school education and the transmission between higher education and the labor market, using the data of the panel research “Trajectories in Education and Careers” (TROP).
Valeriya Malik presented a report, made together with Mariya Ozerova, sociologist at Public Opinion Foundation (FOM). It describes a way to combine the methods to collect data applied in the panel research TROP. This report sparked interest among other participants of the session, especially from Australia and New Zealand, because within the framework of longitudinal research it is challenging to use online polls alongside with more traditional means. The way such approach affects the reachability of respondents also remains a question.
Telling about her impressions of the conference, Malik said that “Only few countries can afford conducting single pilot research, exploring the outcomes of joining methods, such as, for example “Understanding Society” in the UK. That is why I believe that the publication of our conclusions on methodological progress in English could be worthwhile.”
The researcher added that new plans of cooperation with Dr. Jutta von Maurice (LIfBi), who is one of the chiefs of German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), were outlined in order to develop new longitudinal studies.