Surveying Human Vulnerabilities across the Life Course (Life Course Research and Social Policies Book 3)

This open access book details tools and procedures for data collections of hard-to-reach, hard-to-survey populations. Inside, readers will discover first-hand insights from experts who share their successes as well as their failures in their attempts to identify and measure human vulnerabilities across the life course. Coverage first provides an introduction on studying vulnerabilities based on the Total Error Survey framework. Next, the authors present concrete examples on how to survey such populations as the elderly, migrants, widows and widowers, couples facing breast cancer, employees and job seekers, displaced workers, and teenagers during their transition to adulthood. In addition, one essay discusses the rationale for the use of life history calendars in studying social and psychological vulnerability while another records the difficulty the authors faced when trying to set-up an online social network to collect relevant data. Overall, this book demonstrates the importance to have, from the very beginning, a dialogue between specialists of survey methods and the researchers working on social dynamics across the life span. It will serve as an indispensable resource for social scientists interested in gathering and analyzing data on vulnerable individuals and populations in order to construct longitudinal data bases and properly target social policies. This volume details tools and procedures for data collections of hard-to-reach, hard-to-survey populations. Inside, readers will discover first-hand insights from experts who share their successes as well as their failures in their attempts to identify and measure human vulnerabilities across the life course. Coverage first provides an introduction on studying vulnerabilities based on the Total Error Survey framework. Next, the authors present concrete examples on how to survey such populations as the elderly, migrants, widows and widowers, couples facing breast cancer, employees and job seekers, displaced workers, and teenagers during their transition to adulthood. In addition, one essay discusses the rationale for the use of life history calendars in studying social and psychological vulnerability while another records the difficulty the authors faced when trying to set-up an online social network to collect relevant data. Overall, this book demonstrates the importance to have, from the very beginning, a dialogue between specialists of survey methods and the researchers working on social dynamics across the life span. It will serve as an indispensable resource for social scientists interested in gathering and analyzing data on vulnerable individuals and populations in order to construct longitudinal data bases and properly target social policies Front Matter....Pages i-vi Surveying Human Vulnerabilities Across the Life Course: Balancing Substantive and Methodological Challenges....Pages 1-25 Representation of Vulnerability and the Elderly. A Total Survey Error Perspective on the VLV Survey....Pages 27-64 Adapting Quantitative Survey Procedures: The Price for Assessing Vulnerability? Lessons from a Large-Scale Survey on Aging and Migration in Switzerland....Pages 65-85 Vulnerability Following a Critical Life Event: Temporary Crisis or Chronic Distress? A Psychological Controversy, Methodological Considerations, and Empirical Evidence....Pages 87-111 A Survey of Couples Facing Breast Cancer in Women....Pages 113-129 Career Pathways and Professional Transitions: Preliminary Results from the First Wave of a 7-Year Longitudinal Study....Pages 131-157 How to Survey Displaced Workers in Switzerland: Ways of Addressing Sources of Bias....Pages 159-176 Using Life History Calendars to Survey Vulnerability....Pages 177-199 Studying Youth Transitions Through a Social Network: First Impressions....Pages 201-219 Attrition in the Swiss Household Panel: Are Vulnerable Groups more Affected than Others?....Pages 221-242