Capturing change and stability in longitudinal qualitative research: insights from a study about aging and life transitions in Israeli continuing care retirement communities

The present paper considers the use of longitudinal qualitative research (LQR) as a means to capture both change and stability in people’s lives. We use an LQR study conducted in continuing care retirement communities to demonstrate three dimensions that should be taken into consideration when addressing change vs. stability. Three waves of interviews with older adults and their family members as well as memos and reflections concerning interview data are used. The first dimension concerns the question of: “who defines change?” A second dimension raises the question of, “what has changed?” Finally, a third dimension concerns the timeframe of change. We argue that LQR provides a tremendous richness of time dimensions and perspectives. Discrepancies between dimensions, perspectives and timeframes can be particularly enriching. Moreover, LQR allows also for the opportunity to examine stability.