Italian Longitudinal Study on Older People’s Quality of Life during the Covid-19 pandemic (ILQA-19)
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTORS to wave 4 ad hoc module interview guide on social participation
AIM OF THE CALL
As part of the research activities within the broader Ageing Societies research group, ILQA-19 is a qualitative longitudinal study aimed at investigating the redefinition of older people’s everyday life in pandemic and post-pandemic times.
In the attempt to involve the broader academic community and adopt an open approach to social science, we propose external contributors to participate in the research design for the Wave 4 ILQA-19 study.
Specifically, the ILQA-19 Call for contributors offers experts in the field of ageing research who do not have the resources to carry out a primary data collection the possibility to co-construct an interview guide on a given topic (see study description below) to be used during ILQA-19 wave 4 data collection and then have access to anonymised wave 4 data (during the embargo period). Specifically, the selected proponent will:
- Contribute to the construction of the interview guide on a given topic – ad hoc module of wave 4
- Have access to the anonymised wave 4 data (during the embargo period),
- Result as a co-author of the deposited dataset (with an ISBN reference)
Please note that, due to our panel characteristics, all our transcripts will be available in Italian. Fluency in Italian is not a limitation for the aim of the call.
STUDY DESCRIPTION
The Italian Longitudinal Study on Older People’s Quality of Life during the Covid-19 pandemic (ILQA-19) investigates the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on older people’s well-being and everyday life. It is conducted on a purposive sample of 40 older men and women aged between 65 and 80 living in the ten villages (located in the Northern part of Italy) that experienced the first lockdown in Europe. Our panel is a heterogeneous group of participants, differing in terms of social background, marital status, social capital, and digital literacy. All data collection phases, i.e., recruitment, interviewing, and gaining informed consent, are performed by remote, adopting innovative protocols (Garavaglia et al. 2023, Melis et al. 2021a, Melis et al. 2021b, Melis et al. 2022). The first wave of the data collection was conducted during the first lockdown, using semi-structured video-interviews (e.g., WhatsApp). To date, we conducted three waves of data collection: wave 1 started in spring 2020, wave 2 in spring 2021, wave 3 in autumn 2022. The interview guide has a core of questions that is repeated during each wave, on everyday life, social relationships and ICT use, with an ad hoc thematic module of questions that changes each year: the theme for wave 2 was the role of older people within society, while wave 3 studied the digitalisation of welfare, with a specific focus on SPID (Public Digital Identity System).
Wave 4 will start in autumn 2023 and the ad hoc module will address the main theme of social participation.
SUBMISSION
To submit the proposal, interested parties must send a pdf of no more than 1500 words by 1st September 2023 to the Chair of the Evaluation Panel Committee (giulia.melis@unimib.it). The submission form should be constituted of four main parts, following the template below. The proposal should be consistent with the longitudinal nature of the study.
Submissions from early career researchers are highly encouraged.
In selecting the proposals, the Evaluation Panel Committee will adopt a participatory approach, involving ILQA-19 study participants in the final selection. The committee is composed of:
- Giulia Melis (Chair of the ILQA-19 Evaluation Panel Committee)
- Emanuela Sala (PI of the project ACTIVE-IT)
- Simone Carlo (Leader ACTIVE-IT WP2)
- Daniele Zaccaria (ACTIVE-IT team member)
- ILQA-19 Panel members’ representatives
All applicants will be notified of the results of the evaluation. The selected proponent(s) will be asked to meet remotely with the research team during the first week of October to finalise the interview guide ad hoc module.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE STUDY, SEE:
UniData. Bicocca Data Archive website
Ageing Societies (ILQA-19 is part of the ACTIVE-IT project)
Giulia Melis (giulia.melis@unimib.it)
REFERENCES
Emma Garavaglia, Alessandro Caliandro, Giulia Melis, Emanuela Sala, & Daniele Zaccaria (2023): “Contrasting Ageism in Research on Older Adults and Digital Technologies: a Methodological Reflection”, in Andrea Rosales, Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, Jakob Svensson (Eds), Digital Ageism. How it Operates and Approaches to Tackling it, London: Routledge, ISBN 9781032271538 (available online – open access)
Giulia Melis, Emanuela Sala & Daniele Zaccaria (2022): “The Role of Information and Communication Technologies in Researching Older People during the Covid-19 Pandemic – The Case of the Italian Longitudinal Study on Older People’s Quality of Life during the Covid-19 Pandemic (ILQA-19)”. Proceedings: Volume 29, Springer LNCS 13330 “Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population: Design, Interaction and Technology Acceptance (Part I)”, edited by Qin Gao and Jia Zhou
Giulia Melis, Emanuela Sala & Daniele Zaccaria (2021b): “Remote recruiting and video-interviewing older people: a research note on a qualitative case study carried out in the first Covid-19 Red Zone in Europe”, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, DOI: 10.1080/13645579.2021.1913921
Giulia Melis, Emanuela Sala & Daniele Zaccaria (2021a): “«I turned to Facebook to know when they would open the cemetery»… Results from a qualitative case study on older people’s social media use during COVID-19 lockdown in Italy”, RASSEGNA ITALIANA DI SOCIOLOGIA, LXII(2), 431-457, DOI: 10.1423/101851