Qualitative Methodologies and the Life Course in Brazil

Abstract

The specifics of approaches to qualitative research in the field of youth studies in Brazil are presented. Research projects that focus on young people should recognize the specificities that can be translated into analyses of the diversity and inequalities of youth experience. Two aspects are key: Markers of age can inform early approaches, since there is international agreement on the general extent of this stage of life (from 15 to 29 years of age), and the occurrence of differences among adolescents, that is, young people approaching the age of majority and young people in transition to adult life. Thus, the process of data collection needs to allow for the possibility of bricolage techniques in order to effectively study the subjects, presupposing their interactions and positions in contemporary society. Starting from an initial reflection on the main milestones that guide the very idea of youth and the ways in which the studies in education have dialogued with this field in Brazil, four aspects need to be considered when carrying out empirical investigations: contexts and research spaces; the successive approximations and times of investigation; sounds and images; and the potential benefits and hazards of using virtual networks and the internet for data collection in studies of young people. This combination of procedures requires the researcher to exercise sociological imagination and act with some degree of creativity. However, there must also be rigorous care in selecting research techniques and applying them to whatever the project may be.