Individual and Household Strategies: a Decade of Change? 1986-1997

The aims of the <i>Decade of Change</i> (DCS) project were to extend and deepen conceptual, empirical and methodological understanding of individual and household plans and strategies, by re-interviewing a group of individuals and their partners interviewed in Kirkcaldy in 1986-1987 as part of the <i>Social Change and Economic Life Initiative</i> (SCELI). The SCELI data are held at the Archive under SN:2798.<br> More specifically, the objectives of the project were to:<br> examine how plans and strategies evolve over time, by comparing the late 1980s responses with those given ten years later, and by exploring with respondents their accounts of why these changes have occurred;<br> seek to relate the changing patterns of plans and strategies to some of the structural continuities in the wider and local economy and society over the past ten years, by comparing the responses given by respondents aged 30-45 years and 46-60 ten years ago, with those aged 30-45 and 46-60 now, and by discussing with respondents their perceptions of the consequences for their households of these changes;<br> explore, further than in the original study, the extent to which it is meaningful to retain a concept of 'household' strategies as opposed to 'his' and 'her' strategies;<br> investigate these issues by re-interviewing, using survey methodology, as many of the original Kirkcaldy 'household sample' interviewed in the SCELI as can be traced and are willing to be interviewed, and by carrying out semi-structured intensive interviews with 60 couples divided between those now aged 30-45, 46-60 and 61-70, including those couples traced who were previously interviewed in this way;<br> examine further the relationship between a survey and a more qualitative approach to these issues;<br> attempt to throw some light on the reliability of retrospective questions in this kind of study.