Description: Although the growth of longitudinal data archives is one of the most dramatic developments in the behavioural sciences, there has been a barrier to the effective use of these files due to a lack of understanding of the relation between research questions and archival data - until now. The authors of this volume illustrate how to use the model-fitting process to select and fit the right data set to a particular research problem. Beginning with an introduction to the general issues in working with archival data, the book takes the reader through steps in the recasting of data and question, using substantive examples from the life course, such as temporal patterns of physical and emotional health as well as pathways to retirement.
Brief description: Eliza Pavalko came to IU in 1991 after a postdoctoral fellowship in aging and the life course at the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina, graduate work at Florida State University and undergraduate work at Guilford College. Eliza has published papers with graduate students in Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Forces, Journal of Marriage and the Family and Journal of Gerontology on relationships between women′s employment, unpaid work and health over the life course. Current projects include a study investigating social change in the work-health relationship for women with Fang Gong and Scott Long and a study of the mental illness careers of 1950s state hospital patients with Bernice Pescosolido and Courtenay Harding. Eliza spends her free time gardening and walking, and whenever possible, riding her horse, Sophie.