Qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) has grown in prominence and popularity since the 2007 themed section on the subject in this journal. This new themed section reflects on how QLR has been mobilised and made sense of in recent times. This article showcases QLR’s distinctive way of knowing and understanding the social world and how it can illuminate the processes through which policy can enhance, or indeed inhibit, the well-being of individuals and groups within society. This state of the art article focuses on QLR as a valuable but tricky approach. It argues that QLR can enhance qualitative research in social policy by fostering sustained policy engagement and development, and that this is especially useful for policy-making in relation to socioeconomic disadvantage. It also explores cross-cutting methodological dimensions pertinent to QLR’s distinct approach, such as its enhanced ethical considerations, which are also integral to research with people at high risk of socioeconomic disadvantage. The article concludes with possible future directions and developments for QLR as a methodology.

中文翻译：

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定性纵向研究：从单色到彩色

定性纵向研究 (QLR) 自 2007 年在本期刊上发表关于该主题的主题部分以来，其重要性和受欢迎程度不断提高。这个新的主题部分反映了最近 QLR 是如何被动员和理解的。本文展示了 QLR 了解和理解社会世界的独特方式，以及它如何阐明政策可以增强或实际上抑制社会中个人和群体福祉的过程。这篇最先进的文章侧重于将 QLR 作为一种有价值但棘手的方法。它认为 QLR 可以通过促进持续的政策参与和发展来加强社会政策的定性研究，这对于与社会经济劣势相关的政策制定特别有用。它还探讨了与 QLR 独特方法相关的跨领域方法学维度，例如其增强的伦理考虑，这也是对处于社会经济劣势高风险人群的研究不可或缺的一部分。文章最后介绍了 QLR 作为一种方法论的未来可能的方向和发展。