Only 37 per cent of young people voted at the 2005 British General Election, seemingly confirming the oft-cited view that this generation is becoming increasingly disconnected from the political process. Results from a nationwide survey, however, indicate that their withdrawal from formal politics is more a result of their scepticism of the way the political system operates, than apathy. Furthermore, they are diverse in their political (dis)engagement. Results from an examination of the relative effects of socio-economic location and social capital are inconclusive, although the data indicate that government social policy aimed at mobilising social capital and addressing socio-economic issues may increase civic engagement.

This article discusses the grounds on which those who provide informal social care for dependent adults and children can be held to warrant public support, and what obligations they should accept in return. It outlines two interpretations of the rights and responsibilities of such care workers: Stuart White's notion of care as civic labour and Eva Feder Kittay's principle of doulia. It shows that these interpretations reflect different understandings of the self and of reciprocity. The conclusion is that Kittay's writings better reflect the relationality of care, but that it is still possible to justify some forms of welfare conditionality.

This paper considers what we might expect to be the effect on social policy of Turkish accession to the EU by reviewing the impact of EU membership on social policy in other new member and candidate countries. This effect begins long before membership is finalised, and continues long after membership has been achieved. The patterns of impact can be divided along a number of dimensions: between ‘accession’ and ‘enlargement’; state and civil society; centre and periphery; formal and substantive; and different welfare institutions. In the course of reviewing these variations, the paper reflects upon the nature of social policy itself, and in particular the nature of the European Social Model.

The present study was based on data from 100 face-to-face interviews, supplemented by findings from 316 respondents in a national postal survey, and shows that UK Chinese respondents were family-orientated and self-reliant, having low expectations of public welfare. These features challenge the myth of welfare dependency of ethnic minorities. Also, compared with Chinese welfare practices based on strong moral values and duties towards other people, New Labour's welfare culture lacks a solid social and ethical base for nurturing the concepts of duty and self-reliance.

This paper addresses the incentives and impediments to alliance formation in the UK health consumer group sector. Research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council shows that links between groups are extensive and highly valued. However, they take place in the context of competition for resources and influence within New Labour's reform agenda. Drawing on theories from sociology and political science this paper shows how in recent years the working environment of groups has shaped cooperation. However, alliance working carries opportunity costs and doubts remain about their ability to survive once these external stimuli disappear.

Understanding the nature and process of change over time is an important part of social research. Large-scale longitudinal studies, such as the various birth cohorts and the British Household Panel Survey, have transformed the way in which we understand the relationships between individual lifecourse, family formation and dissolution, economic and social change, and social policy. Qualitative methods for longitudinal research are not yet as well established in social policy research as quantitative methods, but they are attracting increasing interest. The papers in this themed section were first presented at a Social Policy Association sponsored workshop held in London in November 2005. The main aim of the workshop was to explore the challenges of using such data for policy-related research, focusing in particular on data analysis and interpretation.

In recent years there have been significant advances in our understanding of the dynamics of poverty, social exclusion and labour market transitions through the analysis of large-scale panel studies. This article examines the particular contribution that longitudinal qualitative research might additionally make in these areas, illustrated by evidence from an ongoing longitudinal qualitative study of lone mothers and their children, following the families as they leave income support for employment.

This article describes the processes and objectives of qualitative longitudinal analysis in evaluation research, using a recent evaluation study – the evaluation of the Job Retention and Rehabilitation Pilot – as an example. It describes evaluation research as involving an interplay between four domains of change: individual, service, policy and structural, which makes longitudinal qualitative research a particularly rich data source. It outlines different types of change that may be evident: narrative change, reinterpretation by either participant or researcher, and the absence of change. The article describes how the Framework analysis method was used to analyse longitudinal qualitative research. It examines how the data can be read in different ways to combine cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis, and theme, case and group analysis, and discusses the kind of questions that can be asked of change in longitudinal qualitative evaluation studies.

This article draws on the authors' experience in conducting a recent qualitative longitudinal study in the evaluation of the Pathways to Work Pilot for incapacity benefits recipients. Findings from the qualitative longitudinal research highlighted issues that might not otherwise have been apparent. This approach to policy-related research provides new perspectives and opportunities for substantive findings. It also presents a number of challenges. Issues arise about how to engage with policy makers when exploring changes over time. Policy makers are often keen to have ‘emerging findings’ from panel data, but an initial cross-sectional analysis to meet such requirements contains views and experiences of people who subsequently drop out of the panel. The full longitudinal perspective then comes from a smaller group, and there may be some surprises in comparison with the ‘emerging findings’. At the same time, the focus of policy interests may shift during the lifetime of the panel, especially during a pilot or trial in a rapidly developing policy area. Researchers may be asked to introduce new topics or abandon some lines of enquiry, and may face ethical issues in deciding how to make best use of the data.

This paper describes the development of ‘case histories’ from a qualitative longitudinal data set that followed 100 young people's transitions to adulthood over a ten year period. The paper describes two stages in the analytic process: first, the forging of a case history from a longitudinal archive and second, bringing case histories into conversation with each other. The paper emphasises two aspects of a qualitative longitudinal data set: the longitudinal dimension that privileges the individual case, and the cross sectional dimension that privileges the social and the spatial context. It is argued that both aspects should always be kept in play in analysis. The paper concludes by reflecting on the ethical and practical challenges associated with the case history approach, heightened by the growing demand to archive and share qualitative longitudinal data sets.

The four earlier articles in this themed section are based on presentations at a workshop convened to explore challenges in using qualitative longitudinal methods for policy-related research, with particular focus on data analysis and interpretation. Together, they provide useful pointers to the scope of qualitative longitudinal approaches, and extensive discussion of management and analysis of the particular and complex data produced. Readers who are interested in pursuing themselves a qualitative longitudinal approach to policy-related social research will want also to look to a wider literature to enhance their understanding of issues to be taken into consideration, and to explore the range of methods and options. The aim of this review article is to provide some ideas about the kind of literature likely to prove helpful. The bibliographic references for this review article are supplemented by the guide to sources which completes this themed section.

There are many key references in the articles in this themed section, including the review article. Rather than repeating those, here we give some web references and also some specific references to the topic of archiving and secondary analysis of qualitative data (with thanks to Rachel Thomson who provided these). This is not a topic that we have covered in any depth in this themed section but it is an important area for anyone thinking of adopting this methodology. We also provide some references on ethical issues.