Copenhagen Workshop - Longitudinal Methods

The third workshop of the CUHP thematic network was held in Copenhagen at SFI on the 29th and 30th of April 2005. It was attended on the first day by an expanded SFI team and partner teams, and on the second day by SFI researchers, partner teams and representatives from the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Municipality of Copenhagen and Danish NGOs working in the field of homelessness who presented their work.
Please click here for a full summary of the third workshop

- Summary of Copenhagen Workshop

The main work of the first day was to consider three papers on different methods of undertaking a longitudinal study of homeless populations. These were given by the Spanish team – on the use of survey methods; the Danish team – on the use of register data, and the team from the Netherlands – on the use of qualitative methods, both in-depth interviews and observations over a seven year period.

Paper 1: Survey Methods/ Panel Data. This paper from the Spanish team reported on a follow-up study that re-contacted 78 of 289 street homeless who were originally interviewed. It demonstrated the importance of assessing the representativeness of those left in the sample. It also reported on a second study for the National Plan of Spain designed to counter social exclusion. This paper discussed the ethics of following street homeless people. Two outcomes were reported for organisations working with the homeless.
Please click here for a copy of this paper.

- Follow-up studies in Spain by Manuel Muñoz, Carmelo Vázquez, Sonia Panadero and Ana Isabel Guillén from Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Discussion
The discussion on Paper 1 focussed on three points:
a) problems of re-contacting homeless people;
b) methods of contact;
c) ethics.
Please click on the Summary above to access a summary of this paper and the following discussion.

Paper 2: Register Data. This study followed homeless people who had used shelters in Denmark through registers held on all Danish citizens that identify their current situations (working, health) using their unique identifiers. Two advantages: first, only 20% of ex-homeless people are not at their current address on the register; second, those in hospital or who have died or have moved area can also be followed. But research questions have to be adapted to the administrative information that is collected. Eight problems with using register based data were identified.
Please click here for a copy of this paper.

- Possibilities and Limitations in Longitudinal Analysis of Homelessness Based on Information From Official Registers in Denmark by Tobias Berner Stax of the Danish National Institute of Social Research. Copenhagen.

Discussion
The discussion focused on three points: a) problems of reliability and validity using register data; b) permission to use this data; c) policy outcomes. The discussion was followed by a report on a new study being undertaken by Lars Pico Geerdsen and Inger Koch- Nielsen of SFI using Central Register information.
Please click on the Summary above to access a summary of this paper and the following discussion.

Paper 3: Qualitative follow-up methods. The Netherlands paper reported on a long-term study of 64 street homeless people undertaken over 7 years using both observation methods and in-depth interviews. The study included 20 homeless people followed off the streets. The paper reported on:
a) tracking strategies;
b) 4 phases in the homeless trajectory;
c) recommendations for services to respond to each phase;
d) relationship of homeless people to organisations offering support.

Please click here for a full copy of this paper.

- A follow-up study in the Netherlands by Lia Van Doorn, from the National Institute of Social Work Research, Utrecht.

Discussion
The discussion focused on four points:
a) reliability of data;
b) relationship between the researcher and homeless people being researched;
c) tools for analyzing qualitative data;
d) policy implications of the four-stage model.

Please click on the Summary above to access a summary of this paper and the following discussion.

Each partner presented a short paper on the use of longitudinal studies in their country.

- Dynamic perspective on homelessness: a few questions. Italy

- Longitudinal Research and the Evaluation of Homelessness Interventions in the UK

- The Possibilities of Longitudinal Researches on Homelessness and the dynamic aspects of the existing researches in Hungary

- Some outcomes of a longitudinal qualitative study. Netherlands

- Longitudinal analyses of homelessness in Denmark

- Longitudinal studies on the homeless in Spain. Results

- Longitudinal Perspectives on Homelessness - Some French and American Examples (file size: 900k)