Tracer Atom Sub Project

Tracer Atom is an interpretative longitudinal project, attached to main longitudinal survey.

Since 2012, almost every panel (except for 5^th graders in Moscow) is accompanied by narrative interviews with a small sample of respondents. In these interviews we touch upon biography, main life events, family role, future plans and, mainly, all the important and significant decisions (about the choice of specialization, place to study, to work, etc.) in one’s trajectory.

Apart from that, in these interviews we look at questions allowing us to understand the role of culture in formation of life trajectory in more detail. It can include the role of teachers in school and sports, or friends, book and cinema heroes, choir club or the love for Scandinavia. It is important to decipher the cultural mechanisms that work on formation of life trajectory, what becomes the source of knowledge and factor for choice in cultural meanings that form informant’s trajectories.

Some interview series have thematic accents allowing us to study certain aspects deeper.