Nuts and bolts of timelines in qualitative drug research

Life history interviews are a commonly used method in qualitative drug research, but the use of timelines in these interviews remains limited. This chapter explores and discusses the use, pros and cons of timelines as a method employed in two qualitative studies on substance use trajectories. It shows how, by combining in-depth interviews and timelines, the interview can become an interactive analytical process in the search for relationships between life course/life events and patterns of substance use and non-use, and also the underlying processes of substance use pathways. Timelines can support memory recall for the interviewee, and, particularly in studies of drug use trajectories, they can enhance the researcher's understanding of the relationships between these trajectories and the life course more quickly and more deeply than if an interview alone is used.