[Questioning employees on their professional past: the meaning of inconsistencies]

Reflecting on professional careers is essential to understand aging at work. In most cases, the only way to gain knowledge on the occupational history of workers is to question them directly. The purpose of this study is to reflect on the quality and meaning of the answers employees give when asked about the "course" of their work.

The present analysis pertains to the ESTEV survey on health, work and aging. For occupational health purposes 21,400 employees of both sexes, representing four different age years were asked to respond to a questionnaire in 1990; five years later, more than 87% of them were seen again. The longitudinal analysis shows that an individual's responses on past and present working conditions may be inconsistent. The methodology applied aims to "find a meaning" for such inconsistencies, both by confronting them with other data from the ESTEV survey and by clarifying the process leading to the construction of such inconsistencies through further inquiries among the respondents concerned.

By not considering these inconsistent responses to be "errors" one gathers a clearer understanding of how the perception employees have of their own working conditions may change over time.

The present study stresses the importance of confronting qualitative and quantitative approaches to gain useful knowledge on the phenomena at hand.