ABSTRACT
Ethnographic Longitudinal Reflection (ELR) is a qualitative interviewing technique which was created to better understand the many complex ways that sexual assault and abuse can impact a survivor’s life. It is a specific form of in-depth interviewing which allows participants to be interviewed at only one point in time, but as the person they were at three separate points in time: before the sexual assault, immediately after the sexual assault and at the present day. As there is no way to know which children and adolescents will experience sexual violence in the future, a traditional longitudinal qualitative study is not appropriate. ELR offers an alternative option, allowing adult participants the opportunity to ‘travel’ back to the moments of their life before, during and after childhood or adolescent trauma. In so doing, participants are able to provide a comprehensive picture of who they were before the violence and a detailed account of who they became after.
