Dataset of interviews on how people over 50 spend their time and who they see, talk to, or do things with. A main interest was investigating whether people over 50 spend most of their time with people of their own or other generations, and where and how they come across other people (of their own and other generations). Another aim was hearing about people’s experiences of ageing and whether their relationships influence their feelings about their age, their generation, and if they identify with a ‘generation’ at all. This dataset comprises 45 interview transcripts (1st interview with 24 individuals; 2nd interview with 22 individuals - one interviewed as a couple) and 2 focus group transcripts. The Inter/generational Dynamics project was part of the "Realities" node of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods. The project examined interaction and engagement between and within generations, with older people at the centre of the enquiry. The research explores the concept of ‘generation’, asking what it means to older people and to some of the other generations (familial and non-familial) in their lives. It is interested in how inter/ generational dynamics are related both to people’s experiences of personal ageing (bodily, sensory and social) and to their understandings of socio-cultural change. Some of the participants in this study were recruited from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Most participants took part in 2 face-to-face interviews: the first was a semi-structured interview on the research themes, after which participants filled in a diary to record their daily interactions with people from other generations; the second interview was based on a discussion of this diary data.