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In this article, we address data interrelations that social researchers face when working with qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews with longitudinal (QLR) and multiperspective (MPR) research designs. Revisiting data from four different research projects and building on the proposal by VOGL, ZARTLER, SCHMIDT and RIEDER (2018), we present the 4C model of complexities within data interrelations. Specifically, the broader pool of data allowed us to cross-investigate how interview data may contradict, correct, complement, or be confluent with what the researcher has gathered from another interview conducted at a different point in time (longitudinally) or with another study participant (multi-perspective approach). Using different forms of transitions (e.g., transitions to adulthood, migratory transitions, transitions to parenthood) as a common analytical thread, we argue that revealing inherent inconsistencies in the data reflects the complex and ever-changing nature of reality and that making sense of these inconsistencies often enriches interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transnational family living refers to the situation of maintaining relationships across national borders. It is dependent on a certain degree of flexibility from the state. As part of the crisis response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this flexibility was revoked. As a result, existing mobility inequalities became more visible than ever: while travel restrictions came as a shock to many, they created an additional challenge to those who had been struggling in the past. All persons engaged in transnational family living had to find ways to navigate the new situation. Our project is based on policy review and online ethnography taking Norway as a case. We discuss how individuals tried to maintain cross-border and mixed-status family lives during the first year of the pandemic, reacted to the borders closing, and found solace and advice from others in similar situations. The COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that followed have exposed vulnerabilities associated with transnational living and revealed to those involved that their arrangements were conditioned by the non-interference of the state. Our article engages in the discussion on the complexity of transnational family living and uses the case of the pandemic and the sudden state intervention in mobility regulations to expose the hidden parts of the puzzle that sustain the contemporary attributes of transnationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]