Time for change? Applying an inductive timeline tool for a retrospective study of disaster recovery in Montserrat, West Indies

The recovery process unfolds over a long time and can last for decades, yet most studies of recovery are over short timeframes or represent points in time across the process. Long-term disaster recovery studies are necessary in order to understand the process and the changes that are promoted by disasters over many years. Retrospective methods offer opportunities to gather a dataset of changes over long periods of time, yet concerns with the reliability of participant recall create challenges for research. Retrospective studies need improved data gathering techniques to facilitate reliable recall.