Avances teóricos y metodológicos de las historias de vida en México. La Encuesta Demográfica Retrospectiva (EDER)

This paper presents the first theoretical and methodological results of the biographical survey and its analysis. In a migratory context, events-history analysis permits to understand the whole process of individual, social and family changes and demographic dynamics at the national level. With the help of works on migration and family in Mexico, as well as researches in the field of biographical studies, this article presents methodological and data collection aspects as well as the theoretical considerations for their analysis. The estimate and reconstruction of family and migratory trajectories permit the analysis of the interactions between demographic phenomena, between events of life histories (residential, family and occupational histories) of individuals. The making of the National Retrospective Demographic Survey (EDER 98), its various stages, and its questionnaire, offer the possibility to present a longitudinal and retrospective national-type survey.