This field report provides detailed information on the methodological approach as well as on the process of data collection and analysis in EIWO project III – “Mechanisms and Origins of Late Working Life Exclusion”. EIWO project III is part of the qualitative part of the EIWO programme and is – together with EIWO project VI, VII, and VIII from phase II – one of the four projects in which primary data is collected. EIWO uses a mixed-methods approach in its nine sub-projects, so that quantitative and qualitative methods are used in combination to investigate – from a life course perspective – the topic of late working life and the potential of extension of working lives on different levels (micro, meso and macro level). Due to the different methodological approaches, results from some projects provide evidence for further investigations in other sub-projects, whereby, for example, results of the qualitative investigations can be validated using large data sets. In projects in the field of life course research, a mixed-methods approach is widely used because it allows for a detailed investigation of the structural, institutional and individual factors influencing the life course. EIWO project III focuses in particular on the micro level by taking the perspective of individuals and thus provides a basis on which quantitative analyses, e.g. in EIWO project IV, can be built on. “The main aims of project III are to analyse the nature and sources of inequalities in late working life employment/retirement and to identify individual/family responses and coping strategies” (Application EIWO programme). Based on these aims, the following research questions were formulated for EIWO project III:

• What events and circumstances can be identified over the life course that lead to social inequalities/exclusion in late working life employment from the individual perspective? What are the explanatory mechanisms? 
• How are exclusion risks and inequalities assessed on the individual level in late working life? Do persons experience social inequalities/exclusion? 
• If they experience exclusion/inequalities: What coping strategies are/were used to reduce inequalities/exclusion? 
• What can be learned from individual responses as to how meso-level organisational policies and macro-level social policies help or hinder transitions?

In the following, it will be described why a qualitative research approach was chosen for this project and what characterises this approach. Then, the research instruments and the inclusion criteria for the sample will be explained. The third chapter illustrates the field phase, including the recruitment phase, the final composition of the sample and the conduct of the interviews, as well as challenges that arose during the field phase and the chosen approaches. Finally, the data analysis method is discussed and the report is concluded with a short summary.