1,390,097 research outputs found
Negotiating access in ethnographic research with ‘hard to reach’ young people: establishing common ground or a process of methodological grooming?
No full textNegotiating access to participants poses challenges for all social research, but this can be particularly exacting in ethnographic projects which require participants to consent to prolonged research encounters that can be invasive or disruptive of their social lives. The process is more difficult still when accessing social groups that are already heavily scrutinised, and associated with practicesthat are viewed as socially problematic. In such cases, traditional forms of voluntary participation and/or informed consent may be difficult to obtain in advance. This paper addresses recent debates about the ethical dilemmas and challenges involved in social science research, drawing on the first author’s experiences in three studies involving young people in the 18–25 age group.These projects focused on car modifiers (aka ‘boy racers’), young people’s drinking cultures and Free Parties, and potential participants were initially reluctantto get involved in all three studies. In this paper the authors use these examples to explore the possibility that researchers might engage in forms of ‘methodological grooming’ to recruit participants, in an attempt to comply with traditional notions of informed consent. The authors end by advocating a more flexible approach to research ethics in such cases, based on gaining the trust ofpotential participants, finding common ground between researcher
The sound of escapism: why do people love festivals - is it the music? The beer? Or a place to forget your rubbish job?
No full textSelf-made motormen: the material construction of working-class masculine identities through car modification
No full textThis paper explores how motorcars and car-based cultural practices operate in the construction of young working-class masculine identities. It draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted during the summer of 2002 with young male car modifiers from the Midlands and North Wales who associated with the British cruising scene. Although this study is broadly framed by the youth cultural world of cruising, it does not approach car modification as a collective cultural phenomenon or draw on subcultural theory, but instead examines young men's relationships with their cars in terms of general theories of consumption and identity and theories of cultural production. The car modifiers participating in this study frequently resisted calls to collectivity and repeatedly endorsed a heavily individualised discourse of consumption. As consumers of the motorcar, they constituted themselves as absolutely individual on the basis of their ownership of modified cars that they constituted as culturally unique. Car modification operated as a set of identity practices organised around the active consumption and symbolic manipulation of standard motorcars and the cultural production of idiosyncratic signifiers of masculine identity. Through car modification, young working-class men discursively distanced themselves from the mass of standard car-owning subjects and constituted themselves as ‘unique’ car-owning individuals who were culturally privileged. This claim to privilege was predicated on their capacity to produce highly conspicuous motorcars, which they viewed as a source of considerable cultural capital
Methodological innovation and research ethics: forces in tension or forces in harmony?
No full textThis paper is an exploration of the tensions inherent in the interaction between ethics and methodological innovation. The authors focus on three cases of innovation in qualitative research methods in the social sciences: netnography, child-led research, and creative research methods. Using thematic analysis of data collected through semi-structured interviews with the innovators and commentators on the innovations, they discuss the cases in terms of ethical responsibly, the democratisation of research, matters of empowerment, and the relationship between research and the academy. The paper highlights the ways in which innovation does not necessarily equate to taking risks but rather to risk management: the innovators are cautious as much as creative, operating within the context of a culture in which procedural ethical regulation acts to limit methodological development, and in which they (and other users of their method/approach) communicate the safe qualities alongside the innovative qualities of their approac
But Is It Innovation?:The Development of Novel Methodological Approaches in Qualitative Research
No full textFocusing on three case studies of novel approaches about which claims of innovation have been made, this paper explores the process of methodological innovation and the response of the social science community to innovations. The study focuses on three specific innovations: ‘netnography’, ‘child-led research’ and ‘creative methods’ and draws on interview data with researchers who have developed these approaches and those who have engaged with them. Data are explored through the lens of the social context of contemporary qualitative research methods and specifically what has been referred to in the UK as the ‘impact’ agenda. We argue that while methodological innovation may be viewed by researchers as important for the continued success of social science disciplines, the processes whereby new methods are developed and marketed, within the context of contemporary social research and the impact culture, may limit their acknowledgement and acceptance within the broader social science community. This culture increases the speed at which innovations are developed and marketed, encourages the dissemination of codified or procedural Approaches to innovations which limit the craft of qualitative research and encourages early career researchers to adopt approaches without being reflexive about the affordances these methods might provide
The discursive constitution of the UK alcohol problem in Safe, Sensible, Social: a discussion of policy implications
No full textIn this article, we critically reflect on the constitution of the UK's alcohol problem in the government's ‘Safe, Social, Sensible’ policy document, referring to findings from a 3-year ESRC funded study on young people, alcohol and identity. We suggest that discursive themes running throughout ‘Safe, Sensible, Social’ include ‘shared responsibility’ for implementing a ‘cultural change’, ‘youth and binge drinking’ and the need to promote ‘sensible’ levels of alcohol consumption to individual drinkers. We argue that, in constituting the problem around these themes, the policy document risks diluting responsibility and obscuring the role of government, media and alcohol manufacturers. In addition, the way young drinkers are constituted carries a risk of isolating this group as both cause and effect of the alcohol problem, placing an unrealistic burden of responsibility on local communities and agencies and exacerbating the gap between policy assumptions and the lived reality of young drinkers within their cultural context. We conclude that alcohol policy requires a more substantive, clearly specified and evidence-based approach which acknowledges the complexities of drinking contexts and drinker motivations in the allocation of responsibility and formulation of policy. In particular, policy needs to address the role of legislation and licensing laws, and the branding and marketing activities of the drinks industry in the structure of UK alcohol consumption<br/
Parental interpretations of “childhood innocence”: implications for early sexuality education
No full textDespite general recognition of the benefits of talking openly about sexuality with children, parents encounter and/or create barriers to such communication. One of the key barriers is a desire to protect childhood innocence. Using data collected during focus group discussions with parents and carers of young children, the current study explores parental interpretations of childhood innocence and the influence this has on their reported practices relating to sexuality-relevant communication with young children aged between 4 and 7 years old. Childhood innocence was commonly equated with non-sexuality in children and sexual ignorance. Parents displayed ambiguity around the conceptualisation of non-innocence in children. Parents desire to prolong the state of childhood innocence led them to withhold certain sexual knowledge from their children; however, the majority also desired an open relationship whereby their child could approach them for information
Risk, creativity and ethics: dimensions of innovation in qualitative social science research methods
No full textThis conference paper draws on research conducted within NCRM on the nature of methodological innovation in qualitative social science research methods, and in particular on three cases of innovation studied to explore the phenomenon in detail. The diverse cases are: netnography, child-led research and creative research. We examine the claim to a critical juncture in the emergence as innovative methods made by Robert Kozinets, Mary Kellett and David Gauntlett respectively. The research comprised a systematic search of the literature to explore the response of the academy community to publications by these authors, plus semi-structured interviews conducted with them and with individuals able to comment on developments, i.e for each case, an early career researcher applying or adapting the innovation, an experienced researcher in the area, a book reviewer of the innovator’s work, a knowledgeable researcher/user of the innovation from a different country and one from a different discipline. Thematic analysis of the interview data enabled exploration of the processes involved in the status of innovation being claimed or ascribed. Together the cases shed light on the changing social contexts that demand new research questions and responses and that lead researchers to develop novel methodological approaches. Points of interest arising in this project of understanding methodological innovation in process include issues of ethical responsibility, democratisation of research, empowerment through research and the relationship between research and the academy. The paper addresses the nebulous nature of methodological innovation and the ways in which it is about reflexivity on techniques as well the novelty of the techniques themselves. We argue that, counter to what we may have expected, in the particular cases studied the innovators were: (i) managing risks as much as taking risks; (ii) codifying their work as much as being creative; and (iii) seeking to be ethical rather than being constrained by a culture in which procedural ethical regulation works to limit methodological development. These innovators were working to balance communicating the safe qualities alongside the innovative qualities of their approach. They were operating in what are often perceived to be ethically risky domains (the internet, children, and visual methods) and it is helpful to reflect on the perceived riskiness of educational research and the particular relevance for researchers in education<br/
Talking relationships, babies and bodies with young children: the experiences of parents in England
No full textParents often find themselves ill-prepared for the moment at which questions of a sexual nature arise, or when children display signs of playful behaviour that can be interpreted as sexual. How these behaviours and questions are dealt with establishes the foundations on which children begin to interpret relationships, their bodies, those of others and the sexual world in which they live. In this study, the views and experiences of dealing with early childhood sexuality education, along with the ways in which communication had occurred, were collected from 110 parents in London and southern England during focus group discussions and analysed using thematic analysis. Parents who had chosen to communicate with their children reported a range of justifications as to why childhood sexuality communication was considered necessary and had, indeed, occurred. Six key themes were identified: communication prompts, the need for truth, the threat of ignorance, exposure, healthy and positive relationships and openness. Findings reveal that many parents are making strategic decisions about how to discuss relationships and sexuality with their young children. By highlighting the central trigger points for early parent-child sexuality communication, findings can be used to aid the development of relevant practice responses to support less confident parents to communicate effectively
A review of the academic impact of three methodological innovations: Netnography, child-led research and creative research methods
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