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UCC Poverty Methods Summer School June 2012

UCC Poverty Methods Summer School June 2012. Financial inclusion: conducting research with low-income households Sharon Collard, Senior Research Fellow. What is a community select committee?. Modelled on evidence sessions of parliamentary select committees

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UCC Poverty Methods Summer School June 2012

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  1. UCC Poverty Methods Summer SchoolJune 2012 Financial inclusion: conducting research with low-income households Sharon Collard, Senior Research Fellow

  2. What is a community select committee? • Modelled on evidence sessions of parliamentary select committees • Expert witnesses questioned by committee members • In community select committees: • Committee members are people on low incomes • Expert witnesses are representatives from the financial services industry and not-for-profit organisations

  3. Why hold a community select committee? • Bottom-up approach • Puts people on low incomes in the driving seat • Held in the local community • Committee members are ‘on home ground’ • Gives service providers valuable feedback

  4. Community select committees in action: Banking and payment services, 2011

  5. How do you recruit committee members? • Recruited by professional agency using a screening questionnaire • Cross-section of community • But may not be very engaged with the topic • 14 committee members about the right number • Pay people to participate • No information in advance

  6. How do you choose expert witnesses? • At least some initiatives should be publicly available • Good preparation essential • Briefing pack • Phone briefing • Committee members prefer informal, low-key, light-hearted, ‘chatty’ • Definitely no PowerPoint!

  7. There’s less of an ‘us and them’ bit if someone is sat around the table with you, there’s less of the kind of ‘I’m more important than you because I’ve got a slide show and a pointer and a script’. It makes it slightly more informal which is better. (Community select committee member, 2002)

  8. Making it work • Requires experienced facilitator • Get committee members thinking about the topic • ‘Closed sessions’ to reflect on what they’ve heard

  9. It’s good to be listened to for a change It was nice to have real people to talk to When I first came here I thought it was going to be rubbish, and I’d be sitting here bored all day. But now I reckon it’s a good idea and I’m going to start saving. The food was excellent Community select committee members, 2002

  10. Resources: Community select committees Developing a vision for financial inclusion www.bris.ac.uk/geography/research/pfrc/themes/finexc/vision.html Promoting financial inclusion (includes chapter on the method) www.bris.ac.uk/geography/research/pfrc/themes/finexc/promoting-inclusion.html Tackling financial exclusion www.bris.ac.uk/geography/research/pfrc/themes/finexc/tackling-exclusion.html

  11. Social research resources ESRC’s National Centre for Research Methods www.ncrm.ac.uk Social Science Bites www.socialsciencespace.com/author/socialsciencebites/

  12. Robust Insightful Influential s.collard@bristol.ac.uk

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