80 likes | 167 Views
Tracking change in the lives of ‘vulnerable’ groups: Reflections on doing Qualitative Longitudinal Research (QLR) Jenny McNeill. Research Context. Combinations of sanctions and support- what, if any, impact on changing behaviours?
E N D
Tracking change in the lives of ‘vulnerable’ groups: Reflections on doing Qualitative Longitudinal Research (QLR) Jenny McNeill
Research Context • Combinations of sanctions and support- what, if any, impact on changing behaviours? • Welfare increasingly conditional on behaving in certain ways (eg job-seeking) • What is the efficacy and ethicality of welfare conditionality?
Fieldwork plans • 40 interviews with policy makers • 24 focus groups with practitioners • 1440 interviews with 9 groups of service users in 9 cities in England and Scotland over 3 years (480 participants each interviewed 3 times)
Reflections from PhD research (2007-2011) “The role of employability in the resettlement of single homeless people” • Longitudinal design: Interviews with 30 homeless/formerly homeless people. • Interviewed twice with 9 month gap between interviews. • Revisited research diary- methodological & ethical challenges faced.
‘Access’ issues • Use of gatekeepers in recruitment. Obligation? • Gaining informed consent over time. Consent as a process- needing renewal (Neale, 2012) • How to maintain contact with participants? • Intrusion and neglect (Neale, 2011; 2012) • ‘Collateral contacts’ (Hobden et al, 2011) • Using social media to sustain contact?
‘Power’ issues • Building relationships over time most effective means of minimising attrition (Killien and Newton, 1990) • Building rapport- concern when life for participants doesn’t go as well as they had hoped (account for attrition? Thomson & Holland, 2003) • Therapeutic value of interviews • Control over interview structure by participants (Thomson & Holland, 2003)
‘Safety’ issues • Lone working protocols • Dealing with the unexpected • Confidentiality & ‘Safeguarding’- disclosure of harm to themselves or others- how and when to report? • Ensuring de-briefing & support available after interviews
Thoughts for next stages of project • Research team- poses challenges & opportunities. Reflexive practice (Pillow, 2003; Henwood, 2008) • Flexibility- change to sample & analysis • Analytical difficulties of capturing change over time (Corden and Millar, 2007). Interviewees rarely recount life events chronologically (Smith & Ravenhill, 2004). How to capture change? Timelines?