social research, reflection and writing

Authors Avatar

                200605795

Social research, reflection and writing: Assignment 1

Critically review an exemplar of an example of social analysis

Review of an example of social analysis: ‘Our lives, our communities: Promoting independence and inclusion for people with learning difficulties’

Craig Hart, Chris Shane, Karen Spencer and Angela Still. (August 2007)

Published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation – http://www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/eBooks/2091-housing-support-learning-difficulties.pdf

The piece of research I have chosen to review has been published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and is entitled ‘Our lives, our communities: Promoting independence and inclusion for people with learning difficulties’.  

The study examines the issue of independence, inclusion, choice and control for adults with a learning difficulty and was researched by people with learning difficulties. The research illustrates how fifteen adults with learning difficulties feel about their lives and their standard of living. The study compares a range of living experiences including living in the parental home, independent living in the community and supported housing within a ‘village type’ community.

The research was undertaken by members of Fresh Start, which is the research division of Central England People First (CEPF). It is an organisation which is ran and governed by people with learning difficulties, this is the first project undertaken by the organisation to be controlled by researchers with learning difficulties. The team received advice from a research support person at various stages of the project and regular support people provided advice and assistance to the team of researchers.

The research team based their work around the networks, families and friends of fifteen people each with learning difficulties. The team undertook a total of fifty interviews which involved those with a learning difficulty as well as the people within their networks. Interviews, observations and diagrams were used to present the findings relating to each person with learning difficulties, these were then compared to the findings of the other participants by looking at differences and similarities.

The researchers used activity diaries and network diagrams (showing circles of friends) as well as observation and interviews to obtain their findings. This mode of analysis is identified by Fielding (Gilbert, 2001) as ethnography, a form of qualitative research combining several methods, including participant observation and interviewing.  Ethnography has been referred to: ‘as a curious blending of methodological techniques’ (Denzin, 1981 cited in Gilbert, 2001: 148) and is described by Brewer, as a study of people in their natural surroundings, using data collection methods which capture everyday life and social meaning (Brewer, 2006 cited in David & Sutton, 2004).  

The central aspects of ethnography are clearly apparent in the exemplar of social analysis, therefore is identified as a qualitative piece of research rather than a quantitative study which relies on statistical data. The study is based on people’s lives in everyday contexts therefore the majority of the research is based on observation and conversation in the form of activities and interviews. The research involved a relatively small number of participants and offered description rather than cause and effect (David & Sutton, 2004).  

The project was a user-controlled piece of research, undertaken by a team of researchers with learning difficulties and a range of support needs. A research support person worked with the team and was responsible for; providing advice on how to do the research and the analysis of the data collected, supporting the development of the project, support to make sense of the findings and support in preparing the report and other output information.

Join now!

Although the research was inclusive and user-led, one could argue that the methodology and role of the researchers identify that the analysis potentially has elements of the emancipatory paradigm within it. The emancipatory disability research model is generally associated with qualitative data collection strategies and is concerned with the transformation of social relations of research production. The Centre for Disability Studies, Leeds refer to emancipatory research as an opportunity for ‘disabled people and their organisations, rather than professional academics and researchers, to have control of the research process’, (Barnes, 2001). This particular approach to researching means that disabled people ...

This is a preview of the whole essay