Insider research,validity issues,and the OHS professional: one person’s journey

Validity in the context of qualitative research may take on many different definitions depending on the philosophical perspective. When a researcher conducts research within their place of employment, this will also influence the approach and interpretation. Insider research has been under scrutiny for the very fact that the insider is an actor within the setting. This paper explores my journey, conducting insider research and working as an occupational health and safety practitioner, by presenting an example of the methods used, including reflectivity and reflexivity, to address validity issues which may arise prior, during and post data collection.     

Can a Munro-Inspired Approach Transform the Lives of Looked after Children in England?

This discussion paper will examine the lessons from the Munro Review relevant for looked after children. Although the Munro Review focuses on child protection, we will argue that some of its key principles have relevance for understanding looked after childhoods. The Munro Review provides an analysis of the current state of the child protection system, challenging bureaucratised practice and arguing for a reclaiming of professional social work identity, knowledge and understanding. There are three key principles of the Munro Review that this paper will focus upon. The first two are the recognition that risk cannot be eradicated and the bureaucratisation of practice is an inadequate response to the demand for public accountability. The third principle is that ethical integrity lies at the heart of services for children in public care. The key message of this paper is that a Munro approach can transform looked after childhoods. However, the current ‘child protection’ model of social work in England may prevent this shift in social work practice.     

Understanding looked‐after childhoods

The absence of a sociological discourse about children in the past meant that child and family social work has largely relied on psychological interpretations of children and their behaviour. However, since the 1990s, the sociology of childhood has been developed in the UK. The aim of this paper is to explore the relevance of the sociology of childhood in understanding looked‐after childhoods and in informing contemporary social work practice with looked‐after children and young people. The central argument of this paper is that, in order to fulfil professional responsibilities and to implement current and forthcoming UK social policies for looked‐after children, social work needs to employ broad understandings of children, young people and looked‐after childhoods. The paper goes on to discuss the ways in which a social work approach drawing on the sociology of childhood can offer such a conceptualization.     

The reporting of sensitive behavior by adolescents: A methodological experiment in Kenya

Does audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) produce more valid reporting of sexual activity and related behaviors than face-to-face interviews or self-administered interviews? This analysis, based on data collected from over 6,000 unmarried adolescents in two districts of Kenya—Nyeri and Kisumu—indicates substantial and significant differences in reported rates of premarital sex across interview modes, although not always in the expected direction. Our assumption that girls underreport sexual activity in face-to-face interviews by comparison with ACASI is not confirmed by the Nyeri data, but our results from Kisumu are considerably more promising. As for boys, who we believe exaggerate their level of sexual activity in face-to-face interviews, a more nuanced set of expectations regarding the reporting of sensitive behaviors was offered; our results from Kisumu, although not always significant, by and large conform to expectations.

     

Visualising everyday ethnicity: moving beyond stereotypes of Roma minorities

ABSTRACT

The visual image of Roma people in the media is mired in racialised notions of ‘the other’. Whilst we know what Roma stereotypes look like, there is little clarity as to how a ‘non-stereotypical’ image might be constructed. In order to examine the non-stereotypical, two sources of images are analysed: (1) entrants from an anti-stereotype Roma photography competition and (2) self-representations produced by Roma participants during ethnographic research. The findings show that if ‘Roma’ is foregrounded as the subject, even a non-stereotypical approach can reproduce ‘difference’ (from a supposed ‘norm’). ‘Roma’ is thus, at the moment, still strongly linked to a notion of ethnicity that is seen as different and racialised. However, when ethnicity is not emphasised, but rather self-representations and the ‘everyday’, such orthodoxies are challenged. These sources provide a unique opportunity to create a deeper understanding of ‘non-stereotypical’ images in order to challenge misrepresentations and racism.     

Demotic or demonic? Race,class and gender in ‘Gypsy’ reality TV

An intriguing shift in the public interest of Roma, Gypsy and Traveller minorities has been the rise of the ‘Gypsy’ reality TV star in shows across Europe (‘Gypsy’ is the word most often used in popular media culture). The latest phenomenon to hit the UK has been the Channel 4 series Big Fat Gypsy Weddings (Firecracker Films, Channel 4, 2010–2013), a flamboyant production that has garnered both huge audience shares and fierce criticism, with commentators berating its narrow, sensationalist focus. Drawing on both specialized literature on Roma minorities and current sociological debates on reality TV formats, this article raises questions about how the politics of the ‘demotic turn’ of such formats (as noted by Turner in 2004) can lean towards the demonic through emphasizing such groups as spectacular, extraordinary and above all, negatively different. Furthermore, this article shows how the series not only reproduces old stereotypes of Gypsies and Travellers as different, ethnicized others but is also heavily embroiled in UK gender and class discourses. Whilst the series claims to be a unique insight into a marginalized community, this close analysis discusses the wider politics within which it is embedded and how such representations can both popularize and undermine marginalized or minority groups.     

Roads to Poverty Reduction? Exploring Rural Roads' Impact on Mobility in Africa and Asia

Within current poverty reduction programmes, focus on the social‐welfare millennium development goals is widening to embrace a concern with infrastructural investment, particularly for remote areas. The previously popular assumption that rural disadvantage can be remedied by road‐building is resurfacing. Using survey data from Ethiopia, Zambia and Vietnam, this article explores how effective such investment is in addressing mobility and social‐service accessibility in rural areas. The findings indicate that, in extremely remote areas, road improvements may catalyse the expansion of social‐service provision, as evidenced in Ethiopia. However, given the poor's relative lack of motor vehicles and ability to pay for public transport, they are, by no means, a sufficient condition for enhancing the mobility of the rural poor.