Using large-scale qualitative research to explore the experiences of jobless ethnic minority men and women

1. Using large-scale qualitative research to explore the experiences of jobless ethnic minority men and women PSI presentation to Research Methods Festival session on qualitative research across social difference Research in action Thursday 20th July 2006 Maria Hudson

2. Presentation structure • Background to the research project • The design of the large-scale qualitative evaluation • Some of the challenges the research team experienced in qualitative research across social difference

3. Background to the Ethnic Minority Outreach (EMO) Initiative • The White-ethnic minority employment gap (Strategy unit report) • Ethnic minority (women and men’s) under representation in mainstream employment support services • EMO pilot part of the New Deal Next Phase – a major initiative for ethnic minority jobless

4. The design of the EMO pilot • 5 urban areas of ethnic minority population concentration • 43 community based projects (BME voluntary and private sector) taking one of three approaches or combinations of these • Approach 1: outreach based provision • Approach 2: employer focused provision • Approach 3: positive action training

5. Examples of EMO provision

7. Key design principals at proposal writing stage • Sample projects to capture diversity • with a range of approaches • covering a mix of ethnic minority groups, men and women, ages and initial distance from the labour market • Capture breadth & depth • within area depth of coverage (multiple stakeholders) • across area breadth of coverage (20 projects, 5 areas) • A longitudinal dimension • Cohort and follow-up interviews to explore change over time

8. The layers of the research design Project worker interviews Employers Programme Participant interviews Jobcentre staff interviews Referral and other Agencies

9. A methodologically challenging evaluation It required a huge number of interviews, to be carried out in a variety of languages and involved several waves of longitudinal interview. Moreover… across a diverse range of community based projects!

10. The volume of interviews

11. The longitudinal nature of the research • Follow-up interviews with project workers (twice in first year of pilot/evaluation, once in second) • Two waves of participant interviews (phase a & b = baseline cohorts) • Two subsets of participants undertook follow-up interviews (30 participants from phase a & 35 from phase b)

12. Participant characteristics

13. Language needs and their implications for the research • One third of participant interviews in a minority language (felt unable to conduct interview in English) • 7 minority languages (Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Cantonese, Mandarin, Turkish, Somali) • Interviews largely carried out by bi-lingual freelance interviewers with qualitative research skills and experience • Bilingual interviewers V interpreters – primacy of familiarity of issues relating to ethnic minority disadvantage & qualitative research training

14. Strategies to capture heterogeneity and minimise attrition • Importance of strong relationship with project workers in building up the research sample • Importance of continuity of interviewer for longitudinal dimension of the research • Particularly for developing trust relationship with participants • Continuity and depth of knowledge of area and case

15. 3 main analysis stages • First interim report: early implementation issues for providers (ways of working/client groups) • Second interim report: first year of the pilot – drew out developing relationships between EMO providers and other stakeholders • Final report: fuller exploration of the complete data set using a coding framework in Nvivo that captured richness of the data

16. Experimentation with software package to manage data • Time/resource intensive analysis to explore the different data layers to potential • Eg... within area relationships, • subsets of participants by distance from the labour market, by project, by ethnic group, by gender, by age …and combinations

17. Summaries of themes based on node analysis • eg.. Orientations to work, barriers to work, perceptions of jobcentres • Mapping of participant profiles to gauge base line position, developing typologies • Reversion to transcripts for more detailed analysis of narratives of subset of participants in follow-up interviews • Multiple identities important in understanding experience

18. Exploring participant trajectories

19. Ajaz – would like to re-enter textiles, a job in the mills

20. Sita – would like to work in childcare

21. Ruth – wants job in arts and self-employment

22. For more detail on the EMO evaluation see Barnes, H. Hudson, M. Parry, J. Sahin-Dikmen, M. Taylor, R. and Wilkinson, D. (2005) Ethnic minority outreach: an evaluation. Department for Work and Pensions research report No229 www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2005-2006/rrep229.pdf Maria Hudson Policy Studies Institute Email: m.hudson@psi.org.uk Tel: 0207 911 7531

23. Thank you