Sophie Bowlby and Caroline Day
Purpose – This chapter reflects on selected issues raised by the emotions involved in the social relations of qualitative research. We use experiences from two separate studies to…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter reflects on selected issues raised by the emotions involved in the social relations of qualitative research. We use experiences from two separate studies to explore the role of emotion and affect in the embodied, face-to-face encounter of the interview; the ‘translation’ of interpretations of emotional responses from one cultural context into another; the reflexivity of the researcher and the researched and the ethical implications of this form of research.
Methodology – The studies, one doctoral research and one funded by a Leverhulme grant, took a qualitative approach, employing individual semi-structured interviews with young people in Zambia and women in their fifties in Swindon, UK.
Findings – The chapter argues that emotions within the interview are bound up with the potential meanings and outcomes of the interview to both the researcher and the interviewee. Emotions affect what is said and unsaid in the interview; what is communicated and hidden and how the material is interpreted.
Originality/Value – The chapter brings together experiences from conducting highly emotive research in majority and minority world contexts. It focuses on similarities in the dilemmas posed to researchers by the emotions involved in the social relations of research, regardless of location.
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The onion family has long been revered in folk medicine as a prophylactic and panacea. Caroline Day investigates this mystical reputation
In recent years the political and practice climates have changed greatly, towards a focus on preventing negative experiences and vulnerability in the lives of children and young…
Abstract
In recent years the political and practice climates have changed greatly, towards a focus on preventing negative experiences and vulnerability in the lives of children and young people, but at present many efforts suffer from two defects: they apply adult treatment ideas to young people, and they are not joined‐up responses. The article argues that young people are different from adults, having not yet established set patterns of behaviour, and that this offers a chance to intervene before the point of crisis. While they may misuse drugs and alcohol, in the main this is symptomatic of other problems that they need our support to face, which can be offered most effectively by services that are holistic and integrated, and which deal first with their emotional and family needs while also addressing personal development and vocational skills and training. These interventions need to begin well before the current housing crisis points around age 16 or 17.
IT is seldom that I can bring myself to write anything for publication, and as I had a longish article on “The education of librarians in Great Britain” printed as recently as…
Abstract
IT is seldom that I can bring myself to write anything for publication, and as I had a longish article on “The education of librarians in Great Britain” printed as recently as 1964 in the Lucknow Librarian (which is edited by my friend Mr. R. P. Hingorani) I had not contemplated any further effort for some time to come. But as THE LIBRARY WORLD evidently wishes to cover all the British schools of librarianship it would be a pity for Brighton to be left out, even though, coming as it does towards the end of a gruelling series, I can see little prospect of this contribution being read. Perhaps, therefore, I need not apologise for the fact that, as my own life and fortunes have been (and still are) inextricably bound up with those of the Brighton school, any account which I write of the school is bound to be a very personal one.
Philip Heslop, Su McAnelly, Jane Wilcockson, Yvonne Newbold, Maria Avantaggiato-Quinn and Cathryn Meredith
This paper reports research findings on the experiences of parents/carers of children with special education needs and disabilities who present violent and challenging behaviour…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reports research findings on the experiences of parents/carers of children with special education needs and disabilities who present violent and challenging behaviour. More specifically, the purpose of this paper is to explore how parents/carers report how their support needs are met by social care services.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is an empirical study which considers the challenging side of parenting children with additional needs. Data were gathered through a national online social media focus group and thematically analysed to identify emerging themes from an overlooked community. The study applied a participatory approach, with researchers and participants collaborating in designing and producing the research.
Findings
Participants reported a multitude of adversities and they experience difficulties in accessing support from professionals. The parents and carers expressed a continued desire to care for their children, often during much adversity and in receipt of little recognition or support from external agencies. An emerging theme was that they are often not assessed in their own right by agencies who focus on safeguarding.
Research limitations/implications
In this online participatory study, participants were self-selecting and the research relied on self-report during online discussions.
Originality/value
This study is original in applying an innovative research methodology using online focus groups with an under researched community. This online focus group generated real time data and offered participants the opportunity to share information in their own environments. The themes emerging from this research have implications for policy and practice for an under reported adult community who experience increasing vulnerabilities.
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Janet Mock, Alan Adams, Louise Snowdon and Helen Griffiths
Reports on studies, which were carried out in two urban schools in the UK, of the nutritional composition of mid‐day meals taken by primary schoolchildren. Describes how the…
Abstract
Reports on studies, which were carried out in two urban schools in the UK, of the nutritional composition of mid‐day meals taken by primary schoolchildren. Describes how the nutritional analyses indicated that all of the meals provided an excess of the energy from components such as fat and sugar, whereas some of the meal choices provided a less than adequate supply of minerals and vitamins such as iron, calcium and folate. The meals included hot meat and non‐meat dishes and sandwiches. Makes comparisons with standards provided by the Caroline Walker Trust.