Scottish Government

CHAPTER SEVEN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Aims of the qualitative research

7.1 Two waves of in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with sub-samples of SHARP survey respondents. The first wave was conducted between one and 3 years after respondents had moved into their new homes. The second wave was conducted between 3½ and 5 years after respondents had moved. The aims were similar in each wave, that is to explore the impacts of housing and area change on a range of health, community and social outcomes from the perspectives of the respondents. Specifically, the first wave aimed to:

• Highlight issues to pursue in the quantitative analysis;
• Examine how respondents talk about housing and health; and
• Focus on the impacts of change and disruption on the lives of respondents.

7.2 The second wave was concerned with investigating the impact of moving into new-build social housing and moving to a new area or living in a regeneration area on:

• Housing conditions and satisfaction with new housing;
• Physical health, health behaviours and well-being;
• Community and social outcomes such as neighbouring behaviour and sense of community; and
• Area outcomes such as anti-social behaviour and visual amenity.

7.3 The methodological approach adopted for each qualitative wave is described in the following sections.

Post-Wave 2 qualitative research

Sampling and recruitment

7.4 Twenty-eight respondents were interviewed in the first qualitative wave. They were selected using a quota sampling system designed to include respondents who had lived in their new accommodation for varying lengths of time, in order to explore potential differences in their experience. The sample also aimed to include approximately equal numbers of respondents who lived in SIP and non- SIP areas, and to interview 5 respondents who had moved to rural areas. No specific quotas in respect of gender were sought.

7.5 Respondents were contacted by mail in the first instance, prior to being telephoned to request their participation in the research. All of those who were contacted by telephone agreed to take part. The characteristics of the achieved sample are set out in Table 7.1 below. Eighteen women and 10 men were interviewed. Thirteen interviews were conducted with respondents from 'family' households, 6 with those from 'adult' households, and 9 with those from 'older person' households.

Table 7.1: First wave qualitative sample characteristics

Note to table: * These pilot interviewees were originally from a related study of housing improvement and the information for this survey does not always coincide exactly with that for SHARP.

Interview schedule

7.6 The interview schedule was developed by the research team with the advice of colleagues. It was designed to investigate: general aspects of the respondents' new homes; differences between new homes and previous accommodation; relationships with neighbours and the wider community; the health of the respondent and their family, and respondents' attachment to the area in which they now lived.

Conduct of interviews

7.7 The interviews were conducted in the respondents' own homes. In most cases, they were one-to-one interviews at which only the respondent was present. However, on a few occasions, the partner of the respondent was also present and contributed to the interview. Informed consent was obtained prior to the interview commencing, following standard procedures for such research. Subject to obtaining consent from the respondent, interviews were audio taped.

Analysis

7.8 The interview tapes were transcribed by the interviewer or by a professional transcription company. The transcripts were read and analysed by 2 researchers, who identified the key subjects raised by the questions in the interview schedule.

Post-Wave 3 qualitative research

Sampling and recruitment

7.9 A purposive approach to sampling was adopted, wherein study participants were selected on the basis of specific criteria of interest. The findings of the first wave of qualitative interviews suggested that the impact of moving was mediated by age, household composition and distance of move. The intention was therefore to interview approximately equal numbers of respondents from each household type (i.e. Adult, Family and Older) who had either moved to a new area or stayed in the same area. The focus was on urban respondents resident in the Greater Glasgow area. Thus, the sample framework set out below was devised:

Table 7.2: Qualitative sample target framework

7.10 Respondents were initially contacted by letter, requesting permission to conduct an interview. If the enclosed reply slip was not returned within 2 weeks, and there was an active phone number available, they were then contacted by telephone to request permission. Since some difficulty was encountered in attaining the original sample framework, the original target was amended slightly by reducing the number of older respondents in the sample to 6. Thus, there were 22 respondents in the final achieved sample. It was also necessary to expand the geographical area initially targeted, to include non-urban areas and locations outwith Glasgow ²⁰.

7.11 Of the 22 respondents, 19 were female and 3 were male. The majority were resident in the Greater Glasgow area, including Faifley, Paisley and Cumbernauld. One respondent was resident in Whitburn, and one in Blantyre. The respondents had lived in their current accommodation for between 3½ and 5 years. The socio-demographic characteristics of the sample are presented in Table 7.3 below.

Table 7.3 Sociodemographic characteristics of the sample

Interview schedule

7.12 The interview schedule aimed to capture changes in the broad areas of housing and area change and attendant impacts on health, well-being, social and community outcomes.

Conduct of interviews

7.13 One-to-one in-depth interviews were conducted between August 2007 and January 2008. The interviews were conducted in respondents' homes, except one which was conducted at the respondent's place of work. Informed consent was obtained from the respondents, and a shopping voucher to the value of £10 was provided to thank respondents for their time.

7.14 In the majority of cases, only the respondent was present during the interview. However, on 3 occasions the respondent's partner was an active contributor. Subject to the participant's permission, the interviews were recorded using digital recording equipment.

Analysis

7.15 The interviews were transcribed by a professional transcription company in preparation for analysis. The software package NVivo 7 was used to conduct a thematic analysis of the data. This involved identifying the overarching themes of interest in the research context, then coding text in the interview transcripts which corresponded to these themes. The coded text was then examined in detail to identify recurring themes and patterns within the data, which were then sub-coded in a further round of analysis. When this process was completed, connections between emergent themes and respondent characteristics were investigated in some depth.

Limitations

7.16 As with all qualitative research, the primary limitation of this element of the SHARP study is that the findings cannot be generalised to the wider population. A strength of the SHARP study, however, is that the mixed method approach allows triangulation between the quantitative and qualitative findings. There are also a number of limitations specific to the second qualitative wave. The method of recruiting respondents from an existing survey sample may lead to selection bias, in that individuals with particular characteristics may be more likely to agree to participate in a further wave of the research. Further, respondents with certain characteristics form the majority of the sample: for instance, those who moved from a flat to a house and those who live in a regeneration area predominate within the sample. Although this is not dissimilar to the quantitative sample distribution, it means that the absolute numbers with certain characteristics in the qualitative sample are so small that conclusions based on the findings for particular groups are somewhat tentative. It should also be noted that there is a gender imbalance, with only 3 men in the sample.

Summary

• Two waves of qualitative interviews aimed to explore experiences of moving and living in new-build social housing from the perspectives of the respondents.
• One-to-one in-depth interviews were conducted shortly after Waves 2 and 3 of the survey with sub-samples of survey respondents.
• The interview schedules were designed to investigate the impact of moving on respondents' housing conditions, health, and social and community outcomes.
• The interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis. Thematic analyses focussed on themes pertaining to the research questions.
• The findings are not generalisable to the wider population. However, triangulation of the qualitative and quantitative findings permits further exploration of similar and conflicting findings.