Scottish Government

2. APPROACH

Research design

This research is a baseline snapshot of Scots language provision in Scotland and was undertaken between April and October 2008. It was undertaken within a short six-month time period and consisted of three work packages. The first, lasting two months consisted of a desk-based review of literature and web sources plus final construction of the data model, sampling strategy and the creation of research instruments. The second work package, lasting four months focused upon gathering data from respondents and conducting a limited number of group interviews with providers. A third package focused upon completing the spreadsheet and writing this report. Given the six month total time period allowed for the research there was necessarily some overlap between the work packages.

As discussed below, the remit of the audit was limited to identifying provision across the seven categories of public life. It is not, therefore, an evaluation, consultation, or an audit in the sense of a financial audit. Rather the focus of the audit was to identify current provision. At the same time, the short time period meant that the audit could not be exhaustive - that is, it could not capture every single act of provision. It was agreed, however, that within these constraints, the audit could provide a reliable picture of provision at this point in time, and would be a useful foundation to which further research, discussions or policy development could refer.

Aims and objectives

The principal aim of this research was to conduct an audit of current Scots language provision in Scotland.

More specifically the objectives of the research were to:

1. Review all the main providers of Scots language provision in Scotland, with a particular focus on local authorities and other public bodies, or organisations in receipt of funding from these bodies;
2. Review the types of Scots language provision currently available in Scotland concentrating on, but not limited to that provided by, local authorities and other public bodies, or organisations in receipt of funding from these bodies for this purpose;
3. Identify provision made by the public, private and voluntary/community sectors, highlighting any differences in the extent and type of provision between them;
4. Assess the availability of current provision in Scots in terms of the requirements of the CoEECRML⁶;
5. Identify and appraise the gaps in current provision in terms of the requirements of the CoEECRML and, within this context, consider potential areas where Scots language provision could be developed further.

The research was designed to achieve these aims through an investigation of current availability, gathering relevant information and arriving at conclusions. Again, this is a baseline study, that is, it collates available information on current provision. It is not the remit of this audit to assess or evaluate the quality of the provision found, how often it is used, its impact or its management arrangements (including current funding arrangements or current expenditure on Scots language provision). Instead, the audit was asked to document existing provision, as no study of this type had been done before (as far as this research was aware). It is anticipated that the audit will provide the Scottish Government with a baseline understanding of the extent and type of provision, including any emerging gaps in current provision. It has not been asked to interrogate policy or to make policy recommendations.

Methodology

Methodologically, this research uses the Case Study Method. This is a recognised and formal social scientific research method, created by Robert Yin (1994). It can be characterised as empirical inquiry which investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real life context, particularly where the boundaries are blurred between phenomenon and context. It is research which addresses the 'what, how and why' questions about social phenomena which take place in a contemporary social arena over which the researcher has no direct control.

The advantage of a formal rigorously structured case study approach over other social and scientific methods is that it allows data to be collected from a wide range of sources. Using the built-in rigour of the design it becomes possible to triangulate between data sources to ensure internal and external validity. The depth and breadth of useable data sources and rigour of construction provide understanding and context which, for example, experimental or survey methods cannot deliver with their distance from the social phenomenon under study. This audit therefore uses the rigour, multiple data sources and quantitative and qualitative methods of the case study method to produce research which in turn can be used to underpin further policy research or development.

This research used a mix of qualitative methods, such as in-depth interviews and documentary analysis to describe the context and specifics of current Scots language provision in addition to simple quantitative methods to document and identify the extent and breadth of support.

Data model

The data model underpinning the audit was built upon the seven categories of public life used in Part III of the CoEECRML. Although the UK Government has signed up to the general provisions of Part II for Scots language, the categories in Part III are more specific and therefore the audit was able to use them to build a functional data model which would capture the requisite information ( see footnote 2). The CoEECRML lists seven areas in which support for regional or minority languages is manifest in public life and these form the basic categories of the audit's investigation. For clarity, these are:

1. Education
2. Judicial Authorities
3. Administrative Authorities and Public Services
4. Media
5. Cultural Activities and Facilities
6. Economic and Social Life
7. Trans-Frontier Exchanges.

All types of provision, therefore, have been placed in one or more of these categories. Between them, they cover most aspects of public life where regional or minority languages can be seen (or not seen) in use. Further categorisation in the data also allows entries in the audit spreadsheet to be sorted by providers and by sources, and to simply identify gaps by category. The research questions asked of respondents, who were asked to indicate what provision they provided, also addressed the substance of the provision they offer. This included issues of remit; type; delivery mechanisms; and any other appropriate information they could supply.

Across the range of data gathering, from group interviews, in-depth interviews with key contacts, to email inquiries, four research questions guided the research.

These questions were:

1. What support do you or your organisation provide for Scots Language? Are you aware of other important sources of support?
2. Could you please indicate where your support falls within the ( CoE) seven categories?
3. Would you be able to supply us with a list of support services you provide, with a several sentence description which I could use in a compendium of support?
4. Can you identify any gaps in the provision of support?

Responses were gathered as digitally recorded interviews, interview notes, textual submissions, and completed provision forms. Regardless of source or type, all data were examined for evidence of provision and wherever possible, this was recorded in the audit spreadsheet. Further contextual information emerged from in-depth interviews and group interviews with key providers in the field.

Sampling and response

Given the need to canvas as widely as possible in order to include as many examples of provision as possible in the short timeframe of the research, a stratified, or snowball sampling frame was employed. As a community composed of multiple smaller communities (distinguished by, for example, subject, region/locality, dialect and other considerations) it was necessary to identify key informants who could refer and ease the researcher into networks of provision. This process began with the Research Advisory Group assembled for the research. The role of advisory group members was to provide initial advice to the researcher on the general provision of the Scots language in Scotland and, more specifically, to provide background information on how and where the Scots language is provided in schools in Scotland as well as background policy context. In terms of context, these first key informants indicated avenues of inquiry and lists of useful contacts, introductions and access to data in the area under study. The second level of informants in turn provided both data and suggestions (and sometimes introductions) to further contacts in other small(er) networks of provision. Additionally, the early desk-based review phase of the research provided other potential contacts from web and print sources and these were followed-up directly by the researcher in order to ensure that contacts outside the first network were included. This use of networking soon developed its own momentum with the result that other respondents contacted the researcher directly.

This part of the research process therefore had two components - the first generating contacts and the second following them up. Not all informants who were contacted completed provision forms. It may be that some were too busy to do so, and that the time frame was too short for others. Provision reports continue to be submitted to the audit, even at the end of the contract period. This was partly due to the nature of the process, where some key respondents forwarded the Audit's Letter of Introduction, Briefing and Provision Report form to their own networks of contacts. Further, contacts continued to be generated right up to the closing of the audit. Given the short time period of the research, however, this type of flexible approach maximised the audit's exposure to possible providers.

Ten group interviews were conducted with key providers and over 150 individual contact names were generated. Some were contacted individually, 14 were interviewed over the telephone and over 60 were contacted by email and invited to fill in and return a provision report form. Over 50 provision reports were received resulting in around 270 entries in the audit spreadsheet.

Analysis

The aim of this research was to conduct a baseline audit of current Scots language provision in Scotland by documenting the main providers; the types of provision; the sources of provision; and any gaps in provision. The use of an MS Excel spreadsheet facilitated this. The spreadsheet includes information on CoEECRML category of public life; provider; description and detail of provision; geographical coverage of provision; and further comments. Using these categories an overall picture of provision can be built. This includes identifying in which aspects of public life provision was found to be most widely available and in which aspects it was less available. Some individual initiatives have, where appropriate, been entered into multiple categories ( e.g. Scots language children's books were entered in both the Education and Cultural Activities and Facilities categories). This illustrates the way that language crosses the CoEECRML's categories of public life and more accurately reflects an individual person's interaction with them.

In addition to the quantitative analysis of entries in the audit, additional data gathered in interviews with providers supported the analysis by providing context and triangulation. As a baseline audit, it was necessary to create a brief overview of the provision available from the data obtained in order to ensure comprehensiveness. By treating the provision available as a 'community of communities', it is possible to observe and report current trends and topics of conversation, to gather history and context, and to provide additional relevant information in response to the audit's objectives.