Balancing Autonomy Rights and Protection:Children’s Involvement in a Child Safety Online Project

Researchers who involve children in their research are faced with the challenge of choosing between differing theoretical approaches which can prioritise children’s autonomy rights or their ‘vulnerability’ and their need to be protected. Somewhat confusingly, ethical guidelines seem to reflect a combination of these approaches. Even when researchers have settled on their preferred approach, they may find that this then has to be modified in accordance with gatekeeper requirements. In the context of children’s involvement in a child safety online project, this paper highlights the difficulties encountered because of a tension between children’s autonomy rights, educational norms in a school setting and child protection concerns, and considers whether an appropriate balance was achieved

Domestic abuse and safeguarding children : critical issues for multiagency work

This paper reports upon the learning that emerged from a development project which aimed to facilitate improvements in multiagency work in domestic abuse and safeguarding children. The two-year project (2011–13), funded by the Department for Education and led by WomenCentre, a specialist voluntary sector organisation based in West Yorkshire, was undertaken in nine local authorities in the north of England. Activities undertaken during the project included case mapping, service user and professional engagement exercises, observation of local multiagency meetings and provision of training. An evaluative research study examined the work of the project and the learning that emerged. Drawing upon data from telephone interviews with project participants, analysis of case mapping and project reports, this paper discusses some critical issues which emerged from this project. The paper draws attention to the different understandings and priorities which shape interprofessional practice in relation to safeguarding children and domestic abuse, and the complexities of the wider interagency environment including coordination, resources and expertise. Recommendations for improving multiagency work to achieve better outcomes for women and children experiencing domestic abuse are discussed

Double agents: gendered organizational culture, control and resistance

Author's pre-publication draft. Final version of the article published in Sociology; available online on http://online.sagepub.com/This article presents ethnographic data showing how recruitment consultants negotiate managerial attempts to control workforce culture. I suggest the values which senior managers encourage consultants to embody prioritize so-called`masculine' attributes over `feminine' ones. I attempt to demonstrate the limits of cultural control by outlining three ways in which the consultants engage with this imposed culture: defiance, parody and ritual. These activities contain gendered assumptions similar to those embedded in corporate culture. I discuss the potential such practices have for resisting corporate culture and the gender within it, suggesting that one source of ambiguity within workplace `control' and `resistance' practices is that they employ overlapping cultural resources and assumptions

Necessary connections: ‘Feelings photographs’ in criminal justice research

Visual representations of prisons and their inmates are common in the news and social media, with stories about riots, squalor, drugs, self-harm and suicide hitting the headlines. Prisoners’ families are left to worry about the implications of such events on their kin, while those incarcerated and less able to understand social cues, norms and rules, are vulnerable to deteriorating mental health at best, to death at worst. As part of the life-story method in my research with offenders who are on the autism spectrum, have mental health problems and/or have learning difficulties, and prisoner’s mothers, I asked participants to take photographs, reflecting upon their experiences. Photographs in this case, were primarily used to help respondents consider and articulate their feelings in follow-up interviews. Notably, seeing (and imagining) is often how we make a connection to something (object or feeling), or someone (relationships), such that images in fiction, news/social media, drama, art, film and photographs can shape the way people think and behave – indeed feel about things and people. Images and representations ought to be taken seriously in researching social life, as how we interpret photographs, paintings, stories and television shows is based on our own imaginings, biography, culture and history. Therefore, we look at and process an image before words escape, by ‘seeing’ and imagining. How my participants and I ‘collaborate’ in doing visual methods and then how we make meaning of the photographs in storying their feelings, is insightful. As it is, I wanted to enable my participants to make and create their own stories via their photographs and narratives, whilst connecting to them, along with my own interpretation and subjectivities

Ethical and political issues in contemporary research relationships

This article discusses how ethical and political issues affect contemporary research relationships. It focuses on the responsibilities of researchers studying organisations and elites, and the discussion draws upon the author’s experience of researching NHS primary health care services. The paper reviews the spread of “ethical guidelines” from medical to social research. Such guidelines primarily address ethical problems relating to individual researcher-researched relationships. Sociologists have criticised the application of medically-based guidelines to social research, while often accepting an ethical framework based on the researcher-researched dyad. But this limited conception of ethical responsibilities leaves complex organisational power hierarchies and their effects under-theorised. Researchers may then be vulnerable and lack guidance where organisational loyalties and market mechanisms have undermined the traditional supports of academic independence and professionalism. Sociologists could learn from critical medical scientists’ responses to some related ethical dilemmas, as some medical researchers have experienced these issues more acutely and for longer

Participant Observation as Ethnography or Ethnography as Participant Observation in Organizational Research

There is a strong tradition of observational research in most areas of the social sciences, especially in Anthropology and Sociology. However, in business and management research observation is often seen as a poor relative to questionnaire surveys and qualitative interviewing. This chapter discusses the use of observational techniques especially for less experienced researchers planning their first major investigation, exploring the difference between participant and non-participant approaches, different techniques of data collection, recording and analysis. Rather than seeking to provide a full guide to conducting participant observation, an impractical task in a single chapter, this offering discusses some of the key issues facing researchers in Business and Management who choose to conduct this sort of research, exploring different approaches to participant observation and some of the ethical and practical challenges associated with the collection and analysis of observational data. The chapter draws on the author’s experience of conducting participant observation in organizations with examples of both employee (Sandiford and Seymour, 2002; Seymour and Sandiford, 2013) and customer perspectives (Sandiford and Divers, 2011). It will also draw from ‘classic’ observational studies such as Mars and Nicod (1984) and more recent examples such as Watson and Watson (2012).Peter John Sandifor

The challenge and impact of engaging hard-to-reach populations in regular physical activity and health behaviours: an examination of an English Premier League ‘Football in the Community’ men's health programme

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the challenges that men from hard-to-reach (HTR) populations encounter when attempting to commit to regular participation in physical activity and health behaviours, and to explore the psychological and social effects of participation in a twelve week football-led health improvement intervention. STUDY DESIGN: A twelve week football specific physical activity intervention targeting men from HTR populations was delivered by Everton Football Clubs' Football in the Community (FitC) scheme as part of a national programme of men's health delivered in/by English Premier League (EPL) football clubs. Men living in homeless shelters and/or recovering from substance misuse were recruited over a period of three months. The programme consisted of a two hour football session, twice weekly, alongside the dissemination of healthy living messages. Football sessions were conducted by a qualified FitC coach. METHODS: This research was conducted during a twelve week period of immersed practitioner-research. Ethnographic and observational methodologies were adopted. Psychosocial issues were discussed with participants through informal client-researcher interactions and data were logged via field notes. Records of attendance were logged. Participants who failed to attend a session were contacted and their reason(s) for non-attendance were recorded. Data were analysed using deductive and inductive reasoning. RESULTS: Despite the apparent ambition of the participants to regularly participate in the FitC programme, adherence to the programme was poor. Economic, environmental and social barriers to engagement in the programme were apparent. Engagement in the programme resulted in positive psychosocial developments; the development of structure, social interaction and social capital. CONCLUSION: Community based football-led health improvement programmes endorsed by professional football clubs appear well positioned to connect with, and attract, men from HTR populations. The evidence suggests that such programmes can improve psychosocial health amongst these populations. However, a bottom-up programme design and management strategy is required in order to reduce the challenges facing HTR participants when attempting to regularly engage in physical activity and health behaviours

Insights into the illegal ivory trade and status of elephants in Togo, West Africa

© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd In Togo, the illegal trade of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) ivory is widespread despite efforts made by the government to curtail these activities. By using data gathered from CITES institutions and natural resource management authorities in the country, we investigated the extent of ivory trafficking in Togo. We also conducted surveys in villages around protected areas, which still contain elephant populations to assess the species’ current status in the country. Our surveys indirectly corroborated that there are probably no more than 150 elephants collectively within the country's protected areas, most of them in the Fazao-Malfakassa National Park. We also estimated that a minimum of 41.65 tons of ivory (elephant tusks and carved objects) was intercepted in Togo between 2008 and 2018. Despite the fact that presently illegal elephant hunting is unlikely in Togo, we show that this country is the entry point for ivory from Central Africa (Cameroon and Gabon). We maintain that Togo's position as an intermediary country in the illegal ivory trade is a tangible threat to elephants throughout their range countries and is also likely to affect the dwindling population of these animals in the country if adequate enforcement is not implemented

Media practice and new approaches to mise-en-scene and auteur theory in broadcast radio

This PhD by Published Work aims to present a coherent programme of original radio research practice produced by the author and placed in an appropriate academic context that explores new approaches to mise-en-scène and auteur theory. The research methodology employs an interrogation of traditional definitions of mise-en-scène and auteur and then reframes and adopts redefinitions of these theories when used to contextualise broadcast radio. The portfolio consists of the scripts and broadcast recordings of a set of five original BBC Radio 4 plays, and includes reference to a set of related academic publications and conference papers in which critical reflection about the media and creative practice of writing the plays took place. The work draws on approaching four decades of experience as a professional freelance writer and performer. The practice-based research focuses on explorations of the inter-relationships between the form, content and production of the five original radio dramas he was commissioned to write. All of the plays were broadcast by BBC Radio 4, the major public service arena available for radio drama in the United Kingdom, from 2000 to 2012. These years constituted a period of significant change in creative and administrative protocols at the BBC, and form the context for exploration of auteur innovations. The dramas achieved considerable critical attention attracting favourable reviews and provoking public debate. For example, Bell in the Ball (2010) prompted a discussion concerning writing about disability on the BBC’s In Touch programme (2010). It is a significant marker of their quality that a number of the plays have been repeated on various BBC Radio channels, as well as broadcast overseas. As part of the critical interrogation of the author’s media and creative practice, excerpts of the plays have also been included in academic papers presented at national and international conferences