MacLeod, Gale

Pirrie, A.

This paper explores the challenges of negotiating access to research participants at adistance. These challenges are explored in the context of a study of destinations andoutcomes for 24 young people permanently excluded from special schools and PupilReferral Units (PRUs) in England. The authors describe the process of negotiatingaccess through a third party to young people considered to be particularly vulnerable,from whom written opt-in consent was negotiated through an intermediary. This processnecessitated establishing trust with a wide range of service providers, usually over thetelephone. Moreover, these service providers were gatekeepers and informants to theresearch. They were located at different points in a variety of professional hierarchieswith different accountability structures. There was considerable variation in the extent towhich the individuals themselves were prepared to exercise trust, defined here as bothcognitive and behavioural. The responses of these individuals were contingent andunpredictable. The research team negotiated this uncertain territory as insiders withknowledge and experience of alternative provision, and as outsiders by virtue of theirlocation in another jurisdiction of the UK.<br/

Pirrie, Anne

Macleod, Gale

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From a distance:researching across jurisdictions in the UK

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From a distance: researching across jurisdictions in the UK

https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/8762214/From_a_distance_researching_across_jurisdictions_in_the_UK.pdf

From a distance: researching across jurisdictions in the UK

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