The information required from the questionnaire was whether pupils over the age of 16 years wanted to stay on the Isle of
Mull or whether they wanted to leave and for what reason. Also, whether they were
concerned about housing
The research aims to establish whether rural housing affects 16-18year olds and whether this
age group intend on leaving the Island or stay and require housing
Questions were designed for pupils still at school aged 16-18 year old Questions were short and not regarded as
sensitive questions
Questions were given to a young adult and a secondary school teacher who worked with
the same age group
Primarily closed questions with the option to disclose further information
Questions were direct and suitable for this age group
The questionnaire was structured in a logical order
The questionnaire was designed to produce data required from this age group and was sent to
SASS Ethics committee for approval before distribution
115 to own or rent their own home until 16 years of age. Including them in the research could also be emotive, if they had not thought about their aspirations when they leave school. In addition, figure 2.2. of the literature review chapter identified that research of this nature tended to include young people aged 16 years and over.
Firstly, permission to hand out the questionnaires to pupils was required. The consent forms and questionnaires were sent to the head teacher for approval. As the pupils were aged between 16-18 years old they were classed as children and therefore informed consent forms were required to be signed by the pupil’s parents or guardians as well as the pupils (appendix 1 and 2).
Instructions were given to the teacher who was administering the questionnaires. Two envelopes were provided with each of the forms: one for the completed informed consent and one for the questionnaires. This meant that the questionnaires remained confidential and anonymous. A hand-in date was arranged approximately one week after the questionnaires had been sent to the school. However, the timing of handing out the questionnaires was during examination period, therefore the time to complete the questionnaires was extended to enable a higher return rate.
Since the findings would be distributed at least two years after the data had been completed, Facebook and twitter pages were set up and details were included on the information sheets for future updates and dissemination of results.
Thirty- seven questionnaire surveys were administered and twenty were returned, providing a participation rate of 54%. It is acknowledged that there were limitations to the data collected. Firstly, a relatively small sample was achieved with only twenty respondents. Secondly, in terms of the selected sample, not all young people of school age on the Island attended Tobermory Secondary School, therefore the sample cannot be inferred as illustrative of the wider population of young people within the age bracket on the Island. Furthermore, without the data to compare, the experiences of young people attending school on the mainland could have differed from the aspirations or motivations of those who remained on the Island for their education. As described, the questionnaire survey was designed to be quick and easy to complete with the intention that this could yield a higher completion rate, although this was also a drawback in terms of the level of detail gathered from those who completed the survey. While these were recognised as limitations of conducting the questionnaire surveys, it is also important to recognise the purpose of and use of the data in the context of the research. The
116 main aim of conducting questionnaire surveys with young people still in school was to gain insight as to whether they were likely to stay or migrate from the Island and why, and to understand what their perception of the housing market was. The aim of gathering the data on young people aged between 16 and 18 years old was an important element of the research and the intention was to cross-reference the findings with the literature. However, the main focus of the research was to understand the extent to which young people were constrained in the rural housing market and therefore the research concentrated on young people who were more likely to be in or be trying to enter the housing market. The intent of the questionnaire surveys was to gain insight into the experience of young people on the Island but it is recognised that given the data limitations, the sample may not be representative of all young people in this age group on the Island.
Semi-Structured Interviews
There were two aims of the interviews, firstly, to understand the motivations, views and aspirations of young people living on the Isle of Mull, and secondly to explore the complexities of the broader rural housing market and housing market on Mull from an institutional actor’s perspective. As such, there were two categories of interviews arranged; those with young people on Mull, and interviews with institutional actors.
There are three types of data collection interview: semi-structured, structured and unstructured. Semi-structured interviews were chosen for this research. With semi-structured interviews, there are a defined set of questions which are to be asked but the order of these questions can be altered depending on the conversations with each participant. Unlike semi-structured interviews, with structured interviews there is a set order of questioning, the order of which does not vary between participants. Unstructured interviews do not have a set sequence of questions, and the conversation is not restricted to certain themes (Fylan, 2005).
The advantages and disadvantages of this research method will be examined, followed by an exploration of how the interviews were used to collect data for the research and the data that was required.
117 Semi Structured Interviews: Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
There are many advantages of conducting semi- structured interviews, including the ability to be conversational while still having a structure; interviews allow for thorough questioning and follow up of responses, a rapport can be built with a face to face interview and social cues of the interviewee can be noted. While not specific to semi-structured interviewing, there is also the ability to audio or video record the interview, which can later be transcribed.
One of the features of semi-structured interviews is the ability to have specific questions prepared but without the rigidity of structured questioning. The choice of changing the order of questioning depending on the conversation helps to keep the interview flow more natural while addressing the questions which are important for the research. Semi-structured interviewing also allows for follow up questions, if there have been particularly important responses (Bryman, 2012), but can also be beneficial for probing responses or asking respondents to provide more detail (Arksey et al, 1999).
Rapport is an important feature of interviews: if the participant is at ease, they will feel more comfortable engaging in conversation (Rapley, 2004). Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews are also particularly useful for building rapport with participants as participants may feel more at ease, being able to meet the interviewee in person. A benefit for the researcher is that social cues can provide additional data and can be noted in conjunction with their verbalised responses (Opdenakker, 2006). This is particularly important for understanding whether particular questions evoke emotional reactions and the behaviour of the participant often provides as much data as the answers given. Furthermore, having the ability to audio record can be advantageous as the interview can be transcribed. Although laborious in time, transcribing the interview can also be beneficial as the researcher has the capacity to become very familiar with the data and the format of the data is easier for examining (Denscombe, 2014).
While semi-structured interviews offer an effective method for data collection they also have some disadvantages which must be considered. These difficulties include problems recruiting participants, problems of anonymity when carrying out interviews within rural communities, and arranging convenient locations for interviews.
118 Firstly, the effectiveness of interviews, like most methods, is partly determined by successful recruitment of target participants and a suitable number of participants to reach the point of data saturation. Often, a gatekeeper is necessary to help provide a way of meeting target participants and ensuring participants that the researcher is reputable (King et al, 2010), but the researcher must be cautious that the gatekeeper does not filter the participant recruitment or guide the research in a specific direction.
Secondly, in relation to undertaking interviews in rural areas, it may be difficult to protect participants’ anonymity as people living within a small community are likely to know one another. The use of pseudonyms provides a way of protecting the anonymity of individuals, places or organisations (Layder, 2013).
The second category of interviews involved elite interviews. Elite interviews have their own set of challenges including time pressures, problems ascertaining who the appropriate contacts were within the institutions, the researcher having appropriate skills to get the most data from the interviewee, and there can be issues of confidentiality and as a consequence may be prevented from audio recording (Flick, 2014).
Semi-Structured Interviews and the Research
Mason’s (2002:72) structure for planning and preparing qualitative interviews (figure 5.3.) was followed for preparing interview questions.
Figure 5.3. Overview of the planning and preparation procedure for qualitative interviews (Mason, 2002: 72)
119 Two groups were identified as key sets of participants for interviewing: institutional actors and young people living on the Isle of Mull. The interviewees were grouped into two categories because of the different data required from each set of participants. There was also more emphasis and focus placed on interviewing institutional actors, given that the purpose of the research was to explore the influence of institutions in the rural housing market.
In terms of young people, the following information was sought: ➢ Do they feel there is a lack of choice in the housing market?
➢ What changes could be made to alleviate the problem of lack of housing?
➢ What are the housing aspirations of young people living on the Island and do these aspirations differ between age groups?
➢ Are these people aware of the OIH campaign and have they considered engaging with this or similar organisations to obtain a home?
Following the review of housing research, young people aged between 18 years and 35 years living on the Island were target participants. However, during the fieldwork process the decision was taken to not expressively state the age of participants required. Advertising for participants stated interviews were sought with young people over 18years old. There were two reasons for this. The age boundaries of ‘young’ were not classified to avoid excluding people over the upper banding who could elucidate the experience of the housing market and provide insight into housing transitions. By doing this, interviews were obtained with participants in their late 30’s and early 40’s. By stating that interviews were sought with ‘young people’, this prevented those in later stages of life participating.
In relation to data gathered from institutional actors, the following information was be sought: ➢ Do they believe there is a shortage of housing?
➢ If so, what do they believe has caused the shortage of affordable homes? ➢ What can be done to alleviate the issues in the long term?
➢ What is their definition of affordable housing?
120 The institutional actors who were recruited for interviews included people from the Scottish Government, an estate agency, Housing Associations working in Argyll and Bute, third sector organisations operating on the islands and organisations with a rural economic development remit, Argyll and Bute Council and land owners on Mull.
With regards to the number of participants being recruited for interviews, it is generally accepted that there is no ‘standard number’ but instead it is dependent on when there is no more original data- also known as saturation (Suter, 2012). However, this ambiguity was impractical. Indicative numbers are vital when planning the research to establish the resources required and to incorporate into procedures before beginning the fieldwork (Guest et al, 2006). The number of participants recruited for interviews was thirty-three. Figure 5.4. provides a breakdown of the participants.
Participant Number of participants
Young people aged 18-30 years 10
Land Owner 2
Construction Industry 1
Planning Authority 1
Third Sector 7
Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) 2 Private sector (rural business organisation) 1
Local Authority (LA) 1
MSP (2011-2016) 1 Academics 2 Housing Association 2 Architect 1 Property Industry 2 Total 33
Figure 5.4. Interview Participants
To protect the anonymity of participants, pseudonyms were used when referring to all research participants. The participants were selected following the review of the broad literature on rural housing and the examination of literature for the case study. Third sector organisations included organisations in which their remit was rural economic development, rural housing advice and business.
121 Contacts were made with those living on the Island through community organisations and local organisations such as the OIH campaign. A Facebook and twitter account were created which acted as a method of recruitment. Adverts were also placed in the local magazine and in local shops. However, most of the participants were recruited as a result of snowballing (discussed in the reflection of fieldwork section later in this chapter).
The philosophical foundations of the research
The research was underpinned by both ontological and epistemological foundations. The two approaches embody different philosophical perspectives, yet the combination of the two approaches enabled an exploration and understanding of the rural housing market from different perspectives and was appropriate in terms of the objectives of the research. The adoption of both ontological and epistemological perspectives was particularly relevant because of the application of the NIE model and housing pathways frameworks underpinning the research.
Ontology has been defined as “a concept concerned with the existence of, and relationship between different aspects of society, such as social actors, cultural norms and social structures” (Barron, 2006: 203). As discussed in chapter 3, the purpose of adopting Williamson’s Economics of Institutions model was to analyse these different elements of the rural housing market. In adopting a single case study for the research, these various aspects of the rural housing market could be explored holistically. The questionnaires with young people and the interviews with both institutional actors and young people living on the Isle of Mull helped to explore the facets of the remote rural housing environment from different perspectives and understand the structure of the environment. This approach is identified as a key aspect of ontology:
“The ontological issue relates to the nature of reality and its characteristics…..when studying individuals, qualitative researchers conduct a study with the intent of reporting these multiple realities. Evidence of multiple realities includes the use of multiple forms of evidence in themes using the actual words of different individuals and presenting different perspectives” (Creswell et al, 2018: 20).
The interviews with both young people and institutional actors were analysed, and themes were extracted. Key dialogue was selected to illustrate the key points made by the participants. The data of the two sets of participants was presented in different manners, as discussed later in this chapter.
122 Another key objective of the research was specifically to explore the extent to which the housing pathways could help to interpret the experiences of young people in the rural housing market. Interviews with young people were conducted to understand their experience of being in a remote rural environment. Creswell et al’s (2018) definition of epistemology epitomises the objective of the research and the methodology taken:
“Subjective evidence is assembled based on individual views. This is how knowledge is known- through the subjective experiences of people… It becomes important, then, to conduct studies in the “field”, where participants live and work- these are important contexts for understanding what the participants are saying” (Creswell et al, 2018: 21).
As discussed, later in this chapter, I stayed on the Isle of Mull to conduct the fieldwork. This enabled me to recruit for interviews with young people and institutional actors and being on the Island, I was able to become immersed in the environment and have more of an appreciation of the experiences of young people living in that location.
As discussed in chapter 3, the housing pathways approach, developed from social constructionism is mainly interested in elucidating the way in which people see the world in which they inhabit (Gerden, 1985). The interviews with young people and institutional actors in the rural housing market provided an understanding of the challenges and experiences of the rural environment. The purpose of the later chapters, chapter 6 and 7, is to present the findings, identifying common and disparate themes within and between the sets of interviews, drawing out key dialogue to demonstrate the different perspectives and take a holistic approach to analysing the rural housing market. Adopting the epistemological approach, aligned with the objective of understanding people’s views and perspective of being in the rural housing market and the approach to the methodology continued in the analysis and presentation of the data collected.
123 The Housing Pathways Approach
Chapter 3 detailed the purpose and origins of the housing pathways approach and use of the framework as a mechanism for exploring choice and constraints of young people in the housing market. After an examination of the approach, the decision was taken to employ the framework as a means of organising the data on young people and exploring the individual experiences and influences of young people’s housing choices or lack of choice on the Isle of Mull. The approach was effective for systematically collating the factors that influence housing decisions. The approach was valuable for undertaking a review of the literature as it has provided a means of identifying and pulling together data on the routes to obtaining housing and the associated opportunities and barriers.
The initial review of the literature on the rural housing environment highlighted that the issues of the rural environment were exceptionally integrated and co-dependent, which made it very difficult to identify specific issues in isolation when considering routes to housing. The literature highlighted that there were many factors which influenced housing choice and constraint in the housing market. In addition to summarising the findings of the interviews with young people on the Isle of Mull, the individual experiences of those interviewed were provided to highlight the housing pathways of each of the participants. Exhibiting the data in this way enabled a thorough examination of individual experiences in the housing market and therefore the decision was taken to present vignettes of each of the participants. As acknowledged in chapter 2, the housing experiences of young people are not homogenous (Rugg, 2010; Rugg et al, 2015, Heath, 2008). This point was raised by Jamieson et al (2008) in their research on out-migration from Scotland, yet they recognised themes from their review of literature. It is this approach that was taken for this research on the individual circumstances of young people on the Isle of Mull.