Ethical Considerations

The main ethical consideration in relation to my research was that I needed to

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gain informed consent and ensure confidentiality. There was an added complication in that most of my participants, although not all, were under the age of eighteen. Therefore, there was the understanding from the outset that I would need to obtain informed consent for the interviews from parents or teachers if they were indeed aged 13-17, or from participants themselves if they were 18 and therefore legally responsible for themselves. As such I had two versions of my informed consent form; one for those under the age of 18 and one for those that were aged 18 (an example of the under 18 form can be found in Appendix B). In terms of confidentiality, I was systematic in fully anonymising all contributions. This meant that participants’ names were changed, pseudonyms were applied, and that all identifying information in the data was anonymised and de-identified. I broached the subject of the informed consent forms, first with gatekeepers, providing them with a copy. I made it clear that the session would be recorded by a digital voice recorder and that I would be transcribing the talk and using anonymised results only in my written work. Some of the gatekeepers were able to provide group consent (as they had procedures in place to allow this), participants aged 18 signed their own forms, and I sought parental consent for the remainder.

Another issue that I consider to be bound up with ethical considerations, is that of positionality. The nature of qualitative research is that it sets the researcher as the data collection instrument. Positionality relates my stance to that of my research participants’; in terms of gender, class, ethnicity, age, nationality, sociocultural background etc. It is reasonable to expect that the researcher’s beliefs, tastes, cultural background, etc., are important variables that may affect the research process. Just as research participants’ experiences are framed in sociocultural contexts, so too are those of the researcher. The researcher

inevitably moulds and shapes the project throughout, and complete neutrality is impossible to obtain: ‘there is no position from which sociological research can be done that is not biased in one or another way’ (Becker, 1967: 245). The importance of reflexive research is also an intrinsically Bourdieusian concern with the focus on the imbalance of power relations. For Bourdieu, the

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their own habitus; their dispositions learned through long social and

institutional training (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992). An attempt to rectify this imbalance entails the researcher to be reflexive about their positionality and its effect on the process and outcomes of research.

I am a White British, female, able-bodied, post-graduate researcher. I mostly grew up in the Norwich suburbs, attended a suburban state comprehensive school, and my parents were public sector employees (health visitor and social worker), placing me in the C1 (ABC1) social grade category (more on this in Chapter 4). I was aged between 38 and 40 when I conducted my interviews. As such I was significantly older than my teen participants and I concede that at times this was a significant factor in the interview dynamics. On entering the youth clubs and schools, I initially felt out of place, sensing my own habitus as being at odds with the venues. I attribute this to the fact that I was neither a young person, or a youth worker, or a teacher, and was unfamiliar with most venues (at least on the first occasion of visiting). However, every time, I was then aligned with the youth workers, teachers, or staff who introduced me to their charges as a university researcher there to ask them about their film and media consumption. This was a necessity as I could not just arrive unannounced, and start interviewing. I understand that this then meant the participants then associated me with the adults leading the youth club, or teaching them. I believe this mostly achieved a positive effect, as there appeared to be trust and respect between the young people and their youth leaders and teachers. Additionally, the subject of our discussions seemed to put young people at ease; most participants seemed to enjoy sharing their film and media habits and preferences, and movie-going experiences, with me. It helped sometimes that I took popcorn with me – a literal ‘sweetener’. However, I do concede that the data thereby collected was influenced by my positionality as an adult in an authoritative position, and possible issues of reliability within their personal testimonies may be present. I took other measures to counteract this disparity in power relations; I made every effort to be patient and inclusive with my interviewing, which was challenging at times especially with relatively large groups of (four or five) excitable younger teens in youth venues.

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This consideration about my positionality leads me to reflect on the question of whether I am one of Bourdieu’s ‘established petit bourgeoisie’ (see Jenkins, 1992: 144-145), with a ‘dream of social flying, a desperate effort to defy the gravity of the social field’ (Bourdieu, 2010 [1984]: 371). If I am, then perhaps Bourdieu is too. He himself came from a modest background in Southern France (his father was a postal worker), and worked his way up in intellectual, educational, and cultural fields. Distinction (2010 [1984]), Bourdieu’s seminal study of cultural taste in France lacks any self-reflexivity. Critics have argued that Bourdieu ‘betrays his membership of French bourgeois cultural networks. Despite his good intentions, this elevated point of view taints the entire

discussion with the sub-text of the author’s own distinction (and that of his intended audience)’ (Jenkins, 1992: 149). My intention with this section, and throughout this project, was to provide and consider self-reflexivity to

counteract any unchecked biases and predispositions.