Recruitment and Sampling

Empirical data for this study was gathered from 38 face-to-face interviews with 28 self-identified transgender research participants. Using qualitative methods focussing on individual cases, the emphasis was exploratory, descriptive, and interpretative, therefore the sample did not need to be as large as in quantitative research in order to establish internal validity or external generalisability (Bryman, 2008:33). This is in contrast to quantitative research methods which focus on general statements that account for large scale social patterns, the credibility of which rests on sufficient sample size, representativeness and thus the generalisability of the findings. It is howevre a good idea to access a sufficient, diverse, unbiased sample to ensure confidence in the accuracy of the qualitative data, thus this research sought a sample size similar to the 30 participants of Hines (2007), and the 24 participants of Meek (2015), both qualitative interview studies pertinent to this research (discussed in the Literature Review). The final number of participants recruited for the current study was 28 self-identified transgender research participants living in Scotland. At this stage theoretical saturation had been reached with no new data emerging to add analytical understanding of the research questions; a factor which plays an instrumental role in determining sample size in purposive sampling. Athough it would have been possible to recruit further as there were many other individuals who expressed interest in participating, it was decided to cease recruiting, and deepen the existing data by interviewing for the second time as many as possible (10) of the research participants who had already been interviewed.

4.2.1 Recruitment

In its mix of recruitment strategies, the current research followed the example of Hines (2007) and Weeks et al (2001) in order to: ‘touch a diversity of experience in terms of different social and cultural positioning and geographical location’ (Weeks et al, 2001:201). Hines (2007) recruited participants through the main transgender organisational and online networks. Several months before commencing her interviews, Hines first step for recruitment was to ‘establish communication with the transgender community’ asking that they advertise for participants in her intended research in transgender newsletters, journals and websites (2007:193). She describes visiting: ‘a

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85 range of transgender spaces, self-help groups, social events workshops and community meetings’ and also participating in ‘internet transgender discussion forums to talk about the research’ (Hines, 2007:193). The current research was conceptualised after years of regular participation in LGBT activist groups and small local transgender support groups and initially hoped to include participant observation of these as integral to the research design, as well as in transgender online forums. However when time limitations became apparent, the research strategy became focussed on interviews.

Both Hines (2007) and Weeks et al (2001) described the difficulties of recruiting research participants from the margins of social groupings, and their research findings recommended that an area for further research would be into ‘outliers’ or non-heterosexual and transgender people who locate themselves outside ‘mainstream’

transgender communities and social networks (Hines 2007:194). Therefore a nascent hope for the current project was to access a possible marginalised transgender population in Scotland, both geographically in the more isolated areas of Scotland, and organisationally as in not influenced by any potential ‘mainstream’ transgender discourse (if such exists). To this end the organisers of all the smaller local transgender support groups around Scotland were contacted. Most undertook to speak to their membership about the research, providing several participants. Adverts for participants were placed in various LGBT publications, including the magazines of two of the oldest UK wide transgender organisations Beaumont Society and Roses Repartee. The logic behind contacting these groups was that their historic constitution and membership base provided a possibility that many of their membership may be older, and still living in stealth, thus possibly less likely to have participated in a more

‘mainstream’ transgender discourse, and this in fact turned out to be the case for respondents from these organisations.

Adverts were placed both in mainstream and small local community newspapers around Scotland – the most successful being the Metro Newspaper distributed freely on all major urban public transport systems throughout the UK. Another successful strategy was physical placement of adverts in LGBT social spaces such as nightclubs and bars, and at specifically LGBT theatre performances in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

An unsuccessful strategy was the physical placement of adverts in non-LGBT specific

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86 public places such as supermarkets, local shops, ferry terminals, train stations, and youth hostels in remote areas around Scotland - including the Highlands and Islands, as far afield as Orkney and the Outer Hebrides (by personal contacts of the researcher).

These different advertising strategies were intended to: ‘gain access to as wide a range of individuals relevant to the research question as possible, so that many different perspectives and ranges of activity are the focus of attention’ (Bryman 2008:414).

Difficulties in ‘establishing a sampling frame for a hidden population of non-heterosexuals’ in order to ‘avoid the race, class and organisational bias that has characterised other studies’ was described by Weeks et al (2001:201). Likewise attempts by the current research to source a hidden population of gender variant people living in rural areas was not successful, resulting in a sample slant towards people living in the large urban conurbations of the Central Belt of Scotland. This distribution was reasonably predictable as the anonymity of large population groupings offer a sense of protection for individuals with sexual and gender variant identities and greater possibilities for intersubjective support. Limitations of time and funding for this project restricted more extensive recruitment for participants on the geographic margins of Scotland. The same resource limitations precluded the following up of contacts further afield who had already expressed interest in being interviewed.

Fundamental to the logic of the current study is that the recruitment approach differed from that of the research methods of surveys conducted by the major transgender lobby groups, with recruitment based on their organisational mailing lists and sampling on convenience and self-selection (see research of Whittle, 2007 & 2008; Morton, 2008;

McNeil, 2012). The aim of the recruitment for the current study was to reach participants who were not key stakeholders in the transgender community or informed by more ‘mainstream’ transgender discourses. Thus the main transgender organisations and GICs were not approached to recruit for research participants. One of the strengths of the current study was perceived to be its political independence from organisations and interest groups.

The attempt to recruit gender variant individuals who were not connected to transgender organisations was not altogether successful. In the final sample 12/28

Constructing identities, reclaiming subjectivities, reconstructing selves: an interpretative study of transgender practices Scotland

87 participants recruited for this study are presently involved with transgender organisations or support groups. 16/28 Participants had no present contact with transgender groups, but of these some had a past history of participation and transgender activism but now prefer non-involvement, and only five have never had contact with or interest in participating in transgender networks. It soon became evident that it was not practically possible to limit the research sample to transgender individuals completely isolated from any contact with transgender networks.

Transgender individuals who fit that rubric and can ‘pass’ in their transitioned gender presentation have often chosen to live as ‘stealth’- in new social situations with their past gender histories concealed - and it is possible to speculate that they would not wish to participate in research.

The placement of adverts on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and a Blog were unsuccessful probably because little time was devoted to linking and upkeep. Initially online transgender discussion forums were also investigated as part of the recruitment method. However, it soon became evident that pursuing this particular research strategy would have provided such a wealth of material as to necessitate a separate study.

Indeed, a cursory investigation revealed a process of online-specific identity formation and production of transgender identities through online social practices.

4.2.2 Purposive sampling

In selecting interview participants this study used a purposive sampling strategy in order to maximise diversity, modelled on the studies of Ekins (1997), Weeks’ (2001) and Hines (2007). Purposive sampling is not the same as convenience sampling which is simply availability by chance. When choosing a purposive sample the judgement and knowledge of the researcher are important in deciding which individuals are appropriate to contribute to the achievement of research objectives: ‘The researcher needs to be clear what the criteria are that will be relevant to the inclusion or exclusion of cases’ (Bryman, 2008:415). Hines describes her theoretical purposive sampling strategy how participants were: ‘purposively selected in relation to a range of variables (gender, sexuality, age, occupation, geographical location, partnering and parenting status and transitional time span) in order to maximise diversity’ (Hines, 2007:193).

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88 The purposive sampling in the current study was intended to gather participants in order to maximise diversity of distribution and the largest range of variables possible in terms of the key demographic characteristics of gender, age, class, occupation and geographic location. The sample was selected in a strategic way to be most relevant to the research questions posed and to the understanding of the social phenomenon of transgender identity. Some snowball sampling was employed via a network of referrals and personal contacts. However this was kept to a minimum as the difficulties of ensuring anonymity with snowball sampling are acknowledged, particularly given the relatively small transgender population in Scotland.

Participants were selected from most regions of Scotland. The greatest geographic concentration of interview participants numbering currently live in the urbanised, densely populated post-industrial Central Belt Area: Greater Glasgow; Renfrewshire;

Edinburgh; Lanarkshire. The large cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen have been labelled as such in the demographic data table, whereas for reasons of anonymity the smaller towns and villages have been labelled according to their counties [See Table Residential Area Distribution in Appendix]. 11/28 of participants live in suburban areas of major cities, 8/28 live in urban areas, 7/28 live in rural villages, 2/28 live in small coastal towns. The interview sample was exactly divided between participants from working class and middle class contexts – established via a combination of criteria located within their formative backgrounds. More than half the sample, 16/28 participants, were over the age of 50 at time of interview. The mean age of the sample is 51 years, making this an older sample than previous UK survey studies in which the age of participants at time of research averaged 40 (Whittle et al, 2007:27). Data from demographics in other studies are similar to the age distribution in this study, in that MtF are generally an older demographic than FtM at time of transition (discussed in Gender Practices chapter). [See Table of Age Distribution in Appendix ].

The sample for the current study was chosen on the basis of specific demographic criteria, using different access routes for recruitment from diverse geographical areas throughout Scotland. Thus it was hoped to reach a more diverse representation of transgender people than the recruitment and sampling strategies of quantitative surveys

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89 conducted into transgender people in the UK to date - as discussed in the section on Recruitment above. For example, a description of sampling in the research report of the Trans Mental Health Survey (2012) describes it as being ‘essentially one of convenience’ and ‘self-selection’, because of the problematic of sampling a hidden population where there is ‘no way of identifying the trans population in its entirety’

(McNeil et al, 2012:8).

The sampling technique for the current study made concerted efforts to broaden the base for recruitment and selection, therefore could not be described as a convenience sample where self-selection occurred or an access route already exists, for example if the sample had been recruited from only the researcher’s transgender friendship network, or other members of an organisation to which the researcher belongs, such as other students at Glasgow University. The main purpose of the recruitment and sampling methods used was to obtain as broad a geographic sampling sweep as possible, particularly from the more isolated marginalised areas of Scotland, in an attempt to capture outliers. This last purpose was not as successful as had been hoped given that most responses to the adverts came from the urbanised Central Belt area in Scotland. However as previous studies indicate, it is to be expected that gender variant people will gravitate towards cities. Therefore the urbanised sample does not necessarily signify that it is not representative of a trans population in Scotland.