Reflections on my role as a researcher

In this section I will focus on the impact of the various roles that I assume whilst undertaking this research and how they were managed; firstly, as an individual, then as an analyst and finally as a theorist. Finally, I will reflect on the validity of the research.

The city that is the focus of the night time economy within this study is a typical northern former industrial town. It is also the city that I first started drinking in, was also a university graduate in and is still, the city, which I choose to spend my leisure time in. As others have noted (Chatterton and Hollands 2003, Smith 2014) there is a certain uniformity to the night time environment regardless of which city you are in. However, having some understanding of the ‘what’ and the ‘where’ that the study participants talked about was useful, as with the exception of some of the more obscure venues I was familiar with the places being discussed.

It is important to acknowledge and consider my own role within the process. My practice in terms of my research is affected and structured in much the same ways as the drinking practices of the young people in this study. In terms of analysing my own

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background I am a white, middle-class, mother of three. I have entered the research process with lived experiences of being a woman, someone who enjoys drinking alcohol and someone who [still] enjoys going out. I do not have the experience of being a working class, woman although I am informed by literature and my own considerable experiences of applied research. As a mother during the time period of this study, I have watched my eldest son and his friendship group engage in their first drinking practices which have similarities to the experiences narrated by the young people in this study.

I was also aware that as an older woman and also as a mother I may appear to be a figure of authority. I was therefore aware I needed to establish rapport and connection with the young participants. Having worked with young people most of my adult life I was not worried about the age difference between myself and the participants and I found it easy to connect with the participants. I did not change my style of dress for meeting the young people but in an attempt not to appear as an authoritative figure I dressed casually during our meetings. Furthermore, my own personal profile photograph was taken on a night out. In all my meetings and during online interactions I communicated with the young people respectfully and with an interest in what they had to say. I always thanked them for their time and answered their questions about my research and my life. Thus, I was able to develop a level of rapport with the participants.

However, there was a sense of my gender affecting the way in which participants related to me; sometimes participants struggled to find the right words to express themselves, as they did not wish to offend me. In other company, they may have found

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the words more easily. As an example, Mark explained that he didn’t want to add me on Snapchat, because as a “bird” [woman] I may be offended. However as previously touched upon some participants were open and candid with me and explained to others that they could be as well.

As an analyst, I acknowledge that my interpretation of participants’ experiences will probably differ from the young people’s own interpretations. Indeed, as I am seeking to understand their taken for granted knowledge and routines then it makes it more likely that there would be a difference. I did find that participants did not always fully explain all their experiences, as they did not always, in the first instance, articulate their ‘taken for granted’ knowledge. I relied on in-depth questioning and challenges from other group members to uncover the obvious. One way, in which I elicited these accounts was to follow the advice of Becker (1998), who suggests asking ‘how’ rather than ‘why’, to encourage descriptions of process and doings.

I emphasise that I have tried to make the process of interpreting my data as explicit as possible by the inclusion of quotes from the participants and visual images in the data analysis chapters. The research process required a constant and deliberate effort not to make (un)conscious judgements about the participants’ experiences. It was particularly important that I did not impose my values onto the participants. I did this by undergoing a continuous process of self-scrutiny, review of interview recordings, challenge from my supervisors and developing my questioning from this process. For the most part, adopting a social practice theoretical approach provided a useful framework for this study. Nonetheless, adopting a theoretical framework that has not previously been used to explain young people’s alcohol consumption was not without

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its challenges. Notable amongst them was the lack of a distinct methodological strategy. However, the methods I have used are based on a strong rationale informed by the literature and as such enabled me to develop an overview of the participants’ drinking practices and some of their performances. Nevertheless it has been difficult not to lapse from my chosen theoretical stance and be influenced by the influential behaviour change paradigm (Cohn 2014). However, by not travelling this theoretical path I am able to explore an alternative theoretical perspective on young people’s alcohol consumption and develop a new interpretation of the phenomena.

Drawing on the work of Delamont (2002) this thesis has sought to demonstrate the rigour of the research study by providing a clear account of the processes which have been undertaken and by reflecting on the effect that these may have had on the outcome of the research. At each stage, all thinking has been shared with the researcher’s supervisors who have challenged and questioned the interpretations.

3.9 Conclusion

This chapter explains that the approach to this study is informed by an approach that locates the social in practice and is informed by an epistemological view of social constructivism (Hargreaves 2008, Halkier and Jensen 2011, Martens 2012, Halkier 2011). This study therefore does not a search for an objective truth or reality but rather this epistemological position informed the choice of a methodology that would generate knowledge to help improve understandings of young people’s situated experiences of consuming alcohol. This in turn informed the choice of a qualitative methodology as it offers an in-depth and nuanced insight into the practices that young people are engaged in. In this study, qualitative data was collected from group

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interviews and SNS content. Similar to other social practice research studies, thematic analysis, that was both theory and data driven, was used to interrogate the data collected.

The use of SNS content as a data source in the study raised a number of ethical challenges that have been detailed in this chapter. This is to ensure that the challenges and the responses are fully understood, and that the study has been conducted in an ethical manner. This chapter has sought to provide a full and honest account of the research study in order to demonstrate rigour in the process.

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