Researcher Reflexivity & Bias

In any research it is important to consider the influence of researcher bias. The researcher has no connections to shotgun shooting of any kind, a criticism of previous research studies.

No research can be value free (Bryman, 2001), however Miles and Huberman (1994) suggest a number of actions that can be taken to minimise researcher bias including staying on site for an extended period of time, using unobtrusive measures where possible, but also interviewing some participants off site and clearly explaining to participants what the research is for and how data will be used. Spending time away from the site to avoid ‘going native’, including outliers in your research, thinking ‘conceptually’ and finding background information providers, the use of well-developed research questions and a conceptual framework and triangulation are also suggested (Miles and Huberman, 1994). The researcher incorporated all of these suggestions into the methodological design. For this study, bias was particularly pertinent as all recent existing research into social impacts of

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shooting has been accused of bias as it was sponsored and/or commissioned by either those for or against shooting (Public and Corporate Economic Consultants (PACEC), 2012, 2014a;

Cormack & Rotherham, 2014; British Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC), 2016).

4.10 Conclusion

The chapter considered the researcher’s ontological and philosophical approach and how this relates to the topic being studied, including which methods were considered most appropriate for this approach. Having identified a critical realist approach be taken, a suitable methodology was outlined, in line with critical realist studies in other areas and existing social impact studies, whilst also bringing together the most effective elements of the existing, limited studies considering the social impact of shooting. These methods were considered and the data analysis approach outlined. Finally, ethical considerations including ensuring participant confidentiality and anonymity, gaining consent, researcher welfare and bias were explored.

Table 4.4 summarises the philosophical and methodological approached to this research.

Methodological Aspect Approach Research Paradigm Critical Realism

Methodology Mixed-method

Research Approach Comparative

Research Aims 1. To develop a cross-sectional, mixed methods approach in line with recognised GECES social impact assessment guidelines, suitable for identifying the social impacts of driven game shooting

2. To use this methodology to formulate a way of measuring social impacts across driven game shooting in future

Quantitative Research Tools Questionnaires

Qualitative Research Tools Semi-structured interviews

Observation – journal and reflective notes

Informal discussions – journal and reflective notes

Sample Qualitative: 7 shoot visits and 45 semi-structured interviews Quantitative: 2425 questionnaire responses

Table 4.4 Epistemological and Methodological Overview

138 Chapter 5 - Stage 1 Shoot Visits Data Analysis

This chapter analyses the qualitative and quantitative data collected from the sampled Shoots²¹. The different types of Shoot attended are described, the sampled interviewees and the process followed to analyse the qualitative interview data to develop key themes are then explored. This is supplemented by analysis of the quantitative data collected from interview participants. As noted in Chapter 4, the concepts and themes identified during qualitative data analysis were utilised to develop a questionnaire for wider distribution, the responses from which were analysed using statistical quantitative analysis methods and descriptive statistics analysis as detailed in Chapter 6. A number of hypotheses were developed during the analysis, to be tested using the wider questionnaire data, and these are shown at the relevant points in this chapter.

This chapter also seeks to address two of the three research questions

• To what extent does DGS create social impact through the creation of social capital and reinforcement of identity?

• How does the type and size of Shoot mediate social capital and identity development?

The third and final research question is answered in Chapter 8.

• How can these social impacts be valued and compared in the future?

21 For clarity of understanding, when ‘shoot’ is being used as a noun to describe a type of activity it is capitalised within this chapter as Shoot.

139 5.1 The Sampled Shoots

The Shoots sampled in line with the methodology detailed in section 4.7 of Chapter 4 covered a range of types and sizes across England. The Shoots all offered unfettered access to their shooting days and were welcoming and open regarding the study, although some participants at the large and medium Shoots were warier about the researcher’s presence having recently been harassed by anti-shoot protestors. The researcher wrote a reflective record at each Shoot visited which was also analysed during the qualitative data analysis stage. Tables 5.1 and 5.2 show sampled Shoot details.

Commercials: Commercial Shoots sell shooting days to individuals or teams of individuals at a rate per bird, based on the expected ‘bag’ size. The bag size is based on the number of birds expected

to be shot within the time provided and the number of ‘drives²²’ allowed for.

Sampling Classification

Large Commercials Medium Commercial Small Commercial Location Exmoor (2 locations) North Yorkshire Moors South Yorkshire

Quarry (birds) Pheasant and partridge Grouse Pheasant

Cost per day £25,000 £30,000 £2500

Table 5.1 Sampled Commercial Shoots Information

22 drives is the name for the process where birds are flushed over the guns.

23 a boundary day is a smaller bag size day, where the drives take place along the boundaries of the estate where less pheasants are found. It provides a way to move an estate’s pheasant back into the main shoot estate area and offer cheaper driven game shooting days.

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Syndicates: All of the syndicates were ‘not-for profit’. Syndicates are a club where members pay an annual subscription as a gun (a person who shoots) and in return are able to engage in a specified number of days shooting throughout the season. Some offer ‘full-gun’ and ‘half-gun’

memberships. Full guns shoot on every day the syndicate Shoots, whereas half guns shoot on alternate shooting days in the season. Some syndicates include ‘gun’ working parties to raise the

pheasants and maintain the landscape for the Shoot. Most syndicates require guns to attend for an annual ‘beaters’ day’ – where the guns beat to allow the beaters to shoot for free at the end of

the season.

Classification Larger Syndicate Smaller Syndicate Smaller Syndicate

Location East Midlands Hampshire Oxfordshire

Quarry Pheasant and partridge Pheasant Pheasant

Syndicate Type

Single location based ‘Beat – Stand’, single location based²⁴

Single location based Gun working

parties?

Yes, frequently Not usually Not usually

Annual

Table 5.2 Sampled Syndicate Shoots Information

24 Beat - stand syndicate having eight drives per day. Each gun shoots four drives and is a member of the beating team for four drives.

25 May be slightly more if unforeseen site works required, as shoot surplus not allowed under land use terms.

141 5.2 The Interview Participants

Quantitative data from the interview participants was analysed using SPSS. A total of 45 participants were interviewed across the different Shoot types/locations, of which 73% were men and 27% women. Table 5.3 shows the age range of participants. The mean average age of participants was 56 years (median age of 57 years). The minimum age was 17 years and the maximum was 79 years.

Mean N Std.

Deviation

Minimum Maximum Range

All participants 56.07 45 16.04 17.0 79.0 62.0

Commercial Shoots 55.29 24 19.01 17.0 77.0 60.0

Syndicate Shoots 56.95 21 12.19 35.0 79.0 44.0

Table 5.3 Interview Participant Age Ranges

The breakdown of respondents by Shoot type and role is shown below in Table 5.4. Guns from commercial Shoots were not interviewed, as the researcher spent time with the beaters and pickers up who did not mix with the guns at this type of Shoot when visits took place.

Primary Role Total

Beater Driver

Game-keeper

Gun Picker-up Syndicate Organiser, Gun

Commercial 17 1 1 0 5 0 24

Syndicate 5 0 0 9 5 2 21

22 1 1 9 10 2 45

Table 5.4 Interview participants by Shoot type and role

Rural and village dwellers were more prevalent than urban (town and city) dwellers for both Shoot types as shown in Table 5.5.

Commercial Syndicate Totals

Rural 7 3 10

Village 14 12 26

Town 2 5 7

City 1 1 2

Totals 24 21 45

Table 5.5 Where interview participants reside. Split by Shoot Type

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Half of the participants from commercial Shoots were retired or semi-retired, as shown in Table 5.6. At the syndicate Shoots there was only one retired gun, the others were still working, but the pickers-up and beaters were mix of four retired/semi-retired individuals and six individuals that work.

Table 5.6 Retired and working interview participants by role and Shoot type

Qualitative data from the interviews and the reflective records of Shoot visits recorded by the researcher was analysed using a Straussian grounded theory based Constant Comparative Method (CCM), following the iterative approach detailed in Chapter 4. This approach allowed analytical concepts and themes to emerge from the data by starting with open coding and then following a process of phenomenological reduction to identify key themes (Strauss and Corbin, 1990). During the immersion stage 247 units of analysis were identified. Further analysis after the immersion stage led to the formation of 24 concepts during the categorisation stage. The final stage of phenomenological reduction led to the emergence of four key themes – ‘social capital’, ‘identity’, ‘positive impacts/returns’ and ‘negative impacts/

returns’. The qualitative analysis process is outlined in Figure 5.1 where the numbers in the concept boxes relating to the relevant units of analysis detailed in Appendix J and the numbers in the theme boxes corresponding to the relevant concepts.

143 Figure 5.1

Phenomenological reduction and units of analysis

144 5.3 Social Capital and Identity

The focus of the study is on social impacts and social networks. Putnam’s classifications of Bonding, Bridging and Linking social capital (Putnam, 2000; Claridge, 2018a), as detailed in Chapter 2, section 2.1 have been used as a basis for identifying social capital within DGS. The data collected from the semi-structured interviews showed both bonding and bridging social capital was apparent as explored in sections 5.3.1 and 5.3.2.