Stage 3

This stage covered a period from November 2011 to January 2012 which is when the young people had already started their first year at college.

3.4.1 Participants

Of the 16 young people interviewed during the first stage, nine were interviewed again in the second stage and 11 were interviewed again in the final stage. (Details of the summary of data collection for all three stages can be found in Chapter 6). As mentioned earlier, two young people had decided to carry on to S6 and thus were excluded from this study as it did not meet my criteria. One interview was not carried out as despite attempts to track him down via letter, there was no response. Two other young people could not be interviewed despite agreed appointments and permissions. However, upon reaching their houses to conduct the interview as agreed, it was found that the first young person had been told to leave the house by her parent and the other young person could not be interviewed because the parent was unwell. Although repeat

attempts were made to interview one of them at the college after discussing this and asking for permission from the parent, according to the college staff, the young person decided not to take part. The participant’s right to withdraw from my study at any time was respected (BERA, 2011). As a result, the young person did not participate in Stage 3. However, his parent agreed to be interviewed over the telephone. All the interview sessions took place at their respective homes with permission given by their parents. Table 3.9 shows the total number of participants at Stage 3.

Table 3.9 Total number of participants at Stage 3

Participants Number Gender

Male Female

Young people 11 09 02

Parents 12 01 11

Total 23 10 13

As for the parents, of the remaining 14, only two parents were unable to take part. For one parent, this was due to work commitments, although the interview session was successfully done with his daughter. The other parent did not respond at all, although attempts were made to contact them via letter as no telephone number was given (details about the data collection of parents during Stages 2 and 3 can be seen in Chapter 6).

3.4.2 Procedures

This stage involved the interview sessions with the young people and their parents. Interview arrangements were made through phone calls to the parents. In addition, two letters were sent to the parents as no contact number was given to me. One parent replied, giving consent for the interview to take place at her house. Prior to the

interview taking place, approval from the UREC was sought for the third time and this was successfully obtained in November 2011 (see Appendix 16). Table 3.10 shows the chronological order of data collection for Stage 3.

Table 3.10 Chronological order of data collection for Stage 3 Making instruments (Interview schedules) (September – October. 2011)

Approval from the University Research Ethics Committee University of Dundee (November 2011) Contacting participants (November 2011) Data collection (November 2011 – January 2012)

Permission for the interview was sought beforehand and confirmation was also provided via telephone prior to the interview taking place. All of the interview sessions were conducted face-to-face in the parents’ respective homes with one exception where one parent preferred to be interviewed over the telephone. The interview sessions for both the young people and their parents were done on the same day, with the young person being interviewed first, followed by their parents. For all the interview sessions, neither the parents nor the young person were present during each other’s interviews.

3.4.3 Interview schedule design

As for the previous stage, I also designed the interview schedules for this stage after discussing them with my supervisors. This time the interview schedule for the young people was simplified and designed in a graphic format and six illustrative pictures were chosen to represent six main themes. They were: college life, people who support you,

friendships and socialisation, difficulties and challenges, transportation, and courses learned and future aspiration (see Appendix 17). This was purposely thought out and designed to serve as a complementary means so as to aid the young people when responding to the questions asked during the interview session. As Lewis and Porter (2004) highlight, complementary methods like drawings, diaries, cameras, etc. are often best used alongside additional methods through which their views can be explored.

As for the parents, I also designed the semi-structured interview schedule which covered five themes, namely transition process, support, courses learned and future aspiration, friendships and socialisation, and transportation (see Appendix 18). Each theme was then followed by probing questions so as to explore further information about their views. The questions were almost the same as the questions asked to the young people so that I could see the similarities or differences between both the view of the parents and their children with regards to the themes discussed.

As with the previous stage, the interview procedures were made clear before the interview took place and they were also told that they have the option of not answering any of the questions. All the interview sessions were audio-recorded with their permission.