Guidelines for Use

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Organisations and individuals are free to make use of this material which was produced by COI, but are asked to observe the guidelines shown at the front of this document when doing so.

COI Communications Common

Good Research

Ethnic Minority Communities

Qualitative Research Report, August

2003

Prepared by:

Turnstone Research

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Guidelines for Use

This material was produced by COI as part of its Common Good Research programme and is Crown Copyright. Organisations and individuals are invited to make free use of it but are asked to observe the following guidelines when doing so.

1. Appropriate acknowledgement should be made to COI when using the material.

2. The material may be used in whole or part but respect should be given to intellectual property rights and extracts should not be used in any way that is contrary to the overall findings.

3. The material must not be sold on.

If you are in doubt as to whether to issue copies of a report or presentation to third parties, please do not hesitate in contacting COI Head of Corporate

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1 EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW 1

2 SUMMARY 3

3 RECOMMENDATIONS 21

4 INTRODUCTION 26

5 MEDIA LANDSCAPES 51

6 MAINSTREAM MEDIA 56

7 SPECIALIST MEDIA 65

8 MAPPING THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE 67

9 ETHNIC AND CULTURAL IDENTITY 70

10 YOUTH CULTURE 74

11 THE ROLE OF WOMEN 81

12 SPECIFIC COMMUNITY ISSUES 85

13 THE CHINESE COMMUNITY 87

14 INDIAN COMMUNITIES 100

15 INDIAN PENSIONERS 108

16 PAKISTANI AND BANGLADESHI COMMUNITIES 117

17 BLACK AFRICANS 133

18 BLACK CARIBBEANS 139

19 BLACK CARIBBEAN PENSIONERS 146

20 THE MIXED RACE POPULATION 152

21 VIEWS OF ADVERTISING 158

22 COMMUNITY CENTRES 171

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Ethnic minority communities shared many interests and media habits with the general population and this was particularly true of the younger generation. Thus, campaigns targeting ethnic minority communities do not always need to use specialist media, as

mainstream channels will reach large sections of the communities. Soaps, police shows, talk shows, home decoration, “reality TV”, science fiction, action movies and thrillers were all enjoyed by minority and white audiences alike, and this should be remembered when planning media and advertising.

Specialist media are, however, essential to access key sub-groups in these communities, such as women, older people and those who speak little or no English. These people are often highly engaged in specialist media whilst they often appear uninterested in mainstream media and advertising. Specialist media also offer opportunities to communicate with the whole family in the Asian and Chinese

communities, which is rarely achieved through mainstream channels. They can also communicate with an additional “cultural closeness”.

In the mainstream media, there are ample opportunities to enhance the impact of advertising and marketing. People from ethnic minority communities want to see a wider range of realistic, credible characters playing “normal”, mainstream roles. They want to see appealing

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In targeted campaigns using specialist media, ethnic and religious identity can be used to enhance the relevance and closeness of the message to the communities. This might include using a credible spokesperson from the community, making reference to key religious festivals or cultural symbols, or including an identifiable and likeable portrait of family life.

There are also many opportunities for creative niche marketing through specialist media. Marketers could hook into the specific ethnic and cultural interests of particular groups or sub-groups, and these can be tied into specific media channels. Government communicators could also develop relationships with local organisations and individuals to enhance the effectiveness of distribution and generate word of mouth publicity through existing community networks.

Finally, community groups need to be seen as a target audience in their own right and not just as a channel for distribution. Materials need to be developed to meet their specific needs, and these should be properly publicised both externally and internally within the

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2 Summary

2.1 Introduction

This research was commissioned by COI Communications as part of its Common Good Research programme, so-called because the

research is of interest to all government departments and their agencies. This research programme focused on ethnic minority communities and comprised two elements:

• Desk research reviewing recent studies conducted by COI

Communications;

• A large scale original qualitative research project.

The objectives of the research programme were:

• To explore the social, cultural and attitudinal factors which

impact on the communications needs of ethnic minority communities;

• To provide strategic and creative guidance on communicating

with ethnic minority communities.

In this section we summarise the results of the qualitative research.

2.2 Research methods

The research used entirely qualitative methods, designed to provide insight and understanding, but not statistical or numerical data. In order to maximise the value of the data gained, a range of methods were used including:

• 24 workshops, involving conventional group discussion

techniques and also a range of tasks and lasting two hours;

• 14 individual interviews lasting 1 ½ hours;

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• 10 hour family visits, involving two researchers visiting a family in their home and spending the evening observing and videoing their media consumption, lasting 3 - 4 hours;

• 4 group discussions lasting 1 ½ hours;

• 6 site visits to community centres, involving the researcher visiting a centre, interviewing key workers, meeting any centre users where possible and observing the use of publicity materials, lasting around 2 hours.

The total sample comprised:

• Indian men and women aged 18 – 80;

• Pakistani men and women aged 25 – 65;

• Bangladeshi men and women aged 25 – 65;

• Chinese men and women aged 18 – 65;

• Black Caribbean men and women aged 18 – 80;

• Black African men and women aged 18 – 60;

• Mixed race people aged 18 - 24.

The sample covered a range of socio-economic groups and included members of the Asian and Chinese communities who spoke or no English. The fieldwork was conducted between March and June 2003 in a range of locations in England. The sample was designed to fill in the gaps identified in the existing research and not to provide

comprehensive coverage of all the UK’s ethnic minority communities. Refugee communities were not included in this research.

2.3 The media landscape

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• Fragmentation, with family members consuming different media

in different places and times;

• Multiple consumption, where people were frequently exposed to

several different media at the same time;

• Varying engagement levels, where people were very involved in

some media while paying little attention to others;

• The fact of being “always on”, with people tuning their attention

in and out of different media rather than turning them on or off;

• A reduced commitment to any individual act of media

consumption, where the proliferation of multi-channel options offering regular repeats of popular programmes reduced the need to view them on any particular occasion.

We feel that these trends may result in a devaluation of above-the-line media channels, especially television, in the consumer psyche.

Interestingly, these trends had less impact on specialist ethnic media among the older generation, where high involvement and committed media consumption were still common.

2.4 Mainstream media

Ethnic minority people shared many media habits with the general population. Mainstream media were important, especially for the younger generations and Black and Indian communities. Television dominated the mainstream media and there were a small number of mass market, high involvement programmes – Eastenders, The

Simpsons and Friends, for example – which were watched by a wide

range of people and commanded considerable loyalty. Added to these are the big, one off media ‘events’ such as the Michael Jackson - Martin Bashir interview or the Ingrams cheating on Who Wants to Be a

Millionaire? There were also a number of mass-market programmes

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Beyond this mass market, there were differences between the viewing patterns of men and women, and between younger and older people. These mirror patterns found in the general population. Men were more likely to watch sports, news and documentaries, as well as thrillers, science fiction or martial arts and action movies. Women were more interested in soaps, talk shows and home improvement programmes. And younger people liked programmes such as The Simpsons and The

Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as channels

such as MTV and Trouble.

Mainstream radio listening did not differ markedly from patterns in the general population, with people attracted by particular music or presenters. National press readership followed predictable patterns, with better-educated respondents reading broadsheets and those with less formal education reading tabloids. The local and regional press had a high profile, possibly as a consequence of a more strongly developed sense of local community among ethnic minority groups.

2.5 Specialist media

In addition to mainstream media, there were also media which

specifically targeted ethnic minority communities, for example, Asian TV channels and newspapers targeted at the black community. These specialist media channels tended to be most relevant to elders, non-English speakers and new arrivals into the UK, seeking programmes and news with the ‘feel’ of their home countries. Younger people mainly consumed the mass media mentioned above. However, they might dip in and out of ethnic media channels, either though choice or through a sense of duty (for example, keeping their mother company while she watched an Asian drama). There were also specific

programmes they might like, such as Bollywood movies. Some parents encouraged their children to watch specialist media so that they could keep in touch with the ‘home’ culture and maintain their mother

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Specialist ethnic media played a number of roles in ethnic minority communities. These channels provided:

• Cultural familiarity - ‘a little piece of home’ - whereby ethnic minority people could see their culture reflected on screen and in the press;

• Access to news and entertainment in mother tongue languages

for non-English speakers;

• Coverage of news from ‘home’, much of which did not feature

in the mainstream media in Britain;

• An ‘ethnic’ perspective on the UK news;

• Discussion and coverage of issues relevant to particular ethnic

minority communities;

• The chance to see presenters, broadcasters and actors from an

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2.6 Ethnic and cultural Identity

The issue of ethnic and cultural identity was more complex than the rules of nationality would suggest. Many ethnic minority people in Britain were British-born, but the extent to which they felt British varied considerably.

Hybrid identities were common among ethnic minority young people, who often felt ‘caught between two stools’ in terms of the family

culture they are brought up in and the UK culture which they were born into and which surrounds them. Therefore, young people might

describe themselves as British Asian, British Chinese, English Jamaican and so on. These definitions acknowledged the dual cultural identities within which young people operated and were also a consequence of being a visible ethnic minority, which marked them out as being

‘different’ to white British people. In certain cases, young people might reject their British identity altogether if they felt unwelcome and

discriminated against in the UK. In this research, young black men and young Muslim men were most likely to feel this way. However, it was interesting to note that some felt more ‘English’ after visiting their parent’s home country, when they realised that their way of life in Britain was very different to life ‘back home’.

Young people exhibited varying degrees of closeness to their parents’ (or grandparents’) home culture. The different generations were brought together by eating traditional food, religion, children in the family learning to speak mother tongue languages and visits to the ‘home’ country. These also served to cement family relationships across continents.

The older generation did not generally see themselves as British, even if they had lived in the UK for many years. Some Indian and Black

Caribbean pensioners were British citizens when they arrived in this country and they emphasised this fact. Older people were often

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2.7 Youth Culture

The lifestyles, culture and interests of young people from ethnic minority backgrounds had much in common with those of young people from the general population. As such, ethnic identity was often less

important to them in mainstream youth contexts, such as when they were watching The Simpsons or supporting Manchester United at football.

Overall, music was a very important part of youth culture and interest in ‘urban’ music, by which we mean rhythm and blues (R&B), rap, and hip hop, crosses ethnic boundaries.

Common interests for young men included playing and watching sport, going to the gym and cars. They liked surfing the Internet, online

gaming and Playstation. Increasingly, they ‘talked’ to their friends in chat rooms, by email, by MSN Messenger or via text messaging.

Young women also liked music and were interested in fashion, cosmetics, hairstyles, celebrity gossip and soaps. They talked

animatedly about which male stars they “fancied” on TV and in the movies. Young women were also keen on using the Internet for communicating with friends.

2.8 The Role of Women

Traditional ethnic minority households tended to run along traditional gender lines, with the mother very much in charge of domestic duties such as cooking, housework and childcare. Daughters were also involved in helping their mothers with cleaning and cooking, particularly in Asian and Black African households.

Perhaps as a reaction to this, many of the younger women spoke about delaying “settling down” in favour of financial independence and career success.

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2.9 The Chinese population

Among Chinese people there was a strong sense of parental authority and discipline, with younger generations and girls in particular

complaining about their parents’ strict rules. Hard work and financial independence were important social values, and there was a strong sense of ethnic and cultural identity in which the Chinese language was central. Chinese people from all age groups felt slightly distanced from British society. Although they did not feel a strong sense of racist rejection, they did not feel accepted as British. Chinese young people noted the absence of Chinese characters from almost the whole mainstream media and their relative invisibility in British public life.

Chinese media were central for the older generations, many of whom spoke little or no English. The Chinese Channel and Phoenix TV,

Spectrum Radio and Sing Tao newspaper were all important. Chinese dramas and action movies were popular, and there was a strong interest in Hong Kong celebrities among the younger generation. However, there were no radio or TV stations which met the needs of the younger generation, and they therefore tended to be heavy users of videos, DVDs and the Internet to access Chinese culture and

media.

2.10 The Indian population

Indian people in our sample spoke about changes in the community, including the increased freedom available to young women and the changes in the attitudes of parents. Those born and brought up in Britain often felt a sense of mixed identity, describing themselves as “British Asian” or “Indian and British”. Indeed, the younger generation increasingly saw themselves as part of mainstream British society, in spite of the persistence of colour-based racism. Religious identity was important for older people but did not over-ride other forms of

identification.

Indian people’s media consumption was very multi-cultural, consuming both mainstream and specialist media. For those under forty,

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2.11 The Pakistani and Bangladeshi populations

The Pakistani and Bangladeshi populations shared many attributes and we therefore discuss them together here. In this research we

interviewed only those aged over 25, but we can draw upon previous COI research to reflect the views of younger people as well. For older people, religious identity was of paramount importance, with many saying they were first Moslems, then Pakistani or Bangladeshi, and then British. Younger men felt strongly that Moslems were rejected by British society and that they suffered both racial and religious discrimination. There were strong differences between lifestyles of men (centring around paid work) and women (centring around childcare and housework) and this impacted on their opportunities for media

consumption. Some younger (25 – 45) women who had arrived more recently in the UK were keen to learn English and get involved in mainstream society. Older women tended to believe it was “too late for them”, and older men appeared to have more interest in religion and politics “back home.”

For older people and those who spoke little or no English, specialist media were of particular importance. They appeared genuinely unengaged by much mainstream media, with the exception of news and factual programming. Also, they showed little understanding of or interest in mainstream TV advertising. Asian TV channels were most important. Channels such as Bangla TV, Ekushey, Prime TV or Ary Digital provided dramas, films, and news from their home countries, often with an Islamic perspective. Religious videos and radio programmes were also popular.

Younger Bangladeshi and Pakistani people also described hybrid identities such as “British Bangladeshi” or “British Pakistani”, although for them too their religious identity as Moslems was often the most

important. As with the Indian young people, they too referred to

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2.12 The Black African population

Older Black African people had a strong sense of identity and took great pride in their heritage and culture. They stressed the importance of instilling traditional African family values in their children, but they felt they were struggling to do this in Britain today. Parental discipline and respect for elders were very important to them and parents had high aspirations for their children in terms of educational and career

achievement. The older generation worried that the younger

generation were rejecting their African identity, partly because they wanted to fit in with their school-friends and partly because negative images of Africa dominated the British media (images of famine, poverty and war) and British-born children wanted to distance

themselves from this. We found, however, that younger people were proud to describe themselves as African, but their culture and interests were more reflective of British youth culture than of traditional African culture.

Both generations spontaneously mentioned racism, which they all believed still existed. However, they felt it emerged in more subtle forms of discrimination, compared with the direct racism of the past.

The media habits of African respondents were very mainstream,

despite their strong cultural and ethnic identity. Young African people consumed much the same media as other young people. The older generation mainly watched mainstream TV, listened to mainstream radio, particularly speech programmes on the BBC and read the mainstream press. Some watched African dramas and films on video and read African newspapers, either in hard copy or online. Religious (Christian) media channels were very important to some.

2.13 The Black Caribbean population

Black Caribbeans are a diverse group and a well established

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South Londoner, North Londoner, Brummie. Music and religion were important facets of the Black Caribbean culture, as were the usual cultural reference points such as food and language (Caribbean patois, street slang). Parent-child relationships tended to be more relaxed than among other ethnic minority groups, and non-traditional family units were common, such as single parent and step family households. Black Caribbeans felt that theirs was the predominant youth culture in urban Britain, influencing the clothes, tastes and language of other young people, although this was not always recognised. They complained about colour-based racism and that young black men were stereotyped as criminals or always “up to no good”.

As with Black Africans, Black Caribbeans’ media habits were largely mainstream. However, music-related consumption was more ‘ethnic’, with a clear preference for black music TV channels (MTV Base) and urban and black pirate radio. Religious (Christian) channels were also important, particularly for older people. The black press had a wide readership, across all age groups, while some black women read specialist celebrity gossip and hair and beauty magazines. Young people tended to watch black American youth channels such as Trouble TV and Nickelodeon, as they felt that black British culture was not reflected in the mainstream.

2.14 The Mixed Race population

The mixed race community is fast growing within the UK and a small sample of mixed race young people were included in this research. Our aim with these interviews was to gain an insight into what it is like to be a mixed race person in Britain today, rather than to reflect the

totality of the mixed race experience. The mixed race respondents in this sample were mixed Asian and white, Chinese and white, and black and white

The mixed race community is a wide and heterogeneous ethnic group, given that people defining themselves in this way can be any

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appeared to be important in forming mixed race young people’s sense of ethnic identity were how they look (whether they look white, mixed, black, Asian), who they grew up with, where they grew up and how they were raised, in terms of the dominant culture and religion which underpinned their upbringing. The majority of those in our sample identified with either their father’s or their mother’s ethnic group, perhaps because few had equal contact with both sides of their family. It was often the mother who was key in determining the respondent’s cultural identity because she set the tone for the

household, chose which food to cook and so on. However, some of the respondents’ fathers had insisted on their children being brought up with a strong ethnic, cultural or religious identity (i.e. Nigerian, Pakistani Muslim), and their (white) mothers had agreed.

There was little evidence of mixed race respondents consuming specialist ethnic media. The mixed race Asian respondents did not consume Asian TV, mainly because they did not speak Asian mother tongue languages well enough or at all. However, a couple of the mixed race Asian girls read Asian gossip and fashion magazines such as

Snoop and Asian Bride. The mixed race respondents in London who

strongly identified with black culture were avid consumers of black media, including pirate radio, music TV and the black press. All the mixed race respondents said they would like to see the representation of ethnic minorities in the media increase and improve.

2.15 Community Centres

Community workers emphasised that their role required them to do more than just provide information to clients. They needed to resolve their clients’ problems and this would usually require face-to-face advice and assistance, not giving out a leaflet. Although there were some positive comments about government leaflets, they were still frequently described as too long and complex for their clients to understand and not always relevant to their community. They

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Community workers valued videos and audio tapes, and also preferred summary and bilingual versions of written materials. They wanted

personal contact with public sector organisations and valued outreach work where government officers visited their centres to advise their clients directly. They wanted to be consulted on information and service provision and most were willing to get involved in government programmes as long as the relationship was a genuine partnership.

2.16 Advertising

Although respondents were often loath to admit it, it was clear that people did take notice of advertising as they could often remember specific campaigns and executions very accurately. It was also evident that ethnic minority people took notice of ethnic minority characters in advertising. At worst, these characters were stereotypical and patronising; at best, appropriate cultural references could

enhance the relevance of the ad and make the characters believable.

Chinese people felt that they were virtually invisible in mainstream advertising, with Chinese characters confined to martial arts-related storylines and roles. Asian people also complained that Asian

characters were limited in number and frequently stereotypical and inaccurate, although they thought the situation was improving.

Conversely, the black population have become accustomed to seeing black people in mainstream adverts, so this was no longer a surprise, but they would like the range of black characters to improve (e.g. to include black family men, black professionals etc.). Black Africans would like to see more references made to Black African culture.

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towards the police recruitment campaign (“they wouldn’t want us in

there”). People did not reject government information per se and they

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3 Recommendations

3.1 Mainstream media

1. Mainstream media can access Indian communities, Black

communities, and the younger generation within all communities.

2. The youth media market is intrinsically multi-cultural and popular

TV stations such Trouble and MTV Base seem relevant to most young people.

3. Ethnic minority people want to be included in mainstream

advertising campaigns on mainstream media, and they notice and approve when this is done well.

4. Ethnic specific messages can be inappropriate in these contexts,

as people want to be seen as part of the mainstream.

3.2 Specialist ethnic media

5. Specialist ethnic media are essential to communicate with older

generations and those who speak little or no English, especially women. They are more relevant to Asian and Chinese

communities than to black communities.

6. They are also valuable to communicate with the whole family for

Asian and Chinese communities – something less easily achieved via mainstream media.

7. Specialist media can communicate a feeling of “ethnic

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8. Marketers should present positive images of British Asian, British Black, or British Chinese youth cultures. Young people want to see these images and ethnic specific media may be the place where they seek them.

3.3 Advertising

9. Executions placed on mainstream media can command

attention by including high profile ethnic minority characters. However, culturally specific messages are not expected on mainstream television channels.

10.Executions placed on specialist media should include characters

from ethnic minority communities and may also have a specific ethnic or cultural message – although white characters should not be excluded.

11.Advertisers should try to develop executions and campaigns that

work across mainstream and specialist media to achieve maximum impact, particularly for younger people.

12.Ethnic minority people want to see characters from their

communities playing “normal”, positive, mainstream roles in mainstream advertising:

o Young people prefer multi-cultural executions, reflecting the

reality of their lives and their aspirations for the future;

o People do not want minority characters to be presented

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o Characters should be credible and recognisable in terms of

their ethnic and cultural identity, but not stereotypically “ethnic”;

o Cultural references can enhance the salience and recall of

advertisements if they are executed with accuracy and affection.

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3.4 Local and partnership marketing

14.Local and regional media are very important to access ethnic

minority communities.

15.This should include local press and radio, working in partnership to generate editorial interest as well as placing advertising.

16.There is ample scope for marketers to develop targeted

campaigns around cultural and religious celebrations, hobbies and pastimes specific to ethnic sub-groups.

17.Marketers should make creative use of local shops or services for

distribution and publicity. These could include hairdressing salons for black women, record shops for black young men, betting shops for older Caribbean men, and mosques for Bangladeshi and Pakistani men.

3.5 Elders and non-English speakers

18.For elders and non-English speakers, particularly in the Pakistani and Bangladeshi populations, media alone may have limited impact.

19.Outreach and sustained community development will also be

required, including:

o Face-to-face contact and network marketing;

o Peer education, especially for women;

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3.6 Community centres

20.Community centres should be seen as a target audience as well

as a distribution channel.

21.Government communicators should distinguish information

targeted at the workers from information targeting the end user.

22.For the end user, government communicators should produce:

o Summary versions of longer leaflets in straightforward

language;

o Bilingual leaflets rather than translations;

o Leaflets with a strong visual and pictorial element;

o Audio and video material, in English and Mother Tongue.

23.Advice workers and officers from public sector organisations

should form links with community centres and offer advice sessions on site.

24.Community centres need appropriate support and resourcing

when assisting with government marketing campaigns.

25.Marketers should consider developing publicity materials and

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4 Introduction

4.1 Background

COI Communications is running a programme of research known as the “Common Good” research, so called because the findings will be relevant to all government departments and their agencies. The research programme focuses on target audiences where robust data on communications issues is lacking, but where the costs involved in commissioning large scale research might exceed the budget of any individual department. So far, the programme focuses on two key audiences for COI Communications campaigns:

• Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs);

• Ethnic minority communities.

Among ethnic minority communities, the research has two components:

• Desk research, already completed by Turnstone and reported

separately;

• Qualitative research, reported in this document.

The desk research reviewed studies commissioned by COI Communications between 1998 and 2003 in order to assess the information gaps and guide the subsequent qualitative research. A range of information gaps were identified which could be addressed by qualitative research, including:

• Basic information about lifestyles and media consumption

among Black African and Chinese communities;

• A deeper understanding of the way media are consumed within

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• Specific media issues, such as the role of the black press or Asian

radio stations.

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Thus, a large-scale qualitative research study was commissioned in order to fill these information gaps. The project was conducted by two specialist research agencies, Turnstone and Connect. The research sample and design must been seen in the context of what is already known about these issues. The research did not attempt to cover all communities in equal depth, but rather to create a bespoke solution to address the specific information gaps identified in the desk research.

The objectives of the qualitative research were to explore:

• The lifestyles and cultural identities of people from ethnic minority communities;

• Media consumption and attitudes to specific media, including

mainstream and specialist channels;

• Attitudes to advertising and to different ways of including ethnic

minority people in marketing communications.

The objective of the whole research programme was to provide strategic and creative guidance on the best ways to communicate with people from ethnic minority communities.

4.2 Community Background

This report does not include detailed background data about the different communities included. This data can be found in other documents (Communicating with non-English speakers, Research Summary, COI Communications/ Home Office, 2001; Social Focus in

Brief: Ethnicity, Office for National Statistics, 2002; Common Good Research – ethnic minorities: desk research, COI Communications,

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Firstly, according to the 2001 Census the ethnic profile of the UK’s population was as follows:

UK population by ethnic group, April 2001

Total population Ethnic minority population

Count % %

White 54,153,898 92.1 N/A

Mixed 677,117 1.2 14.6

Asian or British Asian

Indian 1,053,411 1.8 22.7

Pakistani 747,285 1.3 16.1

Bangladeshi 283,063 0.5 6.1

Other Asian 247,664 0.4 5.3

Black or Black British

Black Caribbean 565,876 1.0 12.2

Black African 485,277 0.8 10.5

Black Other 97,585 0.2 2.1

Chinese 247,403 0.4 5.3

Other 230,615 0.4 5.0

All ethnic minority

populations 4,635,296 7.9 100

All population 58,789,194 100 N/A

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Migration from the Indian sub-continent peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Indian people came mainly from the regions of the Punjab (mainly Sikhs, about 50% of British Indians) and Gujarat (mainly Hindus, about 30% of British Indians). The Mother Tongue of the Sikhs was Punjabi whilst most Hindus spoke Gujarati. Some were from farming backgrounds and may have had little formal education, whilst others were from towns and cities and held vocational or degree level

qualifications. Of those Indian people who came to Britain at the age of 16 or higher, about a third had at least A level equivalent

qualifications, but around half had no formal qualifications. There is also a considerable group of people who first migrated from the Indian sub-continent to East Africa (Uganda and Kenya mainly) and came from Africa to Britain in the early 1970s. In Uganda, this was as a result of the expulsion of the Asians by the Ugandan government of the time. These people are sometimes referred to as East African Asians, and have a more urban and middle class background. Indian people in the UK are concentrated in North and West London, Birmingham and Leicester and most speak fluent English.

Pakistani people came mainly from rural areas in Azad Kashmir and

Mirpur. The first generation were a more homogeneous population than the Indian migrants, typically holding few formal qualifications. Just under one in five of migrants who arrived aged 16 or older had at least A level equivalent qualifications, whilst around two thirds had no formal qualifications. Many Pakistani people in Britain worked in mills and factories when they first arrived, and the community has been seriously affected by the decline of manufacturing industry in these areas. Most Pakistanis are Moslems. Pakistani people in Britain are concentrated in Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester and East London.

According to COI’s 1994 Asian Language and Communication Survey, over half of Pakistan people were confident reading and

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language of Pakistan and is the most common language read among older Pakistanis. However, most Pakistanis speak Urdu and Punjabi/ Mirpuri, as Punjabi is the regional language in the area of Pakistan from which most British Pakistanis come (Mirpuri is a local dialect of Punjabi). Indeed, those who have had less formal education may only speak Punjabi/ Mirpuri, and this is the case for some older women.

Bangladeshi migration was slightly different from Indian or Pakistani

migration. Whilst many Bangladeshi men came to Britain in the mid-1960s, they waited longer to bring their families to Britain. The result was that whilst some older men have been in Britain for twenty or thirty years, their families may have arrived relatively recently, with the peak phase of migration in the 1980s. Most Bangladeshi people in Britain come from the rural area of Sylhet in North East Bangladesh. Their family backgrounds were in landholding or farming. Like the Pakistani population, they were less likely to have formal educational

qualifications than Indian people, with only 14% of migrants having at least A level equivalent qualifications, and three quarters having no formal qualifications. Most Bangladeshi people in Britain are Moslems.

According to COI’s 1994 Survey cited above, Bangladeshi people had the lowest levels of fluency in English, with 24% claiming it as their main language. About half were confident speaking and reading English, but for women over 25 and men over 45, ability in English dropped off steeply. Of those who could not read English, around half could read an Asian language, mainly Bengali. Bengali is the national language of Bangladesh and is the main language read among non-English

speakers. The most common spoken language is Sylheti, a dialect of Bengali spoken in the Sylhet region which is not written.

Chinese people come mainly from Hong Kong, although some also

come from mainland China, Malaysia and Vietnam. Like the

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equivalent qualifications. This suggests a diverse community, including relatively less well-educated rural workers and also urban professionals. Around 50% of Chinese people claim to have no religion, with the remainder split between Christians (around 20%) and Buddhists (around 15%). However, traditional spiritual beliefs, including ancestor worship, are likely to be prevalent among a wider proportion of the population than these figures suggest.

Chinese people were not covered in the 1994 COI survey cited above, but there is some data in the Policy Studies Institute 1994 Survey Ethnic

Minorities in Britain. According to this survey, about three quarters of

Chinese people claimed to speak English at least fairly well, and

interesting this was the same for men and women. This is backed up by the Health Development Agency’s 1999 Health Survey for England, in which just over a quarter of Chinese respondents were interviewed in Mother Tongue. The HDA survey also found that 41% of Chinese saw English as their main language, with the majority of the remainder claiming Cantonese as their main language.

Black Caribbean people migrated to the UK in significant numbers

through the 1950s and 1960s from a variety of Caribbean Islands, including Jamaica, Trinidad, Grenada and Barbados. Many came to join the newly growing public services, including British Rail, London Transport, and the National Health Service. Of those who migrated to Britain aged 16 or over, around two thirds had no qualifications or qualifications below GCSE level, whilst one in five had A level or higher qualifications. Black Caribbean people in Britain are less residentially concentrated than Asian people, with major population centres in south London, North London, Birmingham and Manchester. Although the first generation of migrants took mainly working class jobs, there is now a growing “black middle class” in the UK.

The Black African population is one of the fastest growing in the UK, having more than doubled in size between the 1991 and 2001 Census. Nigerians and Ghanaians remain the two largest Black African

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Nigerians and Ghanaians were voluntary migrants and students, although more recently, there have been instances of political and economic refugees from these countries. Also, in recent years, Home Office statistics show that significant numbers of Somalis, Ugandans, Ethiopians, Zimbabweans and people from the Democratic Republic of Congo have arrived in the UK seeking asylum. Somalis and

Zimbabweans appear in the top five asylum applicant nationalities in the first quarter of 2003.

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4.3 Methods

The research used entirely qualitative methods as these are best adapted for exploratory and in-depth studies. Most previous research conducted in this field had involved interviewing in some form or other – either individual interviews or group discussions. These are indeed valuable approaches and were used in this project too. However, we felt that a wider range of methods could provide deeper insights into people’s cultures, values and lifestyles. In addition to using these

conventional methods, we therefore also conducted workshops, family visits and site visits to community centres, as outlined below.

1. 2-hour workshops: these were similar to standard group

discussions but used a wider range of techniques to explore people’s attitudes and feelings. In our experience people

respond best to a range of tasks rather than purely to discussion, and we therefore used various methods as appropriate. These included:

• Respondents interviewing each other: “interview the person

sitting next to you and find out what they like about their life”; • Flip chart sessions: “make a list of your favourite radio

programmes and present them to the rest of the group”;

• A day in your life: “take us through a day from last week,

telling us all the things you did from the moment you woke up to when you went to sleep.”

2. Individual interviews lasting 1 – 1 ½ hours: these were better

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3. Family visits: these were a good way to explore the dynamics of

media consumption in the home. Family visits involved two researchers spending an evening (3 – 4 hours) with a family, observing the media consumption patterns in the home and conducting informal interviews with family members. As far we know, this method has not previously been used in research among ethnic minority families and the data gained was therefore uniquely valuable.

4. Site visits: rather than conducting straightforward depth

interviews with community workers, we conducted a series of “site visits” lasting about three hours. This involved interviewing key workers and also looking around the centre, gathering examples of communications materials, and speaking to clients at the centre where possible. This gave us the opportunity to see how the centre functioned, to meet some of the users and to observe how government materials were actually being used.

4.4 Sample

The sample was designed to fill the information gaps identified above and to deepen our understanding of areas in which data already existed, not to provide comprehensive coverage of all the UK’s ethnic minority communities. Refugees and asylum seekers were not included in this research as they face very different issues which fall outside the scope of this project.

The following considerations have guided our sample design:

• Chinese and African communities: relatively little research has

been conducted among these populations and we therefore included robust samples of these groups;

• Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities: younger people had

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to be included again. Much research had been conducted among older Bangladeshi and Pakistani people who speak little or no English and the research has emphasised the difficulties of accessing and motivating these audiences. We therefore

included these groups in the current research in order to identify positive ways forward and innovative communications routes;

• Little was known specifically of the views of people of “mixed

race” origins, although they are a fast growing group. We

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• Younger people (18 – 25) had been covered extensively with

regard to their lifestyles, aspiration and careers ambitions. However, with the exception of the COI Pathways project, the research rarely focused on media consumption. Young people are a key audience for many COI campaigns and often have complex media consumption patterns, as they are exposed to their parents’ choices as well as their own. There was therefore still scope to gain deeper insights into this group.

• Parents of school age children had been covered in various

projects, usually in the context of their attitudes to their children’s education or careers. Indeed, little was known of their own

lifestyles and media consumption patterns outside their role as parents. We therefore recommended including parents of all ethnic groups to fill in this gap.

• The proportion of pensioners within the ethnic minority

population is lower than in the white population and very little research had been conducted on communications issues among this group. According to the 2001 Census, 16% of the white population is aged over 65, compared with around 10% of Black Caribbean and Indian communities, 6% of Chinese people and under 5% of Black African, Bangladeshi and Pakistani

people. Thus, we included Black Caribbean and Indian pensioners this research, leaving the option open for future projects to include other ethnic groups.

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The target sample for the research was therefore as follows. A detailed sample breakdown and profile is contained in the Appendices.

Twenty-four 2-hour workshops

• 4 among Black Caribbeans;

• 6 among Black Africans;

• 4 among Indians;

• 2 among Pakistanis

• 2 among Bangladeshis;

• 6 among Chinese people.

Ten family visits

• 1 Indian Gujarati family; • 1 Pakistani family;

• 2 Bangladeshi families;

• 2 Chinese families;

• 2 Black African families;

• 1 Black Caribbean family;

• 1 mixed race family.

Four standard 1 ½ hour group discussions among pensioners

• Indian Gujarati men;

• Indian Gujarati women;

• Black Caribbean men;

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Twelve in-depth interviews

The in-depth interviews were conducted with younger people (18 – 45), as there was a wider range of potential information seeking activities that we could ask them about. The distribution was:

• 2 Black Caribbeans;

• 2 Black Africans;

• 2 Indians; • 2 Pakistanis

• 2 Bangladeshis;

• 2 Chinese people.

Four paired and two individual interviews with mixed race young people

• Male, 18-24, Mixed race, Chinese mother; *

• Female, 18-24, Mixed race, Black father;

• Male, 18-24, Mixed race, Asian mother; *

• Female, 18-24, Mixed race, Chinese father;

• Male, 18-24, Mixed race, Black mother;

• Female, 18-24, Mixed race, Asian father.

* = These were individual interviews owing to the difficulty of finding respondents who matched the criteria.

Six site visits to community centres

• Indian community centre;

• Pakistani community centre;

• Bangladeshi community centre;

• Black Caribbean community centre;

• Black African community centre;

• Chinese community centre.

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particular target groups. These are described in the total sample in the Appendices.

Sessions among the Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian and Chinese

populations were conducted in Mother Tongue where necessary. Full details of Mother Tongue groups are contained in the Appendices.

4.5 Fieldwork challenges

One of the objectives of the research was to include sample groups who had been only partially covered, or omitted, from previous

research. Unsurprisingly, one of the reasons for these omissions was the difficulty of accessing these communities, and we therefore faced several challenges in the conduct of the research. We outline some of the key issues encountered here so that future researchers can take account of them in planning their projects.

• Black African people: as commented, little research had been

conducted specifically among black African people prior to this project. Some of our recruiters found it difficult to access African communities, commenting that African people were very

suspicious of the bona fides of the research and were reluctant to provide their names and addresses. There was also a low turnout for one of the younger African groups, suggesting that people had agreed to come and then changed their minds. This was a problem faced by both black and white recruiters,

although none of our recruiters were actually of Black African background and this may have hampered their efforts.

• Chinese people: few research studies have covered the Chinese

community and the difficulties of accessing this population are well documented (see for example, The Health Beliefs of the

Chinese Community, HEA 1998). Our researcher and recruiter

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outside the community facing difficulty gaining access. Many of the older people in the sample worked long hours and were therefore not free in the evenings when group discussions usually take place. Indeed, all the older groups (aged over 25) were conducted on Sunday afternoons as this was the most

convenient time for respondents. Also, some people did not see the value or purpose of the research and, irrespective of

incentive payments, appeared to feel that there was “nothing in it for them.” Our recruiter also felt that the very concept of a focus group, involving eight strangers sharing their opinions and stating their personal views, was something that some potential respondents were uneasy about. They were concerned about the confidentiality of the research process and not happy at being tape-recorded. We finally succeeded through a range of approaches, including partnering with a well known Chinese community centre, working through youth and community groups, and using the researchers’ personal networks. The most compelling argument to persuade people to take part was that they were doing something of value for the Chinese community by helping the government better understand their needs.

• Pakistani and Bangladeshi people: the research findings outline

the difficulty of engaging older people who speak little of no English in government marketing programmes, and the same was true of engaging them in the research process. We gained access to people through community networks and

organisations trusted by the respondents. Although not all respondents were accessed through these organisations,

inevitably this does skew the sample towards those in touch with such groups. In particular it was difficult to access older men (over 50) from the Bangladeshi population other than through community organisations and networks.

• Family visits: these were a new and untried method among

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as well as through conventional market research approaches. The family visit process can appear unusual and even intrusive to respondents, and we believed it was of primary importance that the family should feel at ease with the researchers. In some

cases, this was ensured by recruiting families personally known to the recruiter or indeed the researchers. Although this is

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4.6 Running the sessions

The discussion guide

The workshops and interviews were run using a discussion guide designed in consultation with COI Communications covering the following areas:

• Lifestyles, including family, peer group, leisure activities;

• Role and importance of ethnic and religious identity;

• Media exposure, preferences and attitudes;

• Role of the Internet and new technologies;

• Attitudes to advertising and government communications;

• Current and preferred information sources.

For family visits, an observation schedule outlining the key issues and the key activities to observe was designed. Copies of all the guides are contained in the Appendices.

Pre-tasking

In order to enhance the value of the sessions, respondents were set two pre-tasks prior to attending the groups:

• Respondents were given a disposable camera and asked to

take pictures of things that were important to them in their lives.

These pictures were then used in the sessions as stimulus materials to discuss lifestyle issues and have been used to illustrate this report.

• Respondents were asked to fill in a media diary for a week

before attending the groups to form a basis for the discussion of media. This ensured that could refer to their record of actual behaviour rather than relying exclusively on memory.

Pre-tasking was split so that half the respondents fill in the media diary, while half take the photographs. In fact, we found that not all

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almost always filled in and were very useful. All the non-English speaker groups were given cameras rather than media diaries, although their daily media habits were explored in depth in the sessions.

Stimulus materials

We showed respondents a range of stimulus materials to gain their reaction to different advertising approaches. This included television, press and radio adverts. We used this material to generate discussion around different portrayals of ethnic minority people in advertising, not to gain detailed feedback on individual executions. A detailed list of materials is contained in the Appendices.

4.7 Recruitment

Recruitment for this project was challenging, as ethnic minority

communities can be more difficult to access and also more suspicious about the research process. In particular, recruitment of the family visits took longer than usual, as the families required reassurance about the research process and the reasons for wanting to observe their

behaviour. Thus, different elements of the sample were recruited in different ways. The Indian and Black Caribbean groups were recruited using largely conventional research methods – a recruiter who uses a screening questionnaire to identify eligible individuals unknown to herself, and invites them to take part. The Black African groups were also recruited in this way, although they took longer to organise as a result of particular challenges outlined above. The Pakistani,

Bangladeshi and Chinese groups were recruited through community organisations and workers, as conventional approaches have proved less successful among these groups in our experience. The Indian pensioner groups were also recruited through community

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4.8 Moderation

We were lucky to have a fully multi cultural research team which included speakers of all the relevant languages – Urdu, Punjabi,

Bengali, Gujarati, Cantonese and Mandarin – and therefore we did not need to use interpreters. Our team also included Black Caribbean and Black African researchers. We did not believe that “ethnic matching” between researcher and respondents was essential for this project. However, it was certainly important that the researcher had a good understanding of the culture, values, and media preferences of the community concerned. In practice, therefore, it was often the case that the researcher and respondents were of the same, or similar, ethnic backgrounds. Where the sessions were conducted in Mother Tongue the researcher and respondents clearly need to matched in terms of language, which in practice is often the same as matching for ethnic background.

Two researchers working together conducted the family visits. For the Chinese and Asian families, at least one researcher spoke the relevant language to ensure that the parental and younger generations could take part equally. While one researcher conducted any interviewing and discussions with the respondents, the other was be responsible for taking notes, videoing and taking photographs.

4.9 Analysis

All interviews and group discussions were tape recorded, transcribed and subjected to full content analysis. In most cases, the researchers transcribed their own tapes and analysed their own data, as this results in the most insightful findings. Sessions conducted in Mother Tongue were be translated back into English to ensure consistency in the analytical process. For workshops, group discussions and interviews a detailed framework was developed (see Appendix) for conducting content analysis.

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photographs, video and audio recording formed the basis of the analysis.

Internal debrief meetings were attended by all the researchers to ensure that insights were captured effectively, and differences

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4.10 Research team

This research project was a collaboration between Turnstone and

Connect, two independent research agencies. The research team was led by Philly Desai (Turnstone) and Karen Roberts (Connect), both of whom have wide experience of conducting research among ethnic minority communities. Turnstone was responsible for overall project management and the two agencies shared responsibility for data analysis, presentation and reporting. The full research team was Lisa Tang, Radhika Howarth, Rosemary Addison, Sanmit Sawhney, Madhu Jani and Thomas Chan. All are highly experienced researchers with specific expertise working with ethnic minority groups. Fieldwork management was conducted by Jennifer Dobson of Turnstone.

4.11 A note on ethnicity and terminology

There is no widely accepted definition of “ethnicity” nor on what constitutes membership of an “ethnic group”. In general, ethnicity is seen as comprising a common sense of history, shared cultural practices (diet, marriage, festivals) a shared language and religion, and a subjective sense of belonging to a ethnic group. Clearly, ethnic identification can change according to circumstances and over time. For example, someone whose origins lie in Jamaica in the Caribbean and who now lives in London may identify as “black” when they are in mainly white environments in the UK; as “Caribbean” when they are with black people from other backgrounds; as “Jamaican” when they meet someone from Barbados; as Christian when they go to Church; and as a Londoner when they go to visit relatives in Manchester. Thus, when we refer to respondents as “Indian” or “Black Caribbean” we do so with an understanding that people do not always identify in the same way. In order to avoid repetition in the text, we do not always use terms such as “British Indian” or “British Chinese” in this report,