Utilising social work practitioner skills in undertaking academic research with a hidden population

1
Utilising social work practitioner skills in
undertaking academic research with a hidden
population

• Dr Jane Dodsworth
• School of Social Work
• and Psychology,
• University of East Anglia

2
Accessing and interviewing a hidden
population

• Aims
• to examine the use of key social work
• values and skills ,as a researcher, in
  facilitating
• the engagement and interviewing of potential
• respondents in a doctoral research study on
• womens pathways through sex work.

3
Utilising social work values skills

• Social work values of
• respect,
• openness,
• honesty
• valuing difference
• and
• Social work skills of
• empathetic rapport building,
• active listening,
• use of self,
• use of humour

4
What I do not who I am? An exploration of the
pathways of women involved in sex work ( PhD
thesis 2008)

• My Mum was involved in prostitution. I think it
  was where I got the idea from. Me my friend it
  was like a dare.we made loads of money the
  money looked good so we just carried on..it was
  the worst mistake of my life. (Natasha aged
  15)
• How did Natasha, who saw sex work as her
  family business, a way to survive , to an
  extent, her destiny, manage to find an exit route
  when others cannot or choose not to?
• Natashas pathway through sex work led me to my
  research study which focused on an examination
  of whether there are identifiable factors
  determining the pathways women take, in terms of
  their entry into, involvement in, sexual
  exploitation/ sex work, particularly those who
  become involved pre 18

5
Studying a hidden population

• The study aimed to engage with a largely hidden
  population
• women who had experienced negative public
  perceptions of sex workers
• women who were understandably reluctant to engage
  with, or trust, the motives of researchers

6
The centrality of the respondents voices and
expertise in the study

• Aim research with, not on, the women. (see
  also Hubbard 1999)
• Aim to ensure that the expertise encapsulated in
  the womens stories was heard
• How to achieve this?
• Essential to develop a relationship of trust
• -with gatekeepers of access to potential
  respondents,
• and crucially
• -with respondents themselves,

7
A fair research exchange

• Utilising key skills of good social work
  practice in the research process enabled
• the building of a research relationship in which
  there was a fair research exchange (Sanders
  2005)
• and one in which the power balance was,
  therefore, a more equal one in which there was
  reciprocal benefit.

8
Methodological Considerations

• the importance of considering the range of
  methodologies available
• the importance of acknowledging the influence of
  ones own value base, preferences, skills
• the importance of an awareness of the need for
  objectivity reflexivity
• We believe that all research is grounded in
  consciousness
• because it isnt possible to do research (or
  life) in such a way
• that we separate ourselves from experiencing what
  we
• experience as people (and researchers) involved
  in a situation.
• (Stanley Wise 1993160)

9
Hidden unheard voices

• there is a danger that the voices of particular
• groups, or particular forms of knowledge are
• drowned out, systematically silenced or
• misunderstood as research and researchers
• engage with dominant academic and public
• concerns and discourses.
• (Ribbens and Edwards 19982)

10
Accessing a hidden population- gaining the
trust of gatekeepers

• the researcher must have an insider to initially
  
• introduce a world where individuals are
• understandably suspicious, untrusting wary of
• disclosing information (Sanders 2005204)
• building a research relationship
• ensuring a fair research exchange
• ensuring a more equal balance of power in the
  research relationship with reciprocal benefit

11
Accessing a hidden population- gaining the
trust of potential respondents

• Gaining the trust of potential respondents
• within social research one compelling reason
  for carrying out qualitative interviews is that
  they offer a means of exploring the ways in which
  social actors interpret the world their place
  in it. (Lawler 2002242)
• -building a research relationship
• -ensuring a fair research exchange
• -ensuring a more equal balance of power in the
  research relationship with reciprocal benefit

12
Preparing for the interviews- gaining
respondents trust

• Using key social work values of
• respect,
• openness,
• honesty
• valuing difference
• to develop facilitate a fair reciprocal
• research exchange in interview

13
Listening to womens stories expertise in their
own lives- Undertaking the interviews.

• Using key social work skills of
• empathetic rapport building,
• active listening,
• use of self
• use of humour
• to develop facilitate a fair reciprocal
• research exchange in interview

14
Findings-three main umbrella groups emerged from
the data which represent the way the women
interviewed defined how they managed sex work in
their lives

• Group One- Who I am -for whom involvement in
  sex work has become almost all consuming have a
  perception of having no choice but to stay
  involved. This is no longer just work it has
  become who they feel they are.
• Group Two-What I do - have a perception of
  choice about whether they remain involved or
  exit. For this group sex work is seen as a job of
  work, a means to an end that does not define
  them. It is what they do not who they are
• Group Three-Not for me- feel they have no
  choice but to cease involvement in order that
  they are not consumed by sex work.

15
The views of Amy on working with young people
involved in, or at risk of, sexual exploitation

• Be there for people. They are just normal human
• beings they will only tell you things they
  want you to
• hear, if they want you to hear them. The only
  way to
• find out anything is if you stop putting people
  in boxes
• start looking at them as human beings talk
  to
• them. (Amy quoted in Dodsworth 2008333)

16
The value of utilising social work practitioner
skills in undertaking academic research

• Although the roles of social worker and of
  researcher are distinctly different ones there is
  an effective and ethically appropriate skill set
  which is common to both roles.
• The identification of those commonalities has
  implications for the development of research
  practice in all areas of research.

17
In conclusion.

• Researchers who, as well as being technically
• competent, consider the impact of their own
  gender,
• racialised and class identity upon the
  research
• process and who understand that research is
  itself a
• form of social interaction will produce a more
• reliable picture of the social world.
• 
  (OConnell Davidson Layder 199428)

18
Bibliography

• Barnard, M., (1993) Violence vulnerability
  conditions of Work for Street Working
  ProstitutesSociology of Health
• Illness 15(1),p5 14
• Brooks-Gordon, B. (2005) Clients and Commercial
  Sex Reflections on Paying the price a
  consultation paper on
• prostitution, Criminal Law Review 2005 June
  pp.425-443.
• Foucault, M. (1972) The Archaeology of Knowledge,
  London Tavistock.
• Foucault, M. (1980) Power/Knowledge Selected
  Interviews and Writings (Colin Gordon, trans.)
  New York
• Harvester Wheatsheaf.
• Hubbard P.(1999) Researching female sex work
  reflections on geographical exclusion, critical
  methodologies and
• useful knowledge, Arena 31(3), pp.229-237.
• Lawler, S. (2002) Narrative in Social Research.
  In May, T. (ed.) Qualitative Research in Action
  London Sage.
• Lee, M. and OBrien, R. (1995) The Games Up
  Redefining Child Prostitution. London
  Childrens Society.
• Lishman, J., (1994) Communication in Social Work
  Basingstoke Macmillan/ BASW
• OConnell Davidson, J. (1998) Prostitution, Power
  and Freedom, Oxford Polity Press in association
  with
• Blackwell Publishers.
• OConnell Davidson, J. and Layder, D. (1994)
  Methods Sex and Madness, London Routledge.
• Reinharz, S. (1992) Feminist Methods in Social
  Research. New York Oxford University Press
• Ribbens, J. and Edwards, R. (1998) Feminist
  Dilemmas in Qualitative Research, London Sage.
• Sanders, T.(2005) Sex Work. A Risky Business,
  Devon Willan Publishing.
• Sanders, T.(2006) Researching Sex Work Dynamics,
  Difficulties and Decisions. In Hobbs, D. and
  Wright, R.(eds.)