fieldwork challenges of gaining access to young people in community settings and conducting
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research alongside young drinkers in the NTE of Sutton. Regarding the latter, having decided to conduct research alongside young drinkers in-situ, one Saturday night, I embarked upon entering the NTE of Sutton with an aim to begin staking out the field and developing fieldwork relations with young drinkers. This stemmed from my understanding of how Chicago School researchers approached fieldwork and contemporary drug and alcohol researchers like Measham, Alridge and Parker (2001); and so, to honour these approaches, that is what I planned to do. So, I envisioned myself heading into Sutton and conducting observations outside of pubs, bars and clubs, and even approaching young adults as they congregated outside of establishments. I also planned to attend drinking establishments and initiate conversations with young adult drinkers and build relationships with them so that I could secure opportunities to conduct future research.
The reality of actually being able to approach young drinkers in the NTE economy hit me hard once I actually arrived at Trinity Square an area of Sutton High Street on that Saturday night (See Figure 7: ‘Trinity Square’ below of a not-to-scale fieldwork map as a visual appendage to this account). I sat down on a bench around 8pm with my field diary in hand and spent some time observing. Whilst sat there, I saw young adult drinkers come and go as they met one another, used cash points to withdraw money for the night ahead, as they stood and chatted, and as they made their way to nearby drinking establishments. After an hour or so of observing young people from a comfortable distance and having an internal conversation with myself, I knew that as a lone female researcher, I was not going to approach any of the young drinkers that evening. Shortly afterwards, having felt like a failure as a researcher, I walked down “No -man’s land” to head home.
Figure 7: Trinity Square
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The reason I did not approach young people as I had intended to that evening was because I was aware that my approach in establishing initial connections with young people did not fit the typical social and cultural norms of establishing rapport in the NTE (i.e. meeting people at a bar whilst ordering a drink for example). Therefore, I anticipated that young people would not interact with me as a researcher in this field, where I was intruding upon their leisure and recreational experiences with friends. In light of this reflection, I knew that if I wanted to conduct effective research, I would need to change strategies.
After reflecting upon the above experience, I realised that I would need to blend into the culture of study more effectively. I comprehended that the best way to do this would be through the company of others, or even better, my own friends. Drawing upon my own experiences as a young adult drinker, I appreciated that I was confident enough to introduce myself and talk to complete strangers on nights out because I knew that my friends were at my side. With this revelation, I reflected on the suitability of doing research with my “mates”. Initially, I scoffed at my own idea, assuming that conducting research alongside friends would not be deemed as
‘proper’ sociological research. Before sharing my idea openly, I undertook a review of literature relating to the role of friendship and intimate relations in ethnographic studies to assess my strategy.
During the initial research phase, I discovered that there was a body of research on forming friendships and intimate relations with the research participants. For example, Blackman’s (2007) work on ‘hidden ethnography’ highlights how researchers can develop relationships and friendships with participants through close rapport, empathy, shared experience and emotion, and through participation in deviance. However, researchers might be reluctant to share such fieldwork findings and approaches because they anticipate that it would be considered too controversial (Blackman, 2007:700); which resonated with me completely in my early fieldwork experiences. Other research by Blackman and Commane (2012:231) also emphasise the value of how fieldwork friendships and relations can offer “insight into the emotional dynamics of fieldwork of fieldwork friendship” producing a more in-depth and rich qualitative accounts of the culture under study. As does Rachela Colosi’s (201) work on lap dancing, whereby she draws upon her existing insider position as a lap dancer to establish fieldwork relations. Whilst reading these works, it also occurred to me that Chicago School researchers like Nels Anderson (1923), Frederic Thrasher (1927) and William Foote Whyte (1943) conducted researcher from an intimate insider perspective and formed friendships with their research participants; most notably, Whyte’s relationship with ‘Doc’ in Street Corner Society.
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The aforementioned literature review identified that whilst there was a body of literature examining forming relationships and friendships with participants; there was little literature which addressed conducting research with existing friends. The exception to this was an article by Jodie Taylor (2011) which provided a detailed account about conducting research with existing friends and relations as an “intimate insider” to the participants in relation to local queer culture; a culture she identifies with. Taylor (2011:8) defines an “intimate insider” as:
researchers [with] pre-existing friendships (close, distant, casual or otherwise) [which] evolve into informant relationships – friend-informants – as opposed to the majority of existing work that deals with informant-friendships”. Taylor’s work greatly inspired me because it gave me the confidence to believe that my methodological approach was legitimate to proceed with to study youth drinking cultures in the NTE of Sutton.
Having reviewed the literature, when meeting socially with friends, I began to float the idea of them becoming friend informants. Initial reactions varied from empathy and humour. One friend, Amelia’s stated, “Yeah you would have looked like a proper weirdo if you tried to tag along with random drunk people on your own. They would have tried to lose you straight away.” I knew that she was right because I felt exactly like a “weirdo” whilst sat on the bench in Trinity Square. Tony jokingly responded to my request, “How much are you going to pay us for this?” but eventually agreed seemingly on behalf of the group present at the occasion, “of course we will all help”. My reaction to my friends was one of gratitude; although I was hesitant because part of me believed that Tony’s humorous response may have reflected a sign of tension (Kuipers, 2008). Nonetheless, my friends seemed comfortable with me conducting research alongside them, particularly as they began to accept my position as both a researcher and a friend.
‘Friends with benefits’: The positive impact of friends as researchers
Conducting research with friends brought many positive outcomes regarding fieldwork and the findings informing the data chapters of this thesis. Firstly, friends offered personal safety and pragmatic support to the research that I was doing. For example, I was aware of vulnerabilities of conducting research in risky spaces such as the NTE because I would be interacting with intoxicated individuals until the early hours of the morning. Therefore, having friends present made me feel safe because I had support if anything untoward happened and we travelled to and from research locations together. Not only did this prioritise my safety, but the transitions between research settings formed part of the data collection.
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Having friends alongside me enabled me to feel more confident in approaching other young adult drinkers in the NTE because I could initiate conversations in the same way that I would ordinarily on a night out, using my friends as a point of reference. As I had hoped, my friends introduced me to other young people which resulted in strangers taking an interest in the research because they had endorsement by a fellow young drinker. For example, I recorded in the field diary a time when James haphazardly introduced me to a woman whilst stood waiting for our drinks at the bar in The Star pub:
“This is my mate Laura. She’s doing university research about drunk people. Where are you guys going to tonight?” I laughed and so did the woman. But to my surprise, she said, “We’re probably gonna’ go to Voodoo Bar. What about you?”
Whilst I felt slightly awkward by James’ clumsy introduction, it had the desired effect because it initiated a conversation. From this introduction the women discussed her thoughts about the pub that we were in and the anguish of waiting to get a drink, “How long does it take to get a fucking drink in this place?” The brief interaction went on to reveal how she, like James, deliberately ordered multiple drinks at the bar so that she was not away from her friends by waiting a long time at the bar; showing how drinking establishments inadvertently lead to excessive youth consumption practices (this is analysed comprehensively in Chapter Five).
Brief and fleeting interactions such as prompted by friend’s interventions offered revealing insight into the drinking practices and values of other young people. Other actions included friends ‘accidentally’ pushing me into groups of young people on the dance floor as a way to strike up conversations with others, and pointing out things they thought I might find relevant.
Whilst these actions by friends were engineered at the beginning of fieldwork, over time they prompted me less, but nonetheless, it was useful viewing friends and acquaintances as co-researchers or collaborators, which I believed fitted with the feminist ethnographic approaches of this research.
Like Taylor (2011), I felt that research conducted with friends and acquaintances offered more richness and depth because the participants verbal accounts and behaviours in drinking settings appeared increasingly transparent, emotive and detailed. Whilst accounts from young people and community members whom I had no prior relationship in formal settings like Willow High School, The Sycamore School, The Rafters, the Sutton Youth Bus and the Sparrow Youth Club were valuable; the accounts seemed less ‘raw’. For example, friends and acquaintances were more willing to discuss a range of intimate negative and positive outcomes and behaviours that were emotionally charged and often self-implicating relating to alcohol consumption, like: regret, fear, embarrassment, violence, deviance, euphoria, pleasure, excitement etc. These were very insightful about youth drinking cultures. This does
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not discredit other accounts, but it serves to highlight a closeness and intimacy that was more challenging to derive from participants whom I was less acquainted with. Often, I found that participants whom I was less acquainted with required more prompting to get the same level of detail without being obtrusive or making participants feel uncomfortable.
The challenges of friends as researchers
Whilst there were many benefits of conducting fieldwork alongside friends, there were a number of challenges to fieldwork and ethical considerations relating to the research. One of the main personal issues that I encountered when conducting research alongside friends was the challenge of separating my social life from the research. For example, in my own leisure time I enjoy going out with friends to have meals and consuming alcohol. On events like my birthday or other special occasions, it was difficult to distinguish whether or not I should be researching. To me, it felt impossible to ignore what was going on around me and I would be caught in a blurred position of research versus personal leisure time. I decided that there would be suitable occasions when I would not take the field diary or make notes because I was not researching. However, the reality was that I knew that I could not ignore such experiences because they would inform my thinking. Even if I could or wanted to, there was no escaping these experiences because the research participants would often discuss stories from these drinking occasions at future events when I was researching. Subsequently, some of the evenings that were my leisure time eventually made their way into the field diary, but from an alternative perspective derived from storytelling via the participants. When such situations arose, I attempted to stay true to the participants’ perspectives and interpretation, but through a reflective process, maintained that my own subjectivities and interpretations may influence such accounts.
Another issue that arose when conducting research alongside friends, particularly in early fieldwork, was that friends and acquaintances did not like that I refrained from consuming alcohol to their desired levels and expectations. Prior to conducting fieldwork, when going out with friends, I may have consumed over the recommended levels of alcohol with them.
However, when conducting research, I either did not drink at all or consumed one alcoholic beverage like glass of wine to maintain rapport with friends and acquaintances. However, I was reluctant to consume alcohol at all because I was concerned that such actions would completely discredit and undermine me trying to establish myself as a sociological researcher (Blackman, 2007) by skewing my judgement and coherency. For example, during one evening with Stephanie, Amelia, Jane, Malik, Justin, Tony and Leo at The Star pub, I informed the
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group via text beforehand that I would researching and not drinking alcohol that evening.
Initially they seemed fine with this; however, I recorded several moments in the field diary showing that friends were not OK with my lack of consumption:
We got to the bar and Tony asked everyone, “What you drinking?” [...] When it got to me I asked for a coke. Tony looked at me sceptically, “Don’t be boring. Just have a drink.” I reminded him that I was doing research and wanted to keep a clear head. He said to the barman, “Just acoke”, turned back to me and rolled his eyes.
During the same evening, friends continued to encourage me to have an alcoholic drink:
Everyone at the table was getting close to finishing their drinks. Acknowledging this, Stephanie proclaimed, “I guess it’s my turn to go to the bar.” She asked if everyone was having the same, which they all agreed yes to. Before she got up to make her way to the bar, she turned expectantly and beamed optimistically, “Are you having a drink yet?”
The final attempt that evening to persuade me to consume alcohol came from Justin:
Everyone was chatting around the table. When Justin came back from the toilets he came and sat next to me, “It’s not the same when we’re all drinking and you’re not. It’s not as fun”
I acknowledged Justin’s plea, but continued not to drink for the remainder of the evening. I realised that not consuming alcohol with friends was a barrier to rapport in fieldwork. I knew that I would need to change strategies to restore rapport and fieldwork relations with friends.
Consequently, I reluctantly began drinking small accounts of alcohol in some fieldwork occasions. I assumed that friends would ridicule me and call me a fraud because I was drinking and calling it “research”. However, they surprised me. They were happier that I was drinking and did not see it as an issue, as noted by Justin in the field diary:
On our way to The Sportsman I told Justin that I was thinking about drinking despite being in “researcher mode”. He smiled and simply said, “Surely it’s fine as long as you don’t get blotto15?”
When I discussed concerns about drinking with other friends and acquaintances, they shared similar sentiments. These accounts revealed valuable insight into youth drinking values; young people were more concerned about sharing social experiences of intoxication, rejecting the
15 Blotto is slang for drunk or heavily intoxicated
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idea of me being sensible for research purposes. Already I could see how Government discourse around ‘responsible’ and ‘sensible’ drinking was not at the forefront of youth drinking cultures (Department of Health et al., 2007; HM Government, 2012); themes of which are extended in Chapter Five.
I now faced the issue of, as Justin put it, not getting “blotto” when undertaking research. This was challenging because friends would buy me drinks during their round as if it were a typical night. I started to think that my “researcher” identity was beginning to fade away as I became reinstated as a friend as opposed to researcher (Blackman and Commane, 2012).
Subsequently, I had to employ further strategies to manage my intoxication and prevent fieldwork becoming implicated. The first strategy simply entailed telling friends that “I had have enough to drink” or that I did not want to have any more alcohol. However, they did not always adhere to this and bought me drinks regardless. This was not some attempt of pressuring me to drink; it was because they knew that either I was not drinking at my ‘normal’ levels or not
‘keeping onpar’ with their drinking. Therefore, I employed alternative strategies like ordering myself a soft drink during my round and claiming to friends it was an alcoholic drink, or I would accept drinks from friends but leave them on a table or pour them away somewhere. The latter strategies presented ethical dilemmas because it entailed being deceitful to friend informants which went against the feminist ethnographic approaches that I strived to align to.
Nonetheless, it appeased the participants and allowed me to feel more comfortable about the legitimacy of my fieldwork practices. To counteract this, after the fieldwork and I commenced the writing up of the thesis, I confessed to my friend informants about my deceitfulness in an attempt to restore my feminist ethnographic principles. Most laughed about it, with individuals like Malik saying, “I didn’t even notice that you weren’t drunk. I must have been wasted.”
Conversely, others like Tony and Leo agreed with Justin’s playful outrage that I had “wasted a perfectly good drink.” During the times when I questioned my own ethical stance, I reminded myself of Stacey’s (1988) similar deliberations about dubious actions from researchers, but maintained that such practices were for the greater good or at the detriment of not doing the research at all.
Representation of the research participant was also a key consideration in conducting research alongside friends and acquaintances. Representing the research participants occurs at two stages, during fieldwork and in the write-up of the ethnography (Blackman and Commane, 2012). In relation to fieldwork, at times I felt that my actions were somewhat governed by participants out of a moral sense of loyalty and protectiveness towards them. For example, there were times when I sacrificed research opportunities because I was compelled by the desires and needs of friends and acquaintances. This occasionally resulted in putting
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my friends first, as opposed to pursuing potential further research opportunities. This was evident from the field diary during a night out with Stephanie and Amelia at The Vineyard bar:
At 22:45 Stephanie’s work friend, Jill, and her five other female and two male friends (whose names I did not catch) were about to leave, “We want to get into Haze before they start charging entry”. Jill had been nagging Stephanie, Amelia and I to join them.
I explained to Stephanie that I would like to because it would make for good fieldwork.
However, Stephanie was reluctant and came up with several excuses not to attend.
She kept saying, “I hate Haze”, but the main reason was that herself and Amelia had work early and did not want to be out late. She insisted that we all went home together.
She kept saying, “I hate Haze”, but the main reason was that herself and Amelia had work early and did not want to be out late. She insisted that we all went home together.