This final section includes reflections on the research process and is intended to support future researchers with researching into white working-class boys and their social network.
The first limitation which has already been emphasised in this chapter is the study group. I had been into both schools twice to explain the research and selection of the study group. I also left written information in the form of research proposal and research ethics documentation. Despite the schools using either POLAR or schools own social indicators and the schools personal knowledge of the boys, those selected were not all marginalised disadvantaged white working-class boys. The biggest limitation here lies with school/Aimhigher datasets, which were not nuanced enough to capture data which provided a true representation of social class. The data that provided the most reliable indicator of social class was the HRP data. However, schools do not collect this data, so I was only able to collect it once consent/assent forms were returned from the boys, thus demonstrating the difficulty in accessing the correct data to make the most appropriate targeting decisions. A potential solution is to talk to active-influence teachers who know their students, who may be able to also suggest students to participate in a study where selection criteria are vital. However, based on my experiences in two secondary schools this still would have been difficult to organise without seeming not to respect or appreciate the efforts of those I had been dealing with already in the school. As a former secondary school teacher myself, I understand how difficult it is to gain access to a school, so I was grateful to both schools for supporting this study over years 10 and 11. On reflection, if I were carrying this study out again, I would work harder to ensure that the link person in the school was clear about the requirements of the study group.
The research participants in School B included boys who I would place further towards being ‘less disadvantaged’. In the case of School B, twelve boys attended the ‘introduction to the study’ meeting, but only five returned consent/assent forms. There is a possibility that those who did not return were more marginalised, but I will never know. To overcome this I would use tactics employed by School A, whereby the Student Mentor phoned parents first to brief them on the study and let them know to expect an envelope including study details and form to be signed would be in their son’s bag. Boys who did not return forms were chased by the Student Mentor through a phone call to parents and a personal reminder during tutor time. All boys who had been invited returned consent forms.
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I was also presented with one ethnic minority working-class student. However, in order to respect the wishes of School A and not wanting to exclude this boy from the study, I carried out all the data collection with this boy. I did not want him to feel marginalised or different to the other boys in the group or impact this boy’s self-confidence or HE intentions. During analysis, this boy’s data was disregarded so as not to influence the research process from a non-white perspective.
Another research limitation was the study and my personal impact on the study findings. As already discussed in this chapter, one parent and one boy specifically highlighted the impact of being involved in this study and my presence over the two years. It is impossible to separate the study and myself from the outcome of the white working-class boys’ HE decision-making. Five of the nine boys were accepted for HE (three are currently completing their first year at university and two are on gap years).
During my time with the boys I worked hard to develop a relationship and connection with them on a professional level. My focus was to make them feel comfortable participating in the research, in order for the boys to share their thoughts and feelings regarding HE decision-making. To support with developing the relationship, I always bought chocolate for the boys as a way of thanking them for their participation that particular day, however, this may have contributed to the imbalance of the power in the relationship that I was trying to reduce. At the end of the study the boys all received a gift token for a store of their choice. I found that these very small gifts went a long way in showing the boys that their contribution was highly valued; it is also noteworthy that none of the boys withdrew from the study.
The final point that I would like to share is the way that I carried out data collection with the boys in each school and the lessons that I learned from that. School A provided me with access to the boys on an individual basis and I spent time with each boy in the classroom. By contrast, School B did not provide me with access to the boys in the classroom; instead I saw them as a group during one of their citizenship lessons. Initially I was concerned that not seeing the boys in the classroom setting and not having individual access would reduce the content of the data collected. However, the group interviews worked very well and the boys were happy bouncing ideas off each other and supporting their answers with their own examples. When I tried to conduct a group interview at the end of Year 11 in School A, the boys were not so prepared to discuss points, as they were used to being in an individual context with me. During the group interview I gained the answers I required, but very little additional information which would have revealed any further depth or insight. Therefore, I
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recommend that group interviews worked very well despite my initial reservations and also that the boys did not respond to positively to changes in the way that data was collected. In conclusion, the researcher has to be flexible and respect the school’s wishes, in order to maintain the relationship with both school and participants.
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