equality and access
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Equality and access: balancing research perspectivesJO MORIARTY
ESRC SEMINAR SERIES: AGEING, RACE AND ETHNICITY
Ageing, Race & Ethnicity Seminar
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Outline
'Equality and access: developing research frameworks that balance the concerns of researchers, policymakers and practitioners'
Use personal experience on different research projects looking at ethnicity and ageing and other research
Discuss Where we are
What progress can we make
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Who wrote this?
‘Our personal experience of conferences and seminars on the subject is that some misunderstandings are still quite common .... Despite such misconceptions it has often been argued at the same conferences and seminars that too much ink has been spilled on reports and surveys. Are older people [from black and minority ethnic groups] and their needs over researched? Has research taken the place of, or priority over, action?’
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The answer
Blakemore, K. & Boneham, M. (1994) Age, Race and Ethnicity: A Comparative Approach, Open University Press, Buckingham, p. 9
Changed ‘black’ in original to black and minority ethnic groups
Misconceptions still exist ‘Over researched’ astonishing then but
would still be surprising now!30 October
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Starting with….
SOME GENERAL ISSUES:
Impact
Policy pressures
Practitioners’ access to research
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Achieving impact
Impact now a major criteria in judging success of research Looks at whether
research makes a difference outside academic context
Challenges in quantifying this Short term or long term?
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The Study in 10 Downing Street. Credit: Sergeant Tom Robinson RLC/Crown Copyright/PA Wire
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Evidence based policy
Famous Tony Blair quotation ‘What matters is what works?’
Read chapters such as ‘research sometimes matters’ to see how we could influence policy
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Unfortunately....‘A simple prescription would be to review the scientific evidence of what would make a difference, formulate policies, and implement them—evidence based policy making. Unfortunately this simple prescription, applied to real life, is simplistic. The relation between science and policy is more complicated. Scientific findings do not fall on blank minds that get made up as a result. Science engages with busy minds that have strong views about how things are and ought to be’
Marmot, 2004
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Perhaps more realistically..
More often now see references to ‘policy based evidence’ Pressures on government funded researchers to
produce findings supporting policy
More accurately, it’s an issue about what sort of research is funded
Greater acknowledgement that other factors as well as ‘evidence’ have to influence political decisions
Apocryphal quotation: “I have made up my mind, don’t confuse me with the facts.”
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10Equality impact assessments
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Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images. November 2012
[The Equality Act was] not a bad
piece of legislation [but] we don't need all this extra tick-box stuff. So I can tell you today, we are calling time on
equality impact assessments.."
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11Recognise differences
Researchers ‘Longer it takes to do a
research study the better it is’ (Choi et al, 2005)
Might spend lifetime working on a particular issue
May concentrate on a specific narrow issue
Policymakers Answers usually needed
instantly
Move between different subject areas
Looking for broad solutions
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12Accountabilities: two communities thesis (Innvaer et al 2002)
The taxpayer
Research funders
Journal editors
Government
Political parties
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Adapted from Choi et al, 2005
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Practitioners
Rise in number of practitioner research studies (Shaw & Lunt, 2011)
But not clear how many enter public domain Barriers to getting published
Extent to which practitioners engage with research is variable SCWRU research on social work education
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14Enrolments on social work post qualifying awards 2006-2011
Combine
d pa
thway
Lead
ersh
ip a
nd m
anag
emen
t
Men
tal h
ealth
Prac
tice
educ
ation
Socia
l wor
k with
adu
lts
Childre
n, you
ng p
eople,
their f
amilie
s and
car
ers
0
2000
4000
6000
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CPD and social workers
Amounts to just under 12k enrolments
Represents about 14 per cent of those working in statutory social work with children and adults (Moriarty, 2012)
Although need to take account of those holding predecessor awards and undertaking other types of CPD, most CPD is probably self directed
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16Engaging with rest of social care sector
Need to take account of diversity of sector Only 12 per cent of people working in adult social
care work for a local council
Overwhelming majority in private sector
Ranges from large private equity companies to small ‘mom and pop’ care homes
40,626 establishments (Eborall et al, 2010)
About 25 per cent in voluntary sector (Eborall et al, 2010)
Policy of personalisation has led to increasing numbers of self employed people – no precise numbers on self funders
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Older people themselves
What difference can research make to lives of older people from minority ethnic groups and their carers?
‘Let’s move on’ (Butt and O’Neil, 2004)
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Summary
Researchers, policymakers, older people, and practitioners have different reasons for using research and this influences what they are concerned about
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Moving onto research about ethnicity
SOME REASONS WHY IT’S DIFFICULT
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Equality Act 2010 (1)
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Rationalised existing anti-discrimination legislation For example, race & gender
New provisions For example, indirect discrimination
against people with a disability
Most provisions came into force October 2010
Age discrimination October 2012
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Nine ‘protected characteristics’ age
disability
gender reassignment
marriage and civil partnership*
pregnancy and maternity*
race
religion or belief
sex
sexual orientation
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Equality Act 2010 (2)
*Excluded from review as relate to
paid employment
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22Impact of Equality Act 2010
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Scoping review for Age UK
Focus on impact of Equality Act 2010 on five key services: Falls prevention
Day services
Befriending
Home from hospital
Handyperson schemes
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What we found
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Very little research focuses specifically on issues of equality and diversity
Routine monitoring for different protected characteristics uneven Religious belief
Sexual orientation and sexual identity
Differing reporting standards ‘Strikingly short on detail’ (Glasby et al,
2006)
William Harrigan and Claude Rains ‘The Invisible Man’
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Produces very limited evidence base
NB: Illustrative example – not precise search
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What intersectionality?
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Why so difficult?
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Very little research focuses specifically on issues of equality and diversity
Routine monitoring for different protected characteristics uneven Religious belief
Sexual orientation and sexual identity
Differing reporting standards ‘Strikingly short on detail’ (Glasby et al,
2006)
William Harrigan and Claude Rains ‘The Invisible Man’
Ageing, Race & Ethnicity Seminar
27Relationship with medical research (1)
High proportion of research on ethnicity and ageing concentrates on people needing health and social care support
Implications of Reporting standards on ethnicity
Exclusion of people from black and minority ethnic groups from clinical trials (Hussain Gambles et al, 2004, 2006)
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28Relationship with medical research (2)
Risk of following particular agendas
Implications of Reporting standards on
ethnicity
Exclusion of people from black and minority ethnic groups from clinical trials (Hussain Gambles et al, 2004, 2006)
Mainstreaming research agendas (see right)
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Making it better
BETTER REPORTING
CHOICE OF TOPIC
WAY WE RESPOND TO LANGUAGE BARRIERS
RECOGNISING EXPERTISE THAT IS OUT THERE
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Better reporting
It has been suggested (Sterling, 2011) that journal editors should only publish articles reporting on ethnicity (or giving a good reason why the information is absent)
Analogy here with ethics reporting
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Discussion on sampling
Practical issues of recruiting diverse samples have been debated Multiple sampling strategies (Moriarty &
butt, 2004)
Issues for qualitative researchers Cautious to question under representation
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Choosing research topics
Deliberately focused on areas with comparatively few BAME people
Strong theme among practitioners was how unskilled they felt Fear of ‘saying the
wrong thing’
Not ‘meeting needs’
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‘Outreach’ research
Small project for Age UK on diverse and accessible services
NIHR SSCR research on social care practice with carers
Role of specialist workers Struck by informants’ expertise
‘Squaring the circle’ between researchers, policymakers and practitioners
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Translation/interpreting
Often couched only in terms of risks of using family members
Discussion about translation almost absent from textbooks on qualitative analysis
What is impact on data quality
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BIAS ALERT!
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35Summary: things I’ve learned
Nobody else apart from researchers/funders are interested in methodology Unless they want to criticise your findings
BAME older people do want to engage and discuss research Need to engage on their terms
Practitioners are an under used resource
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Disclaimer
We acknowledge the contribution of the Policy Research Programme at the Department of Health for its support for the Unit
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Department of Health
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