Janet Smithson

Using and analysing focus groups: limitations and possibilities

The paper examines some methodological issues associated with the use and analysis of focus groups in social science research. It is argued that what distinguishes this methodology from other methods is the interactions which take place within focus groups, and that this should be reflected in analysis of the data. Interactive features considered here include individuals dominating within the groups, constructing the Other, tendencies towards normative discourses, and conflicts and arguments within focus groups. These are considered in relation to examples from a study of young adults expectations of the future, and their orientations towards work and family. Possible moderator strategies and analysis approaches which take account of the interactions are discussed.

Making Gender Relevant: Conversation Analysis and Gender Categories in Interaction:

In this article, we critically evaluate a conversation analytic approach to the study of the links between gender and language from a feminist perspective. In so doing, we engage in the recent series of exchanges about conversation analysis (CA) and other strands of discourse analysis that have been published in Discourse & Society. We consider talk from two sets of discourse data, focusing on participants orientation to gender categories as they crop up in the interactions. We suggest that a CA approach produces a rich understanding of the links between discourse and gender. However, we are critical of several, often unexamined aspects and conundrums of conversation analytic methodology. First, we consider the extent to which the `analytic stances of feminism and conversation analysis are compatible. Second, we question whether, as Schegloff (1997) suggests, it is fruitful to rely on descriptions of and orientations to gender solely in participants terms, as well as problematizing the notion of `orienting to gender itself. Finally, while we propose CA is a useful tool for making claims about the relevance of gender in conversational interaction, and that such claims are grounded in speakers orientations, we suggest that culture and common-sense knowledge, of both members and analysts, are largely unacknowledged and unexplicated resources in CA.

Sense of Entitlement to Support for the Reconciliation of Employment and Family Life

This article explores young European women and men’s expectations of support - from the state and employers - for reconciling paid employment and family life. It is based on a qualitative study employing focus groups with young women and men in Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Ireland and the UK. Drawing on the concept of sense of entitlement, derived from social justice theory, it was expected that the type of welfare state and ‘gender contract’ that young adults have experienced will influence their sense of entitlement to support for work and family life. Findings indicate that participants perceived their entitlement to state and employer support differently across national context. However this is moderated by gender, parental and occupational status, and particularly by awareness of provisions in other countries in the case of state support, while perceived entitlement to employer support varies according to the specific policy considered, gender and perception of benefits to employers. Some implications for public policy makers and employers are discussed.

Is job insecurity changing the psychological contract

The paper examines young adults’ perspectives on and experiences of job insecurity, including both objective insecurity and perceived uncertainty, as they emerged in a series of focus groups and interviews. It discusses young adults’ changing notions of security and career, effects of insecurity and uncertainty on planning future work and non work lives for people with different levels of occupational skills and qualifications, the gendered effects of insecurity and the impact of insecure employment on attitudes to employers. The impact of perceptions and experiences of job insecurity on young men and women’s expectations of work are considered in terms of a changing psychological contract.

Young Europeans, work and family: futures in transition

1. Julia Brannen, Suzan Lewis, Ann Nilsen and Janet Smithson Introduction 2. Janet Smithson and Julia Brannen Qualitative Methodology in Cross-National Research 3. Ann Nilsen and Julia Brannen Theorising the Individiual-Structure Dynamic 4. Julia Brannen and Ann Nilsen Young Peoples Perspectives on the Future 5. Suzan Lewis, Janet Smithson and Clarissa Kugelberg Into Work: Job Insecurity and Changing Psychological Contracts 6. Pat OConnor and Janet Smithson Young Peoples Awareness of Gendered Realities 7. Julia Brannen, Clarissa Kugelberg, Maria das Dores Guerreiro and Janet Smithson Imagining Parenthood and Employment: Connected or Disconnected Worlds? 8. Suzan Lewis, Janet Smithson and Maria das Dores Guerreiro Into Parenthood: Young Peoples Sense of Entitlement to Support for the Reconciliation of Employment and Family life 9. Ann Nilsen, Maria das Dores Guerreiro and Julia Brannen Most Choices Involve Money: Different Pathways to Adulthood

Young Europeans' Orientations to Families and Work

This article explores the orientations of young people (aged 18-30) to family and employment. We draw on data collected as part of a qualitative transnational study conducted in five European countries: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Norway, and Sweden. The young people who participated in this study were either employed, in education or training programs, or unemployed. Some of the salient social and economic trends across Europe and some national differences are first described briefly as background to the study. The meanings that these young adults attach to family, their current work-life priorities, and the work and family arrangements that they envisage for the future are then discussed. In the context of longer periods spent in education or training and the growing insecurity of work, the participants appear to live in an extended present, where current work-life priorities remain sharply in focus. As a consequence of living in an extended present, it is difficult for them to plan for future work and family arrangements. The future scenarios envisaged differ cross-nationally, reflecting social, economic, and ideological context.

‘Full-timer in a Part-time Job’: Identity Negotiation in Organizational Talk:

In this article I explore the ways in which people talk about part-time work, with a particular focus on links which people make between working time, gender and professional identity. I investigate how women and men working part-time in financial sector organizations talk about their career, and their orientations to paid and unpaid work, and also how colleagues of these people talk about them. The analysis shows the links which participants routinely make between full-time work, professional commitment and gender. I demonstrate the ways in which participants negotiate with difficulty the category of ‘part-timer’, and in particular the problematic use of this category for men. The constructions of work, time and gender raised by the researchers are compared with the way participants themselves orient to categories, and implications for the research interview context are considered.

The Psychological Contract and Work-Family1

This article does not have an abstract.