Joe Sempik

Quality Criteria for Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research: A View from Social Policy

This article reports some findings from an investigation of social policy researchers in the UK. The findings relate to the quality criteria that social policy researchers deem to be appropriate to quantitative research, qualitative research and mixed methods research. The data derive from an e‐survey of researchers which was followed up by semi‐structured interviews with a purposively selected sample from among those e‐survey respondents who agreed to be interviewed. The article emphasises the findings that relate to quality criteria for mixed methods research, since this is an area that has not attracted a great deal of attention. Greater agreement was found regarding the criteria that should be employed for assessing quantitative than qualitative research. The findings relating to mixed methods research point to a preference for using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research criteria and for employing different criteria for the quantitative and the qualitative components.

Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties of Children and Young People at Entry into Care

Emotional and behavioural difficulties of a sample of children and young people were identified at the point of entry to local authority care by analysis of social work case files. The files indicated high levels of need, including that in children aged under 5. Bedwetting was identified as an important issue related to the physical health and emotional well-being of looked-after children. There was an association between bedwetting and emotional and behavioural problems. Analysis of placement types at entry to care showed that significantly more boys than girls were first placed in residential care.

Care farms and care gardens: horticulture as therapy in the UK

This paper describes the use of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture (STH) for vulnerable people in the UK. Around 20,000 clients attend STH ‘projects’ each week. Projects provide activities for people with mental health problems, learning difficulties, physical disabilities, black and ethnic minorities and many other vulnerabilities. The benefits of attending projects include a structured routine and the opportunity for social contact. The natural, outdoor setting is particularly valued and may act as a restorative environment within the context of environmental psychology

Advocates, Agnostics and Adversaries: Researchers’ Perceptions of Service User Involvement in Social Policy Research

The involvement of service users in the research process is becomingly increasingly required by many funders of research and is being seen as an indicator of quality in its own right. This paper provides original data from a study of social policy researchers’ views of service user involvement in research. It shows a diversity of stances which have been categorised here as belonging to Advocates, Agnostics and Adversaries of user involvement. The views of Agnostics and Adversaries pose serious challenges that need to be addressed if service user involvement is to be more widely accepted and valued by some researchers and academics in social policy.

‘Gardening without Borders’: Reflections on the Results of a Survey of Practitioners of an ‘Unstructured’ Profession:

For several years, the social and therapeutic horticulture (STH) movement has been considering its own gradual professionalisation, as a way of raising its profile and ensuring standards of training and practice. A survey of 119 STH practitioners showed that the vast majority of respondents wanted a national body and the registration of projects and/or practitioners; over half wanted a protected job title; and there was a wish for more research-based evidence. The implications of this survey for the STH movement are discussed and issues of potential interest for occupational therapists are highlighted.

Study protocol: young carers and young adult carers in Switzerland

BackgroundIn Switzerland, the issue of young carers and young adult carers - young people under the age of 18 and 24 respectively, who take on significant or substantial caring tasks and levels of responsibility that would usually be associated with an adult - has not been researched before. The number of these younger carers is unknown, as is the extent and kind of their caring activities and the outcomes for their health, well-being, psycho-social development, education, transitions to adulthood, future employability and economic participation.MethodsThe project is comprised of three stages:1.A national Swiss-wide online survey to examine awareness of the issue of younger carers amongst professional populations in the education, health and social services sectors;2.An online survey of 4800 Swiss pupils in schools using standardised instruments to identify the proportion and characteristics of pupils who are carers; and3.Semi-structured interviews with 20 families comprising family members with care needs and younger carers, to consolidate and validate the other stages of the study; and to hear directly from care-dependent family members and younger carers about their experiences of the issues identified in the surveys and in previous published research.DiscussionThe needs of younger carers and their ill and disabled family members in Switzerland have not been systematically investigated. This will be the first study in the country to investigate these issues and to develop evidence-based recommendations for policy and practice, drawing also on international research.The present study therefore fills an important national and international research gap. It will collect important data on the awareness, extent, kind and impact of caring amongst children and young people in Switzerland, and cross-link these findings with robust evidence from other countries. The study will reveal (a) the extent of awareness of the issue of young carers amongst medical, social, health, educational, and other groups in Switzerland; (b) the proportion and number of young carers amongst a normative child population, and what these young carers ‘do’ in terms of their caring roles; and (c) direct accounts by families of their care-giving and receiving experiences.