Community Researchers in Weston-super-Mare

This case study describes a Community Researchers training course held for the Oldmixon Parents' Group on the Oldmixon Estate in Weston-super-Mare.  The course gave members of the group the skills and confidence to gather views of other residents and to feed those back to service providers to influence change.

Objectives of the researchers' training

Community research is the study of a geographical community, or a community of interest, by members of that community for its benefit.

The aim of the Community Researchers' Training, funded by Empowering Communities, the Regional Empowerment Partnership in the South West, was to train members of a community group in community research so that they would feel better able to have a say and influence local agencies.  It also had the wider aim in that by testing a community-led model it would be able to inform policy development and delivery offered through networks and elsewhere.

How it started

The South West Foundation, together with Sue Webber at the Evaluation Trust, collaborated with NS Housing, a local social housing landlord which has a background of working with tenants through neighbourhood development workers.  "We'd struggled to find a suitable group to work with until we met Linda Jones, one of the NS Housing's neighbourhood development workers" said Sue. 

Linda identified a newly formed parents' group which had formed on the Oldmixon Estate in Weston-super-Mare.   Linda thought this group would be receptive learning new research skills.  They had been motivated by the perception of a lack of facilities on the estate and had organised social activities for parents and children.  However, they were now interested in developing their group so that they could influence service providers and campaign for changes on the estate.  Sue gave a 20 minute talk about the training, telling them that it would teach them how to analyse issues on their estate so that they would be in a position to feed back views to local service providers.  It would involve 5 full day sessions, and travel and childcare would be paid for.  When asked who would be interested, all raised their hands.

Members of the Oldmixon Parents' Group committed themselves to the five sessions from January to March 2009; up to 12 attended at different times, including one man.  Practical arrangements were dealt with by Linda from NS Housing which funded the venue, refreshments, childcare and transport.  The training was undertaken by Sue with help from Jan Crawley at the South West Foundation.

The training

The Evaluation Trust and The Foundation could not find an ‘off the shelf' training course suitable for the purpose, so set about developing a tailored made course for the group, whilst drawing on the experience of Learning Links based in Hampshire. The five training sessions were very full days and involved a variety of methods: games, role play and practical activities.  Varying the techniques was important to suit individuals' different learning styles.  Handouts were simple, at the level appropriate to the group.  At points within each session participants drew up points that they had learned: this reflective technique was important to reinforce the learning.

As the course was about research, Day 1 got the participants right into the thick of it.  In groups of three they conducted a mini research project on their views of the estate with one interview, an interviewee and an observer.  In the whole group they pooled all their ideas on post-it notes, grouped similar views and drew conclusions.  This would be a technique they would use on real interviews leading up to the final session.

• Stages of research
• Research ethics - what to do and what not to do when conducting research

They chose a topic to research: residents' views of the Oldmixon Estate, their suggestions for improvements and whether they'd be interesting in doing something to improve the estate.  They developed a questionnaire, and between sessions 4 and 5 they individually went out and conducted their research. The group indicated that they would feel more comfortable and confident conducting interviews if they were easily identifiable as members of the Oldmixon Parents Group  and received a small grant  from the Foundation to enable them to purchase sweatshirts with the Oldmixon parent's group initials on. This gave them a group identity.

The final day was the culmination of their research where they shared their experiences of interviewing.  They analysed their findings by counting up quantitative information, grouping answers to qualitative questions and presented the results in groups.  

Learning 

Technical learning

It was clear that this group had a good grasp of the techniques of community research.  They understood the importance of confidentiality and ethics, of defining clear unambiguous questions and of piloting a questionnaire: "I learned how to construct a questionnaire and get the answers out of people".  They learned how to approach strangers and ask them objective questions. They learned about those who could easily be excluded and those who might have different views from themselves:  "I learned not to judge people, but to respect them."   They were able to make suggestions about how to boost the sample of men, for example going to pubs and workplaces.  They could draw conclusions about were the most important issues for their respondents.  They gave confident presentations and were really very keen to write up their findings as a report as well as to produce an action plan, agreeing a date to meet up together.

Confidence

Each individual had marked where they were on the branches of a tree at the beginning, middle and end of the course, and all to a varying degree had started at the roots and progressed up the tree by clinging to the branches to reach the top.  Said one:  "I'm at the top in my Oldmixon Parents' Group (OPG) sweatshirt, balanced and confident."  When asked to collect something from the beach which demonstrated what they valued about the course, they all chose a pebble or rock.  For one, the rocks represented building blocks, and similarly for another they represented layers of rock which were like the course which was "stronger as it goes."  For others the rock was "hard" or "bumpy but smooth at the end."  For all, the rocks represented a significant journey in their learning.

Success factors

The factors that made this course work included:

• A group of individuals who were willing to have a go and also to receive feedback
• A group that was interested in developing their ability to make a difference in their locality
• A partnership with a housing association with a commitment to community development and a member of staff able to support the group on the ground
• A partnership between two organisations with an understanding of the value of community development: the Evaluation Trust and South West Foundation
• The ability to draw on a range of learning techniques
• Keeping the course simple but including all the major points about research
• Breaking down the training materials in small units to make it easily understood
• Having fun!

Outcomes  

For individuals: they had all gained confidence and "found a voice".  They could use their new skills in writing, interviewing, recording and analysing for future jobs or entry to college.  In fact two women from this group of nine have successfully applied for college in September.  Said one, "I've always worked in part-time jobs such as bars and cleaning jobs, but now I want a career.  This course has given me the confidence to apply for college.  I'm doing health and social care which will give me the equivalent of 4 A levels.  I want to be a youth worker."