Data Reuse to Revisit ‘Ordinary Girls’.
By Dr John Goodwin.
The project The making of the ‘precariat’ is the latest phase of a research agenda that prioritises the of returning to ‘legacy studies’ in the area of school to work transitions. Past researchers invested a significant amount of time in developing research instruments, undertaking fieldwork to collect data and, equally, respondents giving of their time to provide the information required. It seems wasteful, therefore, that once the research is over, papers published and data archived for posterity seemingly few researchers ever return to that data to examine and the data via a more contemporary lens.
Returning to legacy studies has a great deal to offer the social sciences not least the ability to re-examine orthodox, established views or examine data in light of new concerns. Once such new concern debates around the ‘missing middle’ – a counterpoint to the long-term trend in social sciences to research only at the margins, the extreme or the unique. For writers such as Roberts and MacDonald (2013:1.2) there is still a ‘need to explore and develop our understanding of apparently ‘ordinary’ or ‘unspectacular’ experiences of youth’. We recently contributed to this debate by returning to two legacy studies – one from the 1960s and the second Young Adults in the Labour Market from 1983 and which is central to The making of the ‘precariat’ project. In the paper ‘Ordinary Lives: ‘Typical Stories’ of Girls’ Transitions in the 1960s and the 1980s’ we consider notions of ‘ordinary’ and ‘unspectacular’ transitions in the context of past studies of youth and consider ‘typicality’ as an alternative. Using eight vignettes we then explore in the lived realities of the transitions of girls in one labour market (Leicester) from the 1960s and 1980s.To read more visit Sociological Research Online http://www.socresonline.org.uk/18/1/4.html and ponder the question who are the missing middle and ordinary youth now?
References
Ashton, D. and Maguire, J. (1983)Young Adults in the Labour Market (1983) Research Paper No 59. Department of Employment.
Goodwin, J. and O’Connor, H. (2013) Ordinary Lives: ‘Typical Stories’ of Girls’ Transitions in the 1960s and the 1980s, Sociological Research Online, Sociological Research Online, 18 (1) 4 <http://www.socresonline.org.uk/18/1/4.html>
10.5153/sro.2881
Roberts, S. and MacDonald, R. (2013) Introduction for Special Section of Sociological Research Online: The Marginalised Mainstream: Making Sense of the ‘Missing Middle’ of Youth Studies. Sociological Research Online, 18 (1) 21
<http://www.socresonline.org.uk/18/1/21.html> 10.5153/sro.2929
Image attribution: http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/main/2010/12/
UK YOUTH RESEARCH
Who are the missing middle and ordinary youth now?
Data Reuse to Revisit ‘Ordinary Girls’.
By Dr John Goodwin.
The project The making of the ‘precariat’ is the latest phase of a research agenda that prioritises the of returning to ‘legacy studies’ in the area of school to work transitions. Past researchers invested a significant amount of time in developing research instruments, undertaking fieldwork to collect data and, equally, respondents giving of their time to provide the information required. It seems wasteful, therefore, that once the research is over, papers published and data archived for posterity seemingly few researchers ever return to that data to examine and the data via a more contemporary lens.
Returning to legacy studies has a great deal to offer the social sciences not least the ability to re-examine orthodox, established views or examine data in light of new concerns. Once such new concern debates around the ‘missing middle’ – a counterpoint to the long-term trend in social sciences to research only at the margins, the extreme or the unique. For writers such as Roberts and MacDonald (2013:1.2) there is still a ‘need to explore and develop our understanding of apparently ‘ordinary’ or ‘unspectacular’ experiences of youth’. We recently contributed to this debate by returning to two legacy studies – one from the 1960s and the second Young Adults in the Labour Market from 1983 and which is central to The making of the ‘precariat’ project. In the paper ‘Ordinary Lives: ‘Typical Stories’ of Girls’ Transitions in the 1960s and the 1980s’ we consider notions of ‘ordinary’ and ‘unspectacular’ transitions in the context of past studies of youth and consider ‘typicality’ as an alternative. Using eight vignettes we then explore in the lived realities of the transitions of girls in one labour market (Leicester) from the 1960s and 1980s.To read more visit Sociological Research Online http://www.socresonline.org.uk/18/1/4.html and ponder the question who are the missing middle and ordinary youth now?
References
Ashton, D. and Maguire, J. (1983)Young Adults in the Labour Market (1983) Research Paper No 59. Department of Employment.
Goodwin, J. and O’Connor, H. (2013) Ordinary Lives: ‘Typical Stories’ of Girls’ Transitions in the 1960s and the 1980s, Sociological Research Online, Sociological Research Online, 18 (1) 4 <http://www.socresonline.org.uk/18/1/4.html> 10.5153/sro.2881
Roberts, S. and MacDonald, R. (2013) Introduction for Special Section of Sociological Research Online: The Marginalised Mainstream: Making Sense of the ‘Missing Middle’ of Youth Studies. Sociological Research Online, 18 (1) 21
<http://www.socresonline.org.uk/18/1/21.html> 10.5153/sro.2929
Image attribution: http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/main/2010/12/