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Chapter Three Methodology

3.1 Introduction

3.1.1 Formal consultation with faith communities about government policy is relatively new and involves particular methodological issues. This study, partly about government policy and partly about inter faith relationships, covered a wide range of information across a broad spectrum of faith groups. It was strictly time limited to 4 months and therefore presented some tricky methodological choices, which are evidenced in the partial re-shaping of the methodology during the first weeks of the field work phase.

3.2 Methodological and effectiveness issues in consulting faith communities

3.2.1 The steering group of the Working Together review (Home Office 2004) recognised that engaging faith communities about government policies and practices was a new area of development with unknown methodological and effectiveness issues. Therefore, they commissioned time-limited local faiths consultation exercise specifically designed to test the effectiveness of consultation mechanisms and to examine where faith communities can offer practical help in tackling issues with which government struggles in practice.

3.2.2 The Leeds Faith and Communities Liaison Forum undertook a project on 'Restorative Justice and the Rehabilitation of Young Male Ex-offenders.' ²⁶ In the Final Report (Knott and Francis 2004), the researchers point to the complexity of consultation and representation issues in relation to faith communities, a theme already highlighted by the survey of local inter faith activity published by the Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdom. ²⁷

3.3.3 In particular the researchers underline:

• factors related to the structure of local faith communities and how they communicate
• practical issues such as the roles of those consulted, language, timing and approach
• "consultation overload" as an issue for some groups ²⁸

3.3 4 The Leeds pilot faiths consultation employed 8 methods of consultation. ²⁹ Their findings indicate that the most effective methodologies were targeted inter faith focus groups, and focus groups at which questionnaires were distributed for completion by members and for distribution by them to others in their community.

3.3.5 The least effective methodology was a postal survey. The researchers suggest that the differential rates of response of faith communities to their postal survey were affected by a number of factors, including among others:

• role and status of the person in the community
• language competence
• community policy concerning issues of representation
• interest in or knowledge about the subject matter
• concerns about confidentiality and how responses would be used
• timing of the request ( e.g. in relation to major festivals)
• voluntary or professional capacity of the representative and the pressures on them ³⁰

3.3.6 They advise that when consulting faith communities, researchers should give careful attention to the timeframe for consultation, as well as the methods to be employed. In their opinion, researchers can underestimate the amount of time that it takes to access faith communities given that many of the personnel are working voluntarily and with limited availability. They note also that the effectiveness of faith consultations can be dependent on the presence of multi faith bodies which have good connections at local level with faith communities. ³¹

3.4 Special considerations

3.4.1 Women, young people, and older people

3.4.1.1 Another recommendation in the Working Together review (Home Office 2004) is that efforts should be made to include women, young people, and older people in faith consultation processes. ³²

3.4.2 Language and Translation

3.4.2.1 Given that many participants in focus groups, and many interviewees and people completing questionnaires were from minority ethnic communities, text translation for questionnaires and explanatory material was essential. Simultaneous translation for group processes and interviews was available, but not requested.

3.5 Methodological framework

3.5.1 Building on the lessons learned from the Leeds pilot faiths consultation (Knott and Matthews 2004) and after reflection with the project manager, and Research Advisory Group ( RAG), the methodology used in this study combined both qualitative and quantitative elements:

• 6 single faith focus groups: Hindu community; 2 Christian community groups, Jewish Community; Muslim Community and Sikh community
• 2 inter faith focus groups: representatives of SIFC; representatives of FOF
• 2 multi faith focus groups: one for women; and one for young people
• One focus group for Glasgow City Council officials
• 9 semi structured interviews:
• 2 with members of the Baha'i tradition
• 2 with members of Buddhist traditions
• 5 to provide extra information where different traditions of a faith were under-represented or missing in the focus groups
• A 10 question questionnaire distributed through focus groups
• A broad demographic map of Glasgow's faith communities developed through quantitative analysis of existing data, in particular the 2001 Census

3.6 Focus Groups

3.6.1 The purpose of the focus groups was to ascertain issues specific to people as a result of their religion.

3.6.1.1 All single faith focus groups and interviewees addressed the same set of questions (Annex 1), which were designed to elicit information particularly related to objectives 3 to 10 of the research. The focus groups for SIFC and FOF addressed another set of questions (Annex 2) pertinent to objective 2 as well as more generally to objectives 3 to 10. The City Council officials were given another set of questions (Annex 3) which focused on objectives 3, 7 and 9.

3.6.1.2 Each focus group was to have a maximum of ten participants and a minimum of six. ³³ In the case of the Sikh community group, the second Christian community group, and the women's group only 5 of the expected participants attended. The group with GCC Officials had a total of 11 participants.

3.6.1.3 Only 2 individuals, who are members of both the SIFC and the FOF, attended more than one focus group. None of the interviewees attended a focus group.

3.6.1.4 The duration of all focus groups was one and a half to two hours.

3.6.2 Single faith focus groups

3.6.2.1 Originally, apart from SIFC and FOF, all the faith focus groups were to be multi faith, as recommended by the Leeds pilot faiths consultation (Knott and Matthews 2004), and to comprise representatives of all the faiths named in the research specification. After discussion with the project manager and the RAG, however, it was agreed that because of the volume of information to be elicited from the groups, and the possibility of wide variations in areas of concern between faiths, most would be single faith. It was also agreed that the Buddhist and Baha'i communities, which are small, would be more appropriately addressed by means of 2 individual interviews with adherents, rather than in a focus group.

3.6.2.2 Only the networking groups SIFC and FOF were strictly inter faith. The designated women's and young people's groups were multi faith. This had the added advantage of protecting the quality of data collection from every faith community, while both keeping inter faith and multi faith elements in the study.

3.6.2.3 Initially, it was thought that the Sikh and Hindu communities, which are relatively small, might be allocated to a combined group. The research team was given the scope to decide as seemed best in conversation with the communities and given the time constraints of the project. The researchers decided that for the sake of consistency it would be better to maintain a single faith approach and therefore to hold separate focus groups for these two faiths.

3.6.2.4 The researchers gave group co-ordinators general selection criteria for participants which included:

• those who hold a significant role in the faith community
• a mix of gender
• a mix of age

3.6.2.5 The rationale behind these criteria was that those who hold significant roles in the community are more likely than the average adherent to have experience of, and to be able to reflect on, engagement with local and central government. The mix of gender and age was in order to give a range of viewpoints. It was, however, more a hope than an aspiration because the leadership of most faith communities is heavily male dominated and predominantly older in age. The age profiles of Glasgow's religious groups given in the statistical map show that with the exception of the Muslim and Sikh communities all religious groups have more than 65% of their adherents over 25 years of age. ³⁴

3.6.3 Advantages

3.6.3.1 The series of single faith focus groups had a number of advantages, some practical and some methodological, over the original design in which all were multi faith.

3.6.3.2 The difficulty in co-ordinating representatives of different communities for separate meetings within the three month fieldwork period would have been considerable. With the single faith design, once a senior representative had been identified, the responsibility for setting up the group was shared with her or him. This interaction had the additional benefit of making the focus group an activity in which the faith community had active participation and ownership, rather than something "done" to or for them.

3.6.3.3 For single faith groups, the need to find a meeting space where all participants could feel at ease was lessened. This made finding an appropriate venue less difficult, and also involved the faith community in the process. Faith community representatives were more than willing to suggest a suitable venue, often in one of their places of worship or community facilities, and to organise generous hospitality.

3.6.3.4 Having single faith groups meant that greater attention was given to issues relating to a particular faith community.

3.6.3.5 Single faith groups also brought out the range of concerns and differences within a faith community.

3.6.4 Disadvantages

3.6.4.1 Using senior representatives to help co-ordinate participation in focus groups had the disadvantage of the research team not having strict control of the composition of groups. Guidelines were, of course, provided but there was no guarantee that a gender or age balance would be achieved. This resulted in groups having more male than female participants. Only the Sikh group was all male and this happened more by accident than design because some of the confirmed invitees did not attend.

3.6.5 Contact and communication issues

3.6.5.1 The initial task in contacting the various faith groups was to identify an individual who could reasonably be expected to be able to access a range of members of the community. Ideally, this would have been someone with a formal position of responsibility. Such positions, however, do not exist in every group, and there is no single recognised point of contact or organised structure for some of the faith communities, e.g., Muslim and Sikh communities. Nonetheless, the overriding concern in this task was to ensure that no-one who could reasonably expect to be contacted or consulted was omitted.

3.6.5.2 Further difficulties were encountered, not least, the fact that not all contact information is in the public domain. Given the lack of full-time staff in most groups, contacts' details were often home telephone numbers, creating a problem about contacting people who were working outside their home. Nonetheless, contact with most of the faith groups was successfully achieved within the first month.

3.6.6 Hindu community

3.6.6.1 There is only one Hindu temple in Glasgow. The Vice-President of the Temple agreed to co-ordinate the focus group. She suggested that the meeting should take place in the Temple. The group comprised 8 members, 4 men and 4 women.

3.6.7 Jewish community

3.6.7.1 The Jewish Community are represented by various national and local groups in Scotland. After consulting each of these, responsibility was given to the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council to convene a focus group. The Jewish Community Centre in Giffnock (East Renfrewshire) was used as a venue, though the focus group participants were from, or working in, the Glasgow City Council area. The location of the venue reflects the heartland of the Jewish Community in the greater Glasgow area. The group comprised 5 men and one woman.

3.6.8 Christian community

3.6.8.1 Christians make up by far the largest faith group in Glasgow. It is also the most diverse, with more than a dozen established denominations, as well as a large number of independent churches, and minority ethnic churches. As the researchers began to explore the range of Christians in the city, they realised that the size and diversity of this tradition required at least two focus groups, supplemented by a number of interviews.

3.6.8.2 Glasgow Churches Together ( GCT) comprises seven of the more established Christian traditions and employs an ecumenical officer. This meant that it was both appropriate, and with the help of the ecumenical officer relatively easy, to set up one focus group for representatives of this group. The meeting took place in the City Chambers. There were 6 men and one woman present.

3.6.8.3 A second Christian focus group was drawn from representatives of smaller, evangelical and independent denominations or groupings. These were the Baptist Church, the Evangelical Alliance, the Nazarene Church, the Pentecostal Church, the Free Church, the Society of Friends, and two or three leaders of smaller and independent Churches. It was impossible to include representatives of every Christian denomination in Glasgow, simply because of the numbers involved, and the lack of any umbrella structure for the independent churches. The invitations, however, were intended to ensure that as wide a spectrum as possible of theological outlook and ecclesiastical organisation was represented in the group. On the day, only representatives of the Baptist church, the Society of Friends, the Free Church, a community church and the Vineyard Church attended the meeting, which took place in St Mungo's Museum. The group comprised 4 men and one woman.

3.6.8.4 There are a growing number of minority ethnic Christian churches in the city. The research team judged that there might be a range of issues peculiar to these groups, and that, therefore, it was important to let their voices be heard in their own right through interviews.

3.6.9 Muslim community

3.6.9.1 There is no single structure for the large Muslim community in Glasgow. Several contacts were made before the President of the Islamic Society of Britain in Glasgow was identified as the main contact person. The research team were concerned to try to achieve both Sunni and Shi'ite representation in the focus group. This proved to be impossible because the researchers could not find a person of the Shi'ite tradition willing to take part. Participants were drawn from the different parts of the Sunni Muslim community around the city. The meeting took place in the offices of Radio Ramadan. The group had a younger average age than other focus groups, though there were two older participants in the group. It comprised 6 men of whom 4 were under 30 years of age, and three women all of whom were under 30 years of age.

3.6.9.2 Throughout the field work period the researchers tried without success to contact a member of the Shi'ite tradition in Glasgow who was willing to participate in a focus group or to be interviewed. They began with a telephone directory and internet search. This produced no contacts, so they approached the RAG for assistance. One member of the RAG asked her husband to make enquiries among Shi'ite acquaintances. The researchers also asked for help from two of the Muslim focus group participants. When these approaches failed the team posted a message on a Shi'ite internet bulletin board, which produced contact with a Shi'ite person, new to Glasgow, who was also trying, without success, to make contact with the local community. Finally, the moderator of the Shi'ite internet site provided a telephone number in Glasgow, at which there was consistently no reply.

3.6.10 Sikh community

3.6.10.1 Making contact with the Sikh community was complicated by the fact there are four autonomous Gurdwaras in Glasgow. There is no overall structure, nor any one person with formal overall authority. Contact was made with the President of each of the four Gurdwaras, and each agreed to put forward two individuals to make up a focus group. It was decided between the Presidents that the President of the Nithsdale Road Temple would co-ordinate the group, and provide both venue and hospitality. On the day, only representatives from the Nithsdale Road Gurdwara were present. The reason for the absence of representatives from the other temples was not clear. One factor, however, may have been the timing of the meeting. Despite the fact that all the Presidents agreed that Sunday afternoon after the Temple meeting was the best time, this did not allow for extraordinary business at their meetings to delay them enough to make it not worth attending.

3.6.10.2 In order not to abandon the meeting, the President of the Nithsdale Road Gurdwara asked 3 other men to join the group, which meant that there were 5 men present. The woman representative from the Nithsdale Road Gurdwara itself, who had been expected to attend the meeting, had to give apologies.

3.7 Other faith groups in Glasgow

3.7.1 There are other faith communities who were not included in the remit of the research, among them: the Unitarians, the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints (Mormon), and the Jehovah's Witnesses; Pagan, Wiccan, and Humanist groups; as well as Scientologists and Seventh Day Adventists. Within the constraints of the project it was not possible to include all of these groups.

3.7.2 Both the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints and the Jehovah's Witnesses, however, appear to be sizable communities which will have specific relevant issues around for example education and healthcare as a result of their religion. The Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints in Glasgow claims some 800 members, whereas the Jehovah's Witnesses claimed 1,090 active members in Glasgow as of December 2004, with a total of 2,025 attending the annual celebration of Christ's death. ³⁵ The researchers decided that it was not appropriate to include them in the Christian focus groups because of problems with mutual recognition between these groups and the mainstream Christian communities. They were included by one interview with one representative of each.

3.8 Inter faith focus groups

3.8.1 Scottish Inter Faith Council

3.8.1.1 The Scottish Inter Faith Council is an all-Scotland body, whose offices are in Glasgow. The CEO organised a representative group from the Council, made up of those who were either from Glasgow or had experiences of issues in Glasgow. The group met in the City Chambers. There were 2 men and 5 women present. Faith communities represented were: Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, and Sikh.

3.8.2 Forum of Faiths, Glasgow City Council

3.8.2.1 This meeting was convened by the co-ordinator in Glasgow City Council and the group met in the City Chambers. There were 6 men and 4 women present, of whom one was the City Council staff co-ordinator. The faith communities represented were: Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Sikh.

3.9 Multi faith focus groups

3.9.1 Women's Focus Group

3.9.1.1 The organisation of this group was facilitated by prior contact with faith communities through the single faith focus groups. The research team offered money for transport and childcare, if needed. It was not requested. Most communities confirmed representatives.

3.9.1.2 The exception was the Muslim community, who despite approaches through contacts in the Muslim focus group and appeal to the Muslim Women's Resource Centre could not provide a representative. This may have been a function of the timing of the meeting early on Sunday evening (4 - 6 pm), which apparently is regarded as prime family time in some minority ethnic communities. In the planning stage for this group, however, the researchers were advised that this was a better time than most for women to attend. Another reason for the reluctance might have been the fact that the meeting was inter faith. During the study the researchers noted there were no Muslim community representatives at either the SIFC or the FOF group meetings and wondered if these absences were significant.

3.9.1.3 The meeting was held in City Chambers. On the day, only 5 of the expected 7 women attended. Most significant was the fact that those who failed to attend were all from minority ethnic communities. The faith communities represented were: Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian and Jewish.

3.9.2 Young People's Focus Group

3.9.2.1 This group proved very difficult to organise despite good contacts through previous faith community focus groups. On the day, however, there was a fairly balanced and representative group of 18 - 25 year olds from a variety of parts of the City. The group met in the City Chambers. There were 4 men and 3 women present. The faith communities represented were: Baha'i, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh.

3.10 Focus group with Glasgow City Council officials

3.10.1 This group was organised in order to provide a different perspective on the questions being addressed by the faith communities and to record the perspective of Glasgow City Council staff who have contact with faith communities as part of their remit. On advice from the Council project liaison person this group was based on the already existing anti-racism officers group, with several additional invitees from other key Council departments. The departments represented were: Building services; Bereavement Services; Chief Executive's Department; Community Safety; Direct and Care services; DRS; Social Work Services; and Social Work: Community Care. The Children and Families and Education services were invited but unable to attend. A representative of Strathclyde Police Force was present. The meeting took place in the City Chambers. There were 7 men and 4 women present.

3.11 Interviews

3.11.1 There were two different sets of interviews conducted:

• 2 each with the Baha'i and Buddhist communities, in place of a focus group meeting
• 5 with members of faith traditions under or not represented in a focus group

The interviews took place in the office or home of interviewees and permission was asked to tape record them. Only one interviewee asked that the conversation was not taped.

3.11.1.1 Baha'i and Buddhist interviews

3.11.1.1.1 Given that these interviews were in place of a dedicated faith focus group, and to ensure balance, two separate interviews, by different researchers, were conducted with members of these faiths.

3.11.1.1.2 Contacting the Baha'i community was straightforward and they chose a woman and a man, both of whom were experienced members of their tradition.

3.11.1.1.3 Contacting the Buddhist community was more difficult. There are at least three Buddhist traditions in the Glasgow area: Tibetan, Sri Lankan, and Friends of the Western Buddhist Order ( FWBO). The Tibetan tradition had been represented in the inter faith focus groups, therefore the researchers sought interviewees from the other two traditions first.

3.11.1.1.4 Through the Glasgow Buddhist Centre one interview was arranged with a senior woman representative of the FWBO. After several unsuccessful attempts to arrange an interview with a representative of the Sri Lankan tradition, the Tibetan tradition provided a woman interviewee.

3.11.1.2 Traditions under or unrepresented in faith focus groups

3.11.1.2.1 Neither the minority ethnic Christian churches nor the Greek Orthodox Church were represented in the two Christian focus groups. In addition, the researchers decided that because of the size of their membership they would also interview a representative of both the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints and the Jehovah's Witnesses.

3.11.1.2.2 There were several possible minority ethnic Christian churches to interview, among which were African, Korean, Chinese, or Pakistani congregations. The advice of the RAG was that the Chinese Christian community was very small and should only be included if time allowed. Given the project time constraints only two interviews were conducted, one with the pastor of the 'Mountain of Fire' African Christian church which originates in Nigeria and one with the pastor of the Korean Christian church. These were judged to be the ethnic traditions least represented across the faith groups taking part in the study.

3.11.1.2.3 Interviews were also conducted with the secretary of the Greek Orthodox Church, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints and a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

3.12 Questionnaire

3.12.1 In order to augment the research data on key objectives and to give an opportunity of participation to members of faith communities who were not included in the focus groups or interviews a short 10 question questionnaire was developed (Annex 4).

3.12.2 The questionnaire was provided initially in Arabic, English, Farsi, Punjabi and Urdu translations, which the RAG suggested were the most common languages for the faith communities. After a protest from the Hindu community focus group it was also made available in Hindi.

3.12.3 Questionnaires were distributed with stamped addressed return envelopes through the focus groups, with the exception of the group for Glasgow City Council Officials. Each focus group member was asked to take 5 copies and some people took 10 or more. They were asked to distribute them to anyone in their faith community who might be willing to complete it.

3.12.4 In total 529 questionnaires were distributed of which 157 were returned. A table of distribution patterns by faith group and language is at Table 1 below.