The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

Chapter 2: Research Aim, Objectives and Methodology

The aim of this research was to explore views and experiences of Right to Buy amongst tenants who had purchased their property under the Right to Buy, resale purchasers and tenants who had not exercised their Right to Buy. The Scottish Executive had identified a need for qualitative data to supplement the extensive statistics already collected regarding the uptake and impact of Right to Buy.

The research looked at:

• The motivations for exercising, or not exercising, the Right to Buy
• The impact of Right to Buy on households' housing choices and opportunities
• How far Right to Buy sales and resales provided access to affordable home ownership
• Current tenants' plans to exercise their Right to Buy

To this end, the objectives of the research were to address the following issues:

• What motivates tenants to exercise, or not exercise, their Right to Buy
• What buyers' housing choices would have been had the Right to Buy not been available to them
• Purchasers' experience of the purchase process and whether they had at any point withdrawn an application
• How purchasers and tenants view their home and local area/ neighbourhood
• The aspirations and future housing intentions of purchasers and tenants
• The reasons for selling a home bought under Right to Buy
• The housing history of resale purchasers
• The reasons resale purchasers buy a formerly social rented property and the alternative housing options they considered
• The similarities and differences, in socio-economic terms, between the different groups

Sample

In total, 52 face-to-face in-depth interviews were carried out across Scotland. Respondents consisted of;

• Tenants with the preserved Right to Buy
• Tenants with the modernised Right to Buy
• Right to buy purchasers still in their Right to Buy property
• Right to Buy purchasers who had sold their Right to Buy property
• Purchasers of ex-Right to Buy properties

The table below shows the number of interviews conducted with each type of respondent. Appendix A details the respondent profiles by age, area, house type and gender.

Table 2.1 Respondent type

In total, 6 interviews were conducted with single parents and 9 with women who headed their household. Of those with the modernised Right to Buy, 3 had transferred into their current properties from another council property.

Recruitment of participants

A sample of Right to Buy purchasers who had sold their Right to Buy property was gathered using two omnibus surveys. Combined, these surveys allowed large numbers of the general Scottish population to be 'screened' for the relatively few members of the population who match this definition in a short space of time. Unlike council tenants, or people who live in ex-council properties (whether bought through the Right to Buy or on the private market), Right to Buy purchasers who had sold their Right to Buy property become practically 'invisible'. By definition they had moved 'elsewhere' and no public record is kept of where they have gone.

During the omnibus surveys, individuals who had sold their Right to Buy property were pinpointed and asked if they would be willing to take part in further research. Those who were willing were then re-contacted by telephone by specialist recruiters. A recruitment-screening questionnaire was used to confirm individuals' eligibility for participation in the study and to ensure the desired sample profile was achieved. Recruitment was undertaken by BMRB's specialist field and recruitment unit.

All other respondent types were recruited by BMRB's specialist field and recruitment unit using door to door recruitment. Once again, a recruitment-screening questionnaire was used to confirm individuals' eligibility for participation in the study, and to ensure the desired sample profile was achieved.

Interviews were conducted with respondents located across Scotland, in both rural and urban areas, to ensure views were gathered from geographically diverse respondents ( see Appendix tables B and D).

Conducting the interviews

Each face-to-face in-depth discussion was guided by the researcher using a topic guide, or 'aide-memoire', which allowed for questioning which was responsive to the issues arising. Each in-depth interview lasted between 30 minutes and 1 hour. Interviews were conducted at times suitable for the respondents. All discussions were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The verbatim transcripts were then analysed using an in-house, inductive technique known as 'Matrix-Mapping'.

' Matrix-Mapping' begins with a familiarisation stage and includes an executive researcher's review of the transcripts. Based on the coverage of the topic guide, the researchers' experiences of conducting the fieldwork and their preliminary review of the data, a thematic framework is constructed. The analysis then proceeds by summarising and synthesising the data according to this thematic framework. When all the data have been sifted according to the core themes the analyst begins to map the data and identify features within the data: defining concepts, mapping the range and nature of phenomenon, creating typologies, finding associations, and providing explanations.

In order to illuminate and enhance some of the issues raised in the research, a number of quotations have been included in this report. These are taken directly from the verbatim transcripts of the interviews. All the quotations are anonymous.

« Previous | Contents | Next »