« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
Chapter Three Key issues to consider
Before we look in detail at the usefulness of the measures identified through this review, there are some key issues to be noted.
While there appears to be considerable consensus on the general concepts which describe enterprising skills and attitudes, there is much less evidence of a shared understanding of how these may be more specifically defined, or evidenced in practice. Concepts such as 'autonomy', 'responsibility' and even 'informed risk-taking' are capable of many interpretations and researchers have operationalised these concepts in different ways in different studies.
One of the reasons why there may be different understandings of these concepts is because the assessment of skills and attitudes is very context related. For example, a young person who is asked by a teacher in her school about the extent to which she is 'willing to take responsibility' may answer in the context of her behaviour as a school pupil: she may reply quite differently if asked this in the context of her home life. So the context for each individual might change the definition. Similarly, different people are coming from different perspectives; an employer may define 'being willing to take responsibility' differently from an employee, and differently from another employer in another sector, or of a different size. Both definitions and measurement of skills and attitudes are heavily context-related.
While the research and policy communities may broadly agree on the wording of the concepts, many of these cannot be 'translated' into a form that all young people can easily understand when asked to self-report. Words and concepts such as 'autonomy' remain problematic. Therefore, research instruments such as questionnaires have to focus on what can reasonably be understood. There is also a difference in what can be done when the whole purpose of a study is focused on the measurement of enterprising skills and attitudes compared with a study (such as this one) where this is only one of many areas to be covered in a questionnaire. The primary form of data collection at this stage of the research is a questionnaire and this limits the depth to which we can explore concepts of enterprising skills and attitudes.
« Previous | Contents | Next »