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Chapter One Introduction
Reviewing the literature on children in the workplace shows that researchers have used a range of approaches when collecting data. Different contexts have tended to be associated with different techniques. For example, in the so-called under-developed countries research into child labour has drawn upon anthropological and qualitative approaches. In contrast researchers in the developed economies have tended not to use such approaches. Instead they have relied upon self report survey techniques.
British research follows this trend with survey approaches dominating the literature. This is not to imply that other techniques have not been used. For example some studies have relied upon more qualitative approaches. However, such studies are at present in the minority. The dominance of survey studies is in part a reflection of the populations being investigated and the context in which the research is carried out. Research has typically looked at school-aged pupils and 'captured' their views by accessing them through the school system.
Survey approaches have been crucial in opening up this area of research and they will continue to be important. However, as researchers expand the range of questions that they wish to investigate the pressure to expand methodologies also increases. When attempting to answer such questions as whether or not an individual has or had a job, what the job is or was and what hours they work, then questionnaires are an appropriate means to capture information from large samples.
When researchers start to ask questions about what goes on in the workplace or what activities are young workers involved in, we start to see the need for other methodologies. To address these issues we need to ask young workers what they actually do in the workplace. Such questions may not lend themselves to survey approaches, or the information gained from this type of source may not be very detailed.
One alternative would be to use interviews as a means of gaining such information. A recent study by McKechnie, Anderson and Hobbs (2005) has shown the potential value of interviews. In this study interviews were carried out with a sub-sample of pupils from a larger survey. In one section of the survey pupils had been asked about accidents at work. The interviews pursued this theme in more depth. The results showed that some pupils who had indicated that they had not been involved in an accident at work told the interviewers that they had in fact had an accident. It appears that the pupils interpretation of the concept of 'accident' had influenced the way they responded to the survey question. The interview setting allowed for more detailed, and ultimately more accurate, information to be gathered.
This suggests that interviews may be a useful tool for researchers. However, there are methodological issues associated with interviews. For example, the skill of the interviewer in probing specific issues can impact on the information that is gathered. Similarly, the ability of the interviewee to respond to the questions being asked can create problems in accessing specific information. For example, Hobbs, Stack, McKechnie and Smillie (forthcoming) have argued that one problem with interviewing young workers is that they may not be well practiced in talking about their jobs. Posing certain questions in an interview may be the first time that the young worker has given any thought to the issue. In such circumstances it is possible that the answer provided may not be comprehensive. Such concerns should lead us to consider the use of other approaches when investigating what young people do in the workplace.
Two alternative approaches are worth noting. First Bolton, Pole and Mizen (2001) provided the participants in their study with cameras so that they could take pictures of their work environment using disposable cameras. The young workers were instructed to take pictures that represented their place of work and what they did. The employees then chose a sample of pictures to illustrate their work.
This approach is clearly innovative and informative. However, it might be of limited use if such an approach were applied to trying to understand what young people actually do in their workplace. Pictures by their very nature are static and as such lose the dynamic element involved in work activity. As Bolton et al note many of the images did not contain the young worker since they were taking the pictures.
An alternative approach was used by Steinberg, Grennberger and Ruggerio (1982). They decided to investigate the characteristics of young employee's jobs by observing them in the workplace. The use of observation has rarely been used in the context of young employees. Steinberg et al's study appears to be unique in this particular research area, yet their findings are of interest. The results from their study found a lack of agreement between what employees said they did and what their job involved and what independent observer's noted about the jobs and the worker's activities. As such Steinberg et al's study appears to offer some support for the concerns expressed by Hobbs et al.
The advantage of Steinberg et al's approach is that it provides us with the capacity to access the dynamic element that we need to capture the activities carried out by employees. This paper, while not replicating the specific methodology of Steinberg et al, does follow the same principle by applying observation techniques to the study of school pupils' part-time work.
In this section of the research the primary aim is to gain a greater insight into the experiences of young workers. A case study approach was adopted to allow for an in-depth consideration of this issue. In addition to gaining insight into what young people did in the workplace we investigated who they worked with and the potential skills that they may gain from their employment. To address these questions a number of data gathering approaches, including observation, were used. These are explained more fully in the next section.
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