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ANNEX 2 - SERVICE USER INTERVIEWS METHODOLOGY
Outline method
Mainly for reasons of practicality, the interviews were conducted by telephone rather than face to face. This was seen as the most cost-effective approach to making contact with a geographically dispersed sample. It also avoided the potential safety risks and logistical issues involved in convening face to face meetings.
Recruitment of participants involved the active assistance of LAs and third party service providers acting on behalf of LAs under contract. Compliance with the Data Protection Act necessitated the service provider sending invitations (drafted by the research team) to recent service users who were asked to respond direct to the researchers.
Recruiting interviewees and undertaking interviews was expected to be a fairly labour intensive activity, partly because of the likelihood of a high 'fallout rate' among those potentially eligible for inclusion. Also, in line with standard market research practice, it was decided that we should offer 'incentive payments' to participants to assist in their recruitment. The logistics of this will involve making a commitment to interviewees to follow up contacts by posting a £20 voucher.
The plan was for interviewees to be split evenly between former service users of two specific types of homelessness prevention service: (a) family mediation and (b) assisted access to private tenancies.
LAs kindly agreed to mail out a letter (drafted by the research team) to recent service users. The letter requested the return of a tear off slip to HWU indicating willingness to participate in the research in return for an incentive payment and providing a phone number to enable the research team to make contact.
Intended sample
Given the relatively small scale of the study and the potentially broad scope of what might be termed 'homelessness prevention' it was essential for this element of the research to be limited to specific types of prevention work. It was felt that attempting to cover a wide range of activities would dilute the value of the data being collected.
Thus, our initial proposal was to conduct 30 interviews with former service users of two specific types of homelessness prevention service. This was to cover:
- Family mediation projects in Renfrewshire (service operated by Social Work dept) and North Ayrshire (service run by homelessness staff)
- Assisted access to private tenancies - East Dunbartonshire (service provided by EDC housing dept) and Edinburgh (housing advice service provided by private rented sector team).
Practical implementation
With the assistance of local authority staff, invitations were issued to a sample of recent service users asking if they wished to participate in the research. A reply slip and pre-paid envelope were provided to allow interviewees to respond directly to the research team. To increase cost effectiveness and limit the logistical issues involved in covering a dispersed area interviews were conducted by telephone rather than face to face.
From the initial round of invitations issued, only in North Ayrshire and East Dunbartonshire did responses meet the required target. Two responses were received from Renfrewshire (although neither had used the mediation service, but instead had assessed the furniture initiative) and no responses were received from Edinburgh. With only a total of 13 interviews completed, it was essential to seek other routes to achieve the response rate required. Thus, invitations were extended to individuals using a youth housing support project in Stirling and the rent deposit scheme in North Ayrshire.
Response rates following the second round of invitations were good, and overall a total of 26 service users interviews took place between October and November 2006. Although the service selection was not as initially envisaged, the final sample of interviewees relates to two broad services - rent deposit scheme and youth housing support (covering outreach, residential, mediation and furniture initiatives). This provided a robust basis for the interviews and analysis.
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