Brian Findsen
Issues in conducting research in the field of older adults’ learning in Aotearoa New Zealand
Brian Findsen
University of Glasgow, Scotland
Paper presented at the 36th Annual SCUTREA Conference, 4-6 July 2006, Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds
Introduction
This paper is concerned with two aspects of a qualitative research process in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand: methodological issues related to undertaking collaborative research with specific groups of older adults; cultural issues within this same sub-population linked to the complexities of undertaking empirical research in a bi-cultural (arguably multi-cultural) nation. In effect, there are two sets of cultural dynamics at play. The first is that derived from involving older adults as co-researchers from six organisations in two divergent regions of Auckland city (urban suburb; satellite town). The second concerns the less visible cultural issues faced in conducting research, ostensibly using a maximum variation sample to include indigenous Maori, which resulted in a sample of primarily white middle class (mainly women) participants. What are the implications for future research?
Initially the paper provides a brief sketch of New Zealand, emphasising the character of race relations between Maori (indigenous) and Pakeha (colonisers). Next the rationale and conceptualisation of recent participatory research with older adults in Auckland are analysed (Park, 1993; Tom & Sork, 1994). Finally, some observations are made on the challenges of conducting qualitative research in a dynamic cultural context in which shared values and approaches cannot be taken for granted. While there were real achievements in acquiring baseline data and the way in which the research process proceeded, there were also disappointments and research limitations further explored in this paper.
The societal context for the study
Fundamental features of life in Aotearoa New Zealand need to be understood before judging the authenticity of research with older adults. The country is usually described as politically and economically stable, ethnically diverse (especially in Auckland city where nearly a third of the people live) and innovative, given the need to improvise when geographically isolated. With a population of just over four million people in the geographical size of the UK, it has fewer problems of industrialisation and urbanisation suffered by many countries. From the time the UK cut the umbilical cord attached to New Zealand as a colony when it joined the EEC, the Commonwealth country has diversified its trade and markets, resulting in a fairly robust economy. The fundamental document acting as a foundation of co-operation between indigenous and colonising peoples is the Treaty of Waitangi signed in 1840. The principles of protection, partnership and participation emanating from the Treaty are enshrined in many social spheres, including (adult) education. This relationship, while fraught with on-going tensions related to mainly land issues, is at least recognised in law where Maori is the official language (while English is much more prevalently spoken). Other ethnic groups, especially Pasifika nations peoples and more recent South-East Asian immigrants, do not enjoy the same privileges as Maori as tangata whenua (people of the land) but help provide a more invigorated society which might be described as multi-cultural.
Older adult life chances in New Zealand are consistent with patterns from other westernised countries. While historically there has been fairly enlightened public policy related to older adults (Borowski, Encel & Ozanna, 1997), the gaps between rich and poor are manifested rather starkly in older age. Older old age is very much a feminised phenomenon (Arber & Ginn, 1995), where most of the care and volunteering are undertaken by women. As for most nations, the population has an increasingly ageing profile, with about one in seven being over 60 years of age (Findsen, 2005). Indigenous Maori have traditionally regarded people in older age (kaumatua) with reverence and respect (Maaka, 1993) though some of these positive attributes have eroded since urbanisation and the fragmentation of iwi (tribes).
Rationale for the research project
The research project originated from a small group of passionate people in Auckland labelling itself “Older Persons and Adult Learning (OPAL) Network Auckland” concerned about the educational rights and possibilities for local older adults. It consisted of university-based staff and students plus members of linked older adult-focussed agencies such as the University of the Third Age. The group, including a Maori woman representative, bid and won funds from the Auckland University of Technology (AUT), to undertake this research to establish a baseline of learning activity among older adults. The rationale for the project was to gather data from local adults engaged in learning in its broadest sense – to include formal (institutionalised and credentialed), non-formal (organised but non institutional) and informal (occurring in incidental ways in daily life) (Jarvis, 1985). The project was designed to explore all the learning contexts in which older adults are engaged – such as within families, clubs, cultural venues, work (both paid and voluntary), community attachments and leisure pursuits.
The original design of this project was intentionally linked to attaining a wide cross-section of older adults – defined for this project as 55+ years – in Auckland society, particularly with regard to gender, social class and ethnicity, consistent with a critical gerontological approach (Estes, 1991; Phillipson, 1998). The research team, consisting of the author, a research assistant and five older adults from selected participating agencies, recognised the heterogeneity of older adults as a defining feature (Glendenning, 2000), our intent being to recruit a diverse sample. The emphasis of the research was to anchor older adults’ learning to the social issues they face in daily life, aligned to a critical educational gerontology emphasising the active reconstruction of identity in older age.
Always seen as participatory - i.e. consistent with the idea of research conducted with older adults rather than on older adults (Park et al, 1993) – the research involved the older people themselves as co-researchers in the key stages of the research process – conceptualisation, implementation and synthesis. While we were not claiming to produce “critical knowledge” (the kind of knowledge which has the potential to change the world that older adults live in), we always intended the older adults themselves to play key roles throughout the research process. In total, six organisations aligned to older adults’ advocacy needs were involved; members of these groups were trained as co-researchers (conducting interviews; preliminary analysis; transcription of tapes); in total, 78 face-to-face interviews were conducted.
Within the sample, there were 58 female (and 20 male); age ranges were from cohorts as follows: 55-59 cohort (8), 60-64 (9), 65-69 (17), 70-74 (21), 75-79 (11), 80-84 (8) and four people were over 85 years. The majority had attended tertiary education (55), and approximately half (33) lived alone. Household assets and incomes pointed to a predominantly middle-class population though significant numbers had less than average incomes. A significant portion still did paid work (32), though some was seasonal. In terms of ethnicity, 95% classified themselves as Pakeha (European).
Conceptualisation of the study
The emphasis of the project has been to anchor older adults’ learning in the social issues they face in daily living – economic self-sufficiency, securing adequate housing, keeping in good health, establishing effective social networks for support etc. This is consistent with a critical educational gerontology stressing agency and empowerment in older age rather than deficit theories of ageing, derived from physiological and largely negative models of ageing (Glendenning, 2000).
The design of this project was intentionally linked to attaining a wide cross section of older adults in Auckland society but given the reality of finite resources we decided to work with existing groups (most of which were already closely associated with older adults) in two contrasting areas of Auckland: an urban North Shore group of suburbs close to the base of the University campus; a satellite town in South Auckland, just beyond the conurbation of Auckland. While we aimed for heterogeneity of adults, in reality we recruited almost exclusively white middle class women.
The primary researchers met with established groups of older adults in the two communities of Greater Auckland, convinced these groups of the merits of the research and invited further participation, either as a co-researcher (interviewer, data analyst) or as an interviewee. This participatory approach was endorsed by the OPAL Network Auckland as highly desirable to heighten validity and to assist with the logistics of a middle range research study, believed to be the first of its kind in the country. This has also been a qualitative research study adhering to fundamental principles espoused by leading researchers from this tradition. For instance, Taylor and Bogdan (1998) present qualities associated with qualitative investigations, all of which are embedded in this study of older adults’ learning.
The research process – issues and challenges
The sampling for this study was purposive, seeking maximum variation (Merriam, 1998). We wanted to work with older adults who were not treated as detached figures from a voting register but rather people who were members of existing groups. These groups were selected according to relative stability, proximity to co-researchers and connections with social and educational concerns, broadly defined. In total, including the pilot project, there were four groups from the NorthShore and two from South Auckland.
To gather data we opted for face-to-face semi-structured interviews of older adults by older adults in non-threatening milieux (Bogdan & Taylor, 1998; Merriam, 1998). Basic statistical biographical data were also gathered on age bands, gender, financial status and income, marital status, formal education attainment, ethnicity, health and family/household arrangements, and work patterns (both paid and voluntary). It was also emphasised that this research, was based on a critical paradigm, not be exploitative of older adults’ labour (Wangoola & Youngman, 1996) so, where feasible, the older adult researchers were to be paid, including during the analysis phase.
The design of the questionnaire was a collaborative affair. It was decided that the length of the schedule should be sufficient to gather as much useful data as possible but not alienate older adults because of its extended length. Part A of the emergent questionnaire related to biographical data (see above); Part B to questions related to varying areas of older adults’ lives – family; early years of learning/schooling; friendships and networks; group membership; cultural activities; work/retirement; community involvement; leisure and hobbies; religion and spirituality; lifestyle changes; learning opportunities. In each case, participants were asked to talk about themselves under these broad categories and then reflect on connections with learning in that domain.
The objective was to get older adults to focus on specific aspects of their lives and relate these to the what, how, when, why and who of learning. In short, conceiving of learning in a social context, derived from real life rather than linked only to formal educational events (Jarvis, 1985; Collins, 1998). Further, given the emphasis on the phenomenological character of the study, face-to-face one-to-one interviewing was deemed as useful for “getting inside” the minds of these older adults and eliciting their varied life experiences (Taylor & Bogdan, 1998). While the technical instrument for the study was the questionnaire, in a larger sense – one common to qualitative researchers - the instrument was also the interviewer in situ. Hence, the demands on the co-researchers as new interviewers were considerable necessitating on-going training and support from the primary research team.
The primary research members were careful to explain the participatory emphasis of the project and to elicit leaders from groups who could be trained as researchers to interview their friends and acquaintances. This recruitment phase involved numerous public meetings and on-going discussions with participating groups. An assumption was made (erroneously) that members of groups would like to be interviewed by somebody known to them as a friend or buddy (see Park et al, 1993). This proved problematic in more than half the sample. Many seniors preferred to be interviewed by a stranger to whom they might divulge information they would not like a neighbour to know about. This was especially strong in a residential community where people interact on a regular basis. The notion of ‘a friend interviewing a friend’ blended with a participatory and community development ethos but did not feature highly in this research.
Training of co-researchers
At a practical level, four of the research team had considerable prior research experience – the principal investigator, a research officer, an older woman whose MA thesis focussed on older adults’ learning and a retired male completing an MEd in adult education. To this nucleus we added leaders from participating groups and provided a training programme for three volunteers, one of whom also became an excellent transcriber of interviews. This training involved their endeavouring to understand the research process, discussions on the character of interviewing, reading supplementary materials, practice in doing interviews and reflections on procedures adopted in specific interviews (e.g. establishing rapport; strategic probing). As for any group of older learners, these women co-researchers had very different capabilities and the quality of interview data varied. We endeavoured to improve the quality of the ‘lesser’ transcripts by holding informal workshops to collectively work through emergent issues. Often older adults are very keen to tell their stories (Koch, Annells & Brown, 1999; Poole & Feldman, 1999) so the challenge for interviewers was to encourage a genuine but focussed dialogue with participants.
One of the current issues in older adult education is how older adults engage with new technology. Many studies have been carried out in this arena (e.g. Timmermann, 1998; Morell, Mayhorn & Bennett, 2000; Chen & Persson, 2002), a majority of which point to increasing reluctance and lack of proficiency as age increases. Not surprisingly, then, the volunteers from the groups were variable in their previous access to and familiarity with new technology. In the data analysis stage, where transcripts were being analysed by the recruited group of predominantly women, the lack of expertise threw work back on the professional team. While we desired to provide more extensive training for computer analysis, we needed assurance of relative efficiency. As a consequence, those older adults co-researchers who already possessed a reasonable level of computer expertise benefited both financially and ‘professionally’ from this asset. Further, while the intent was to build up a competent team of data analysts, this later stage of the research process fell back into the responsibility of the primary research team.
Continuity and discontinuity
Any project benefits from a collective operational approach where members have on-going knowledge of the project. This study has been frustrated by changes in personnel and different knowledge levels of participants. The research assistant provided considerable stability after joining the project, offering advanced skills in computer software programmes, the maintenance of a database and the positive reinforcement for the current group of volunteers working on data analysis.
The main author, having moved to a distant country, maintained overall responsibility for the project. The other member of the primary research team has since moved to Sydney where opportunities for research in education are more plentiful. In this project, the continuity broke down when both primary researchers moved to other countries. Even with the best intentions in the world, the tyranny of distance mitigated by electronic contact means that really effective communication – usually face to face – cannot be enacted from the UK unless a firm commitment to continuance exists in New Zealand.
Another aspect of discontinuity has been the unpredictable health of the co-researchers. While this phenomenon can occur in any research project, it is more likely that health issues will arise for older adults in their 70s and 80s than for younger researchers (Biggs, 1993). This project has suffered from this phenomenon.
Limitations
This research had intended to provide a snapshot of older adults’ learning patterns in the Auckland region. To the extent that the participating groups and sub-regions reflect the population of Auckland, this is still valid. However, despite good intentions, the reality has been that the data reflected the pre-occupations of the predominantly white middle class. Only a paucity of data from this study exists on other minority ethnic groups in Auckland society (e.g. Maori; Pasifika). There are sufficient data on different levels of socio-economic status to provide an analysis of social class and learning activity; obvious gender differences are revealed in the data to merit in-depth analysis of this important aspect of ageing (see Arber & Ginn, 1995, for an insightful set of papers related to gender relations and ageing). Literature on older adult learning is replete with different pathways for men and women (e.g. Bury, 1995; Jerrome, 1998). The tentative picture emerging in this investigation, that of complex and interrupted gendered pathways of learning, cuts across popular stereotypes.