their future plans, on good character and the factors they thought inhibited character
development and on national pride and Britishness. Given the interesting data from the
first questionnaire on the influence of neighbours, on a general desire to fit in with the
views of others and on the lack of interest in voting, it became essential, in an inner-city
study, that questions were often related to student experience of their surroundings.
The spread of data in the first questionnaire responses (shown in the preceding section)
suggested certain dispositions in the students. These dispositions pointed to the nature of
the physical environment experienced by students. A deprived locality with high
unemployment, low inward investment and a high level of immigration are likely to have
a strong effect on attitudes and, in the longer term, on character formation.
Analysis of Evidence
In line with the exploratory nature of the project, the research team employed an
inductive approach when analysing the evidence. The team extrapolated meaning from
specific observations made by the primary researcher on interactions that had happened
within both sets of interviews in this phase. A section taken from a discussion in this
phase is presented below to demonstrate the semi-structured nature of the interaction and
to show how we drew inferences from it.
Researcher (R): So why do you think there was a reluctance to vote in Hodge Hill?
Students A: Well they are obviously not bothered.
R: Can you say more?
A: They think there is no point. When they look around them they might think well, look
at this place, it’s in a mess. What difference is putting a bit of paper in a box gonna make?
R: Do you think many students feel like this?
A: I reckon plenty do. I mean there’s not much to do round here.
C: It’s as if you are here but nobody cares about you or the area. It’s as if you’ve been
forgotten about.
D: Politicians talk a lot but nothing ever happens here. They should come down here and
see how it is in the real world. They live in some posh part but they should come down
here and see how we live.
B: Yeah they are just making a career for themselves but they don’t really care.
R: So if a politician says that money is being spent in the area what do you think?
E: Most people will think it’s rubbish since nothing ever changes.
A: One boy I know, he’s Asian like me. He has to walk past this BNP person who shouts
out the window at him and he says there is no point in voting 'cos it won’t stop that from
happening to him every day.
In terms of the degree of inference exercised by the research team both manifest content
(low inference) and latent content (high inference) were used. The extract above, taken
from a discussion around the prospect of voting, reveals student perceptions of their
fellow students as being indifferent to voting, ‘what difference is putting a bit of paper in
a box gonna make?’ The extract also reveals more general signs of indifference, ‘R: Do
you think many students feel like this? A: I reckon plenty do. I mean there’s not much to
do round here’, as well as data on students’ perception of the community and of what it
lacks. It also indicates that students are apathetic about the political process and that they
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