Project overview
Purpose of the study
At a broad level, the study is concerned with exploring and understanding resilience at a household and neighbourhood level, particularly within the context of disadvantaged neighbourhoods. In doing so, it will explore how neighbourhoods (and their inhabitants) respond to a number of potential stressors, such as reduced public sector spending, welfare reform, the continuation of the economic downturn, and rising food, transport and energy prices. It will also examine how social economies contribute to any re-balancing of local economies.
In terms of some of the specific questions the study team is exploring, it will seek to provide answers to the following important questions:
- Are residents coping and getting-by?
- For those residents who are not, why is this the case? And has something 'tipped them over the edge'? And what has been the impact of the welfare reform changes introduced in Northern Ireland?
- If residents are coping, how are they doing so? And have they put in place specific 'strategies' to help them get by?
- And do some population groups get by and cope more easily than others? And, if they do, why is this case?
- How well have communities and neighbourhoods coped? And does community and neighbourhood resilience vary across the case study neighbourhoods? And if this is the case, why?
- Can anything be done to make households, communities and neighbourhoods more resilient? What is the role of the voluntary and community sector in terms of fostering resilience? And does the type of volunteering (i.e. formal versus informal) make any difference in this respect?
- Has any contraction in any reduction in the size of the local economy being offset by a growth in the social economy?
About the study and the study team
The study is being funded by Office for the First Minister and Deputy First Minister as part of its Equality and Social Need Research programme. It has funded the research in order to help it when devising policy: all of the study team's numerous written outputs will be policy oriented and make recommendations for policy. The research is being carried out by academics from Sheffield Hallam University, Queens University Belfast and the University of Sheffield, all of whom have expertise in the study area. The study team has considerable expertise in researching getting-by, resilience, and neighbourhood change and have carried out a number of studies in this field including:
- Living through Change in Challenging Times: this four year study funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation explored the experiences of residents living in six disadvantaged neighbourhoods living in England, Scotland and Wales.
- Portobello and Belle Vue Housing Impact Study: this study, funded by Wakefield and District Housing, explored the experiences of residents in two disadvantaged neighbourhoods subject to a housing improvement programme over a four year period.
Approach to the study
The study is adopting a mixed methods approach and is using a range of quantitative and qualitative research methods. These are centred in four case studies. Activities being undertaken by the study team in the case studies include:
- surveys of residents on two occasions: at the beginning of the study and towards its completion. The former ('Baseline') survey was completed earlier this year with 939 residents being interviewed across the case study neighbourhoods. The survey was conducted by the Belfast based market research company, Perceptive Insight. Perceptive will seek to re-interview as many Baseline Survey participants as possible when they conduct the Follow-up Survey at the end of 2014.
- in-depth interviews with residents: these are being conducted with members of the longitudinal resident panels that have been set-up in each of the case study areas. Panel members will be interviewed on three occasions during the course of the study - 2013, 2014 and 2015 - and to date the study team have conducted 75 interviews.
- photographic exercises with residents: this has taken the form of a photo novella exercise with resident panel members. This has involved panel members taking photographs of 'places', 'things' and 'people' that are important to them in their neighbourhood. Ten panel members took part in the exercise this year and their work is showcased on this site.
- diary keeping exercises with residents: this has involved some panel members completing a diary for a period of a week. In all, six panelists took part in the exercise this year.
- analysis of data relating to the local voluntary and community sector and social economy: the study team is collecting a range of primary and secondary data which will allow it to measure how the social economies in our case studies change over the duration of the study.
Case studies
The study's four case neighbourhoods are:
- Inner East Belfast (Lower Castlereagh and Short Strand)
- Waterside in Londonderry/Derry (Top-of-the-Hill and Irish Street)
- Sion Mills
- Erinvale
