Listen Up - Social Welfare Portal

listenup!Chapter 2 | 19Each young person was given a payment of £15in recognition of their time and travel. The focusgroups and interviews were largely arranged for theearly evening, as this was the preferred time for theparticipants, and refreshments were provided.All the focus groups and interviews were taperecordedand transcribed, and the transcripts weresent to the young people at the project sites forverification before being used in the report. Thetranscripts have been quoted from throughout thereport, and each participant is identified simply as‘young person’, to maintain anonymity.3. One-to-one interviews with staff at theproject sitesIn total, 31 staff from the project sites wereinterviewed, 14 in person and 17 by telephone.Most sites opted to divide the interview questionsamong different staff to avoid some staff membershaving to take on a much-increased workload,and so that the most appropriate staff memberanswered each question.All interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed andsent to the project sites for verification before beingincluded in the report. Anonymity was assured in thesame way as for the young people’s interviews. Thetranscripts have been quoted from throughout thereport, and each participant is identified simply as‘project worker’, to maintain anonymity.4. Data collected from the project sitesEach project site was asked to supply informationon: the set up, structure and mission statement ofthe organisation; characteristics of the young peopleusing the service such as their age, gender andwhy they were using the service; links with otheragencies; and the local context, which included thecatchment area for the service and gaps in serviceprovision in the local community. This data providesa snapshot of the organisation.LimitationsAs discussed earlier, the eight organisations featuredas project sites were considered as examples ofpositive practice. All sites used their own monitoringand evaluative procedures, as well as those requiredby their funders. Measuring the outcomes of theservices was beyond the remit of this project,although some information on this was providedthrough the views of the young people who tookpart in the focus groups and interviews.