Vincent, C et al have used qualitative methods within their research on how mothers from different social backgrounds experience their lives, with particular focus on childcare, their choice of childcare and the social class of the mothers. This was done with the use of semi-structured interviews. Although this study took place over a 5 year period, it cannot be classed as a longitudinal study as they normally take place over several years looking at the same people or thing to enable them to compare the similarities and differences over the years.
The sociologists used a selection of non-representative sampling methods including purposive, volunteer and snowball sampling. Vincent, C et al needed mothers with at least one child under the age of five and the use of volunteer and snowball sampling allowed them to achieve this. For the volunteer sampling they visited a variety of different settings such as nurseries, libraries and parks to find a sample of volunteers who were willing to participate. As the initial sample size was quite small, snowball sampling was used to increase this size. In the end the sociologists used 35 working class and 60 middle class mothers who were in part time employment and 20 working class and 11 middle class mothers who were at home full time with their parents. They categorized the women (measured their class) depending on their job or last job, their qualifications and their housing. Due to the sample size still being small, the sociologists were unable to generalize the research. Generalization is when we are able to make claims about the wider population from the data researched. In order to generalize, you would need a large sample and the use of a representative sampling method. Although a representative sampling method was not used, the researchers have tried to make the research as representative as possible by including a variety of ethnicities within the sample.
Vincent, C et al used in depth semi-structured interviews which are qualitative. These interviews were between 1 to 2 hours and with the parents’ permission were recorded. The researchers then transcribed them for further use. Even though transcribing is expensive, time consuming and harder to analyse, it provides data which also provides a fresh insight on the views of the mothers’ decision to work/not work and how they used childcare. The researchers were able to see the world through the mother’s eyes. Weber called this verstehen, which means empathetic understanding. With the interviews being recorded is meant that no data was missed. The participants of this research were able to choose where they wanted to take part in the interviews which is an example of ethnographic research. This should have made them feel more comfortable to open up to the researchers, which in turn would have made the overall data more valid. In order to make the research more reliable, the researchers could have asked the same questions in the same order which would help when trying to replicate the data in the future. Instead of this however, the interviewer was able to be flexible and move away from the topic if necessary.
It was important that Vincent, C et al followed the ethics. Each participant was given a leaflet with explanations of what they wanted to talk about which is an example of informed consent. Though this is a necessary process of research, this could have influenced the answers of the participants with the ‘interviewer effect’. The participants may have told them what they thought they wanted to hear. As well as this, participants were treated confidentially, be anonymous and have the right to withdraw at any point. The researchers also understood the importance of making sure that the working class mothers were not made to feel inferior at any point.
The end results found that the women felt they were under the pressure to be “good mothers”, which included both the women who were working and those at home. As well as this, those who stayed at home felt that they should be at home with their children or they would not be good mothers, the lack of childcare they thought they could trust also played a large role in this. Further to this, the middle class mothers were anxious about sending their babies to nurseries whilst the working class mothers worried about the safety of their children so they opted for nurseries rather than childminders who they may not be able to trust.
To conclude, it can be said that there needs to be further research into this to fully understand the families’ experience of care and childcare policies and how these interact with social class and how the childcare market is set up. The use of qualitative research provides the rich insightful data which can show fresh insights. Quantitative methods could be included in this with the use of questionnaires.