Research Design and Methodology

Abstract

In the preceding two chapters, we set out an extensive characterisation of public debates on the political and civic participation of ethnic minority young people. In evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of existing studies of the political engagement of black and minority ethnic groups, we noted both the absence of a youth dimension to much of the research on ethnic minorities’ political participation and the failure of studies of ethnic minority youth to pay heed to forms of political engagement in the contemporary period. In this respect, we argue that there is a mismatch between the extent of public concern over ethnic minority young people’s political and civic engagement on the one hand, and the paucity of data sufficient to uphold these concerns empirically on the other. These critical observations form the point of departure of our research, both conceptually and in terms of our research design. In this chapter, we outline how we designed our research to enable us to move beyond the confines of existing literature and debate. In particular, we specify the methodological implications of the theoretical perspective developed in Chapter 2, arguing for the need for research engagement across a range of spheres of participation, and for a qualitative approach that would allow deeper exploration of the forms of participation in which ethnic minority young people engage.