Pitcher, Jane http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6098-2208
Funding for this research was provided by:
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/H012192/1)
Article History
First Online: 2 March 2018
Compliance with Ethical Standards
: The research study was approved by Loughborough University’s Research Ethics Committee. The processes were guided by the University’s ethical procedures and by confidentiality and informed consent protocols, including those of the British Sociological Association and the Social Research Association. Informed consent was obtained from all study participants. Protocols for informed consent included giving participants a participation information sheet explaining the research and consent form prior to interviews, ensuring they were aware of their rights to withdraw from the research at any point and setting out the conditions for their participation, which included assurances regarding confidentiality of interview data. The study took a participant-focused approach, which included encouraging participants to select their preferred pseudonym, undertaking member checks of interview transcriptions and feeding back preliminary research findings to participants to check validity. Interview participants were each offered a £15 voucher to thank them for giving up their time.
: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.