UCC Poverty Methods Summer SchoolJune 2012

Financial inclusion: conducting research with low-income householdsSharon Collard, Senior Research Fellow

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What is a community select committee?

• Modelled on evidence sessions of parliamentary select

committees

• Expert witnesses questioned by committee

members

• In community select committees:

– Committee members are people on low incomes– Expert witnesses are representatives from the financial services

industry and not-for-profit organisations

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4 Why hold a community select committee?

• Bottom-up approach

• Puts people on low incomes in the driving seat– Held in the local community– Committee members are ‘on home ground’

• Gives service providers valuable feedback

5 Community select committees in action: Banking and payment services, 2011

Time Session Presenter

10.00 – 10.10

Welcome and introductions PFRC

10.10 – 10.30 Introductory session: participants views about banking

PFRC

10.30 – 11.00 What banking and transaction services can credit unions offer?

Kate Hanks, Bristol Credit Union

11.00 – 11.30 What banking and transaction services can O2 offer?

Phil Edwards, O2

11.30 – 11.50 Discussion session PFRC

11.50 – 12.10 Lunch Break

12.10 – 12.40 What banking and transaction services can Secure Trust Bank offer?

Stuart Williams, Head of Product Development

12.40 – 1.10 What banking and transaction services can Barclays offer?

Helen Lole, Senior Product Manager, Barclays

1.10 – 2.00 Final discussion and summing up PFRC

2.00 – 3.00 Debriefing with presenters PFRC

6 How do you recruit committee members?

• Recruited by professional agency using a screening

questionnaire– Cross-section of community– But may not be very engaged with the topic

• 14 committee members about the right number

• Pay people to participate

• No information in advance

7 How do you choose expert witnesses?

• At least some initiatives should be publicly available

• Good preparation essential– Briefing pack– Phone briefing

• Committee members prefer informal, low-key, light-hearted,

‘chatty’– Definitely no PowerPoint!

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There’s less of an ‘us and them’ bit if someone is sat around

the table with you, there’s less of the kind of ‘I’m more

important than you because I’ve got a slide show and a

pointer and a script’. It makes it slightly more informal which

is better. (Community select committee member, 2002)

9 Making it work

• Requires experienced facilitator

• Get committee members thinking about the topic

• ‘Closed sessions’ to reflect on what they’ve heard

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It’s good to be listened to for a change

It was nice to have real people to talk to

When I first came here I thought it was going to be rubbish, and

I’d be sitting here bored all day. But now I reckon it’s a good

idea and I’m going to start saving.

The food was excellent

Community select committee members, 2002

11 Resources: Community select committees

Developing a vision for financial inclusion

www.bris.ac.uk/geography/research/pfrc/themes/finexc/vision.html

Promoting financial inclusion (includes chapter on the method)

www.bris.ac.uk/geography/research/pfrc/themes/finexc/promoting-

inclusion.html

Tackling financial exclusion

www.bris.ac.uk/geography/research/pfrc/themes/finexc/tackling-

exclusion.html

12 Social research resources

ESRC’s National Centre for Research Methods

www.ncrm.ac.uk

Social Science Bites

www.socialsciencespace.com/author/socialsciencebites/

 

Robust

Insightful

Influential

s.collard@bristol.ac.uk