Poverty Research Methods Course
Date: 15th - 19th July 2019
Venue: University of Bristol
Course Materials
Introduction
The purpose of this intensive course is to provide a thorough technical and practical introduction to poverty research methods, with a particular emphasis on multidimensional poverty. Upon completing the course, participants will have the knowledge and skills required to undertake poverty relevant research using cutting edge methodologies – both quantitative and qualitative.
Living in poverty is universally linked with feelings of shame, according to an Oxford University study featured in a new film.
Researchers (led by Professor Robert Walker) examined attitudes to poverty in culturally different societies across the world. In the film, called Rich Man, Poor Man, people from poor and rich backgrounds in four countries (Pakistan, Uganda, UK and South Korea) talk candidly about their lives and what they think of people living in poverty.
A report by MPs has criticised the Department for Work and Pensions for a series of cases in which official statistics were used to 'spin' stories about benefit claimants, thereby encouraging 'negative preconceptions and prejudices'.
The television broadcaster Channel 4 has begun showing a five-part documentary series about people living in a deprived street in Birmingham. The series – called 'Benefits Street' – was filmed in James Turner Street in the Winson Green area of Birmingham: the area has a very high rate of unemployment and the street has many residents who rely on benefits for their income.
Channel 4 says the series is aimed at following residents of 'Benefits Street' as they navigate their way through life on the bottom rung of Britain's economic ladder, revealing the reality of life on benefits. It says that despite the challenges the residents face during a period of austerity, with jobs remaining hard to come by and benefits being squeezed, the street also has a strong sense of community.
Public attitudes towards the 'bedroom tax' are highly mixed, according to a government-commissioned survey. The survey finds support for the measure in principle, but also reveals varied responses depending on the framing of the questions.
At their annual conference in September, the Royal Statistical Society organised a session on the government’s consultation on child poverty. With the next announcement on consultation now expected before Christmas, Paul Allin and John Veit-Wilson summarise the presentations and discussion.
A large majority of the public agree with the principle behind the benefit cap, and think that those affected by it should be prepared to find jobs or work more hours, according to an opinion survey carried out for the Department for Work and Pensions.
Ipsos MORI conducted an online survey of 2,017 British adults between 31 May and 5 June 2013.
More than one in four people who receive social security benefits have hidden the fact because they are worried about what other people will think. And more than half (51 per cent) of all those who have never been supported by benefits say they would feel embarrassed to claim.
The figures come from a YouGov online survey of 1,955 adults, undertaken on 18 and 19 September 2013.
Some signs of a softening in public attitudes to benefits and the welfare state have been detected in the latest British Social Attitudes Survey report, which is published each year by the National Centre for Social Research. The annual survey shows a fall in the number of people thinking that benefit levels are too high, and a rise in those thinking that benefit cuts are doing too much harm.
At the same time a report from the Demos think tank, drawing on on the survey data, has examined the longer-term decline in support for the welfare state – particularly among the younger generation.
People are more likely to support the principles of the welfare state, such as income equalisation and government interventions, if they feel that key events affecting their lifecourse are outside their control. That's one of the main findings of a working paper from a European Commission-funded study of what determines support for the welfare state in European and other developed countries.