Regional economic development, inclusive growth and child poverty in Scotland

A2.1 Purpose

The objectives of the case study interviews were to canvass the opinions and document the experiences of senior stakeholders with a role in local or regional economic development (defined broadly). The interviews gather the views of these leaders and therefore the data collected are not regarded as established ‘facts’. The research team have not independently verified the veracity of claims made by those interviewed.

A2.2 Case study area selection

SPIRU proposed local authority areas as potential case studies, reaching agreement with the Scottish Government prior to commencing fieldwork. Case studies were selected purposively, both for the insight that they were anticipated to yield (based on our initial content analysis and understanding of how regional development was being pursued in different areas) and their geographical situation. 

Geographical considerations aimed to ensure that we documented the experience in a range of Scottish local authority areas. Areas were selected in accordance with the Scottish Government’s 'Understanding the Rural Economy' report[1].  From the fourfold RESAS classification, we targeted one of the four large city authorities, one of the thirteen ‘urban with substantial rural areas’ authorities, and one of the eleven ‘mainly rural’ authorities.  We did not have the capacity to include one of the four ‘island and remote’ authorities in the fieldwork. The selected case study areas also represent a range of local authority areas which are ranked ‘high’ to ‘low’ in the Index of Regional Resilience used by the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery (2020)[2]

Although it provides a broad geographical spread, we do not regard the selected areas as being ‘representative’ of conditions and experiences across Scotland as a whole. Rather, these areas are better presented as ‘critical case studies’. We sought to interview local stakeholders from a range of geographical areas that appeared to be pursuing economic development in a manner that was more attuned to tackling child poverty agenda. This reflected one of the research aims - to explore promising practice.

A2.3 Interviewee Profile

We identified nine types of local experts and stakeholders representing different organisations and sectors responsible for local and regional economic development policy:

• Council lead

• Senior officer with responsibility for the Growth Deal that covered the local authority

• Senior officer in local authority with responsibility for economy/economic development

• Social enterprise lead

• Third Sector Interface lead

• Chamber of Commerce lead

• Scottish Enterprise lead

• Skills Development Scotland, local lead

• Federation of Small Businesses, local lead

We interviewed seven of these for the ‘large city’, six for the ‘urban area with substantial rural areas’, and eight in the ‘mainly rural’ area.

A2.4 Interview design and administration

The interview schedule was developed in consultation with the Project Steering Group. Five questions were asked.

• What consideration is given to child poverty issues in regional economic development?

• Which aspects of child poverty are addressed?

• Are there any facilitating conditions or factors which account for the (particular) consideration given to child poverty?

• How is the impact of economic development policy upon child poverty considered? Are there any issues impeding or otherwise relating to assessing outcomes?

• What reforms, if any, might increase the impact of the activity upon child poverty?

Interviews were conducted online between February - May 2022 and ranged between 20 - 37 minutes in length. Most interviewees requested advance notice of the questions, and most had reflected on the issues covered in advance. Professor McKendrick administered the interviews in the ‘mainly rural’ and ‘urban with substantial rural’ areas, and Professor Sinclair administered the interviews in the ‘large city’.

A2.5 Data processing and analysis

Interviews for the ‘large city’ were auto transcribed, while SPIRU student researchers transcribed verbatim the interviews for the ‘urban with substantial rural’ and ‘mainly rural areas’. The auto-transcription was amenable to analysis, albeit that the quality of the transcription was to a lesser standard than the manual transcriptions. Data were securely stored and password protected, in accordance with best practice in social research.

Professor McKendrick led the analysis to ensure consistency. Professor Sinclair checked the analysis to provide quality assurance of the analysis and findings. Interview transcripts were analysed inductively. First, notable statements from each interview were highlighted and memos and comments added to the transcript, representing emerging themes and incipient hypotheses. Second, examples of themes and significant statements from across the seventeen annotated transcripts were collated. Key points were identified, and the material ordered and edited for more a second more detailed analysis. Third, the thematically collated results were appraised systematically across each case study area to determine whether there marked geographic differences or any particular notable local issues. Fourth, themes and evidence were analysed in relation to interviewees’ different roles and sectors to identify potential significant variations and patterns. The final stage of analysis involved verifying the consistency and significance of the findings.

In the final report every attempt has been made to anonymise the findings.

A2.6 Considerations and caveats

A careful and robust approach was taken to research design and administration. Nevertheless, some limitations should be acknowledged, and these were considered in drawing conclusions in the report.

• Strategic visions of leaders. The research focussed on a particular aspect (child poverty) of a particular policy area (economic development). However, it should be noted - as some interviewees pointed out - that some operational matters were not the responsibility nor focus of attention of all those interviewed, and this is reflected in what they felt they could contribute to the report.
• Area selection. The selected case study areas were suitable to meet the research objectives. However, it would have been interesting to have explored these issues in one of Scotland’s island authorities (the fourth type of local authority area in the RESAS classification)[3], and among some authorities which have not yet fully developed regional economic strategies.
• Participation. The readiness of senior officials to participate was welcome and indicates the interest in the issues explored in the research. However, it was not proved possible to interview every constituency in each case study area.

[1]       Scottish Government (2018) Understanding the Rural Economy: Research Paper. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. This classification offers a more nuanced classification than that of Randall, which classifies authorities into 14 rural and 18 urban areas. Randall, J. (1985) ‘Economic trends and support to economic activity in rural Scotland’, Scottish Economic Bulletin, 31, 10-20.