Minority Ethnic Young People: Confident Negotiators

Donald (his chosen pseudonym) was one of the 382 young people interviewed as part of a three-year project led by Newcastle University in partnership with the University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews. The study, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, explored the everyday experiences of black and minority ethnic young people in Scotland aged 12–25 (Hopkins et al., 2015). It was conducted in 2014, so it covered the period of the Scottish Independence Referendum, which gave a vote for the first time to every 16 and 17-year-old. The 382 young people took part in individual interviews and/or focus groups. Participants were accessed via various routes: schools, further and higher education sites, youth and community groups, third sector agencies and places of worship. There was also an element of snowballing, where young people introduced the research team to others.