The Role of Empathy Through Storytelling in Young Driver Road Safety Education’
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‘THE ROLE OF EMPATHY THROUGH STORYTELLING IN YOUNG DRIVER ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION’ JAMI BLYTHE A doctoral report and portfolio submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Sunderland for the degree of Professional Doctorate September 2017 Acknowledgments Firstly, my thanks go to Professor Ian Neal and Dr Lynne McKenna of the University of Sunderland, whose guidance has not only helped shaped this study but also me, as a researcher and academic. To my parents Mary-Rose and Jim, and siblings Jodi and Dominic, whose understanding of the commitment required to undertake such a project has been unwavering. To my partner Andrew whose patience, particularly at such a personally difficult time, is something for which I will be eternally grateful and in the hope that it provides us with the best future possible. Finally, to the families and speakers of the Road Sense presentation, whose stories they have told so passionately. They will continue to be heard in the minds of young people, long after they have been spoken. 2 Contents Chapter one: Introduction to research study and portfolio 10 ‘Road Sense Common Sense’ 10 Introduction to this research 14 Chapter two: Literature review Introducing the literature – spanning boundaries 16 ‘A serious and societal problem’ 16 Road Safety Education 17 Young driver road safety education – an historical perspective 18 Brain in transition 23 More than just a mode of transport 23 Road safety initiatives 24 The role of emotions in preventative health communications 25 The use of fear 29 The use of sadness 29 Big budget productions 30 Empathy 31 The many definitions of empathy 31 Types of empathy 34 The nature of empathy 37 Evolution of empathy 39 What makes us human? 39 3 The pathway of empathy 42 The concept of mirroring 43 Empathic time travel 44 “Look into the eye of your mind” - Imaginative inquiry in the classroom 45 Emotional intelligence 46 How can empathy be measured? 47 Situational empathy 48 Dispositional empathy 49 The brain in transition, again 51 The role of the emergency services – can we play teacher? 51 Creating a culture of empathy 52 Humanising education – a ‘humane classroom’ 55 Constraints on empathy 55 The future of research into empathy 55 Overview of empathy 55 Road safety communications 57 ‘Blood-and-warped-steel’ 60 Subject matter experts 62 Storytelling 64 Storytelling as a learning approach 65 Fact or fiction? 67 4 Chapter three: Methodology 68 Introduction 68 Philosophical perspectives 68 Reflections on knowledge production 69 Drawing metaphorical battle lines – interpretivism versus positivism 71 Operating as an insider researcher 74 Reflections on reflexivity 74 Research framework 76 Action Research 78 Design cycle 79 Data collection 80 Design research instrument 80 Recruit participants 81 Focus groups 81 Interviews 83 Ethical considerations 85 Make inferences 87 Analytical cycle 87 Develop codes 87 Describe and compare 90 Develop theory – an introduction to semi-grounded theory 90 The history of grounded theory 91 Paradigm wars 92 To read or not to read? 93 5 What is grounded theory, and what is not? 94 Chapter four: Methods 96 Action research approach 96 Evaluations 97 Focus discussion groups one and two 98 Further focus discussion group 100 Semi-structured interviews 101 Transcriptions 104 Approach to coding - developing codes 104 Key themes 105 Sub-themes 109 Counting of codes 114 Semi-grounded theory in conclusion 118 Chapter five: Presentation of findings and discussion 119 Summary of findings 119 Evaluations 119 Focus discussion groups 120 Semi-structured interviews 121 First main finding: Emotional time travel – the use of empathy as a learning tool 123 Second main finding: Challenging the mindset ‘it won’t happen to me’ 133 6 Third main finding: Using real stories over fiction is key 140 Chapter six: Conclusions 150 Limitations of study and future opportunities 152 Recommendations for road safety educators 154 Final words - A new paradigm in young driver road safety education 155 Appendices Appendix one: Observation notes made during data gathering 156 Appendix two: Ethical statements for Schools X, Y & Z 160 Appendix three: Ethical statements for Speakers X, Y and Z 162 Appendix four: Ethical overview of study 163 Appendix five: Evaluation sheets 165 Appendix six: Overview of audience preference to speakers and films 168 Appendix seven: Questions for focus discussion groups 169 Appendix eight: Notes made during focus discussion group School Y 171 Appendix nine: Transcription of focus group School X 178 Appendix ten: Transcription of focus group School Y 182 Appendix eleven: Outline of focus discussion groups with Schools X and Y 206 Appendix twelve: Questions for semi-structured interviews 207 Appendix thirteen: Transcript of interview with Speaker X 209 7 Appendix fourteen: Transcript of interview with Speaker Y 227 Appendix fifteen: Transcript of interview with Speaker Z 254 Appendix sixteen: Outline of semi-structured interviews with Speakers X, Y & Z 275 Appendix seventeen: Participant demographics 277 Appendix eighteen: Breakdown of codes - School Y evaluations 278 Appendix nineteen: Breakdown of codes - University of Sunderland evaluations 280 Appendix twenty: Breakdown of codes - School Z evaluations 282 Appendix twenty-one: Breakdown of codes - School X focus discussion group 284 Appendix twenty-two: Breakdown of codes - School Y focus discussion group 285 Appendix twenty-three: Breakdown of codes - School Y further focus discussion group 286 Appendix twenty-four: Breakdown of codes - Speaker X semi-structured interview 288 Appendix twenty-five: Breakdown of codes- Speaker Y semi-structured interview 290 Appendix twenty-six: Breakdown of codes - Speaker Z semi-structured interview 292 Appendix twenty-seven: Coding totals for all evaluations 294 Appendix twenty-eight: Coding totals for all focus discussion groups 296 8 Appendix twenty-nine: Coding totals for all semi-structured interviews 298 Appendix thirty: Coding totals - across all sets of data gathered 300 References 302 List of figures Figure one: Qualitative research cycle (Hennik et al, 2013) 76 Figure two: Work-based research cycle adapted from Hennik et al (2013) 76 Figure three: Sequences of action – reflection (Lewin, 1946) 78 Figure four: Final layout of most commonly occurring sub-themes after coding 118 Figure five: Pie-chart demonstrating preference of audience towards speakers or films 120 9 Chapter one: Introduction to research study and portfolio 1.2 million people die worldwide on roads every year (World Health Organisation, 2013). The biggest ‘unnatural killer’ of young people, road death claims more lives than disease such as malaria and tuberculosis. In 2013 the World Health Organisation described the problem as an ‘epidemic’. In the UK, whilst road death accounts for only 0.5% of the mortality rate, 25% of these deaths are of 15 to 19 year olds, outweighing any other cause of death in this age group (Box and Wengraf, 2013). Those responsible for young driver road safety education range from law enforcement agencies such as the police, to local authority road safety officers, government organisations, for example THINK! and charitable bodies such as like BRAKE. The number of road safety education interventions available in the UK alone is testament to the problem, ranging from online resources, case studies and fictional stories shown on DVD and online video channels such as YouTube, to teacher led lesson plans and theatrical performances. The hunt to seek a solution to reducing the risk to young drivers through educational intervention by the road safety education community appears never ending. Indeed, in 2006 the European Commission urged, ‘to improve road safety is not an end in itself, it is an urgent social task’. ‘Road Sense Common Sense’ ‘Road Sense Common Sense’ is an emergency services multi-partner young driver road safety presentation provided by police, fire and ambulance personnel, delivered to sixth form students in high schools and colleges in the Northumbria Police force area. Since July 2014, over 2500 students have watched the presentation in 12 educational establishments. It is a one hour long, short film and live speaker staged presentation. Introduced by a host, four short films based on real and local cases are shown featuring families bereaved by road collisions lasting between four to eight minutes. These films are interspersed with ten minute story telling pieces delivered in person by a police traffic officer, fire officer and paramedic who relive their 10 encounters with serious and fatal young driver collisions in person, on stage. The presentation is not unique in its nature and follows a format seen in other parts of the country. It aims to not only raise the profile of road safety amongst this vulnerable group, but also to promote better decision making through reflective accounts and authentic stories. ‘Road Sense Common Sense’ has not always taken this format however. As a project it began in 2013, when a small budget (£6000) was released from local road safety funds to launch a young driver initiative. At this time, I was studying on the BA Applied Investigation programme at the University of Sunderland and had encountered the concept of using critical incidents (Brookfield, 1995) as a means of reflection and Mezirow’s (Mezirow and Taylor, 2009) model of transformative learning as a means of educating others about public health matters. A group of sixth form students at a local high school were asked to write a short, fictional story about a life changing collision involving young people. The stories featured six main characters. Six further schools were invited to use one character from this fictional story and consider the ‘ripple effect’ of the incident on the lives of their character and that of their family and friends. They were asked to consider what their ‘meta-narrative’ would be and then retell their story in a creative form. Their artefacts would then be showcased at Sage, Gateshead during National Road Safety Week in 2014.