Individual reflective journalling - Week 2
We began the week with a meeting with Ashad, the founder, who was both remarkably friendly and insightful in helping us understand the current barriers to establishing the cricket club. I was incredibly shocked at his own personal experiences at our in-person meeting, and regrettably., felt overwhelmed at the several barriers that I had previously unconsidered. The final aspect of the meeting entailed a tour of the considered spaces, which instilled a strong motivation to physically achieve our goals.
What particularly stood out to me was the fact that we found that over 70 individuals had initially registered their interested in Cricket around the area, which really helped me to comprehend that our work does have the potential to be impactful if we choose to consistently engage with new members.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the social side of the week at the second half, including a golf session on Thursday, where speaking with scholars from other countries felt genuinely relatable and offered valuable new perspectives, especially as I had not seen the side from other Laidlaw Scholars. I'm excited to see how the rest of the programme unfolds, and given our new found avenues of communication and perspective, will ensure that we will extensively consider the different intersectional groups of Oxfordshire when approaching our work.
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Hana,
It sounds as though our meeting Ashad and seeing the proposed spaces helped make both the barriers and the potential of the project much more tangible. The large number of people he has had sign up is interesting and offers encouraging evidence of potential demand, but it also raises an important research question: what is required to convert initial interest into attendance and then sustained participation?
As you investigate this, consider what those registrations tell you — and what they cannot yet tell you. How were they collected, who is represented, and what might prevent interested residents from participating regularly - these might be questions you could put to Ashad? The distinction between expressed interest, access and long-term engagement could become an important contribution to your report.
Your commitment to considering intersectional experiences is also valuable. Try to make this concrete in the next stage of the research. Rather than treating women, disabled people, ethnic communities or low-income families as separate categories, how might factors such as gender, income, transport, caring responsibilities and cultural expectations combine to shape an individual’s opportunities?
In your next reflection, I would be interested to hear more about one of the barriers that surprised you and how it has changed a specific part of your research design.
Thank you very much for the feedback! I will ensure that I keep this in mind for next week!