Call for proposals: Research on the transmission of drinking cultures

Project summary: proposals are sought for research on how drinking cultures are transmitted from one group to another.

Deadline:	2pm on Tuesday 6 November 2007
JRF Committee:	Alcohol Research Committee
Timescale:	18 months
Budget:	£200,000
Key contacts:	Charlie Lloyd (Principal Research Manager), charlie.lloyd@jrf.org.uk Christine Appleton, christine.appleton@jrf.org.uk, 01904 615911

Supporting documents:

Background and aims

The JRF Alcohol Research Committee (ARC) has recently been set up and will be funding research and development in the alcohol field over a three-year period (2007-2009). The ARC’s overall aim is to:

Collect and use evidence to contribute to halting or reversing negative drinking cultures and patterns in the UK in order to reduce problems or harm.

In order to find ways to influence drinking culture, we need to have a clearer idea of how drinking cultures and practices develop. To this end we are looking to fund a number of research projects in this area.

We wish to emphasise that there is a practical purpose to this work: ultimately, we want this research to help us to identify what actions or interventions are most likely to have an impact on drinking cultures and patterns in the UK.

Reflecting the Foundation’s central concern with poverty and disadvantage, the ARC programme is expected to include a strong focus on income, class, gender and ethnicity. We therefore expect the research funded under this call to address some of these factors.

Domains of transmission

There appear to be a number of key domains through which people’s drinking cultures and habits are influenced. The key domains that we have identified are the family, teenage peer groups, geographical locality, the workplace and the media. We wish to fund primary research which explores how drinking culture is transmitted through these domains.

Given the breadth of this work, it is also possible that we will fund work under this call for proposals in 2008. However, this is not certain.

One domain under which we will not be seeking proposals – this year at least – is the family. This is because a literature review is currently being conducted for the JRF in this area and we wish to consider the implications of this review before funding further work in this area.

The sections that follow refer to possible issues and questions and are not intended to be prescriptive. Applicants are invited to apply their own thinking to how these social phenomena might be studied.

Geographical locality

There are pronounced regional variations in drinking cultures and patterns around the UK. We are interested in comparative research on drinking cultures in locations that have been purposefully selected to reflect these variations. One possible approach might be to compare the drinking habits of samples of people that we would expect to be otherwise broadly comparable – for instance employees in branches of a national organisation.

Teenage peer group

An important source of influence on young people’s drinking behaviour is their peer group. While peer selection is clearly an important part of this picture, the particular drinking culture of peers is also likely to impact on an individual young person’s drinking behaviour. To what extent do young people feel they are influenced by their friends’ drinking behaviour? How does the drinking culture of a peer group develop? Is there a tendency for a particular peer group’s drinking to be set at the level of the heaviest drinkers in that group? This research could therefore focus on the dynamics of drinking decisions in groups of young people.

The workplace

In many employment contexts, drinking is an integral part of the social engagement that surrounds work. There are positive aspects to this: drinking and drinking environments offer an opportunity to discuss work-related issues in an informal way and ‘bond’ with colleagues. However, occupational drinking cultures can also put pressure on people to drink – new arrivals may feel the need to partake in order to be accepted in a new workplace and opportunities for promotion or progression may likewise depend on popularity and being accepted as part of the (drinking) group. Staying on to drink after work can have a negative impact on family relationships and provide the first step to serious alcohol problems. Birthday celebrations, Christmas parties, celebrating successes, away-days and conferences are frequently occasions for binge drinking, sometimes sponsored by the employer.

We want research in this area to move beyond the simple consideration of how alcohol affects performance and explore the role of alcohol – and the transmission of cultures of drinking - in a number of employment contexts. The very broad range of occupational contexts throws up a methodological challenge for this work but we think it might be instructive to compare employment contexts with a strong, continuing drinking culture and those where there appears to have been a reduction in such drinking.

We think the issues affecting people working in bars/pubs/clubs are rather different from other employment contexts and want this research to focus on other areas of employment.

The media

The role of advertising in shaping people’s drinking preferences is quite well understood. However, what role do the wider media play in influencing people’s drinking? What is the impact of drunk celebrity stories on young people’s own attitudes to alcohol? What are the normative assumptions that underlie other reporting on alcohol and what might their effect be? While this research could focus on media analysis, we are keen for such work to also address the question of likely influence or impact.

Which domain?

Our expectation is that proposals will focus on a single domain – although we will not reject out of hand attempts to deal with two or more domains, provided the design is realistic. We do not wish to be prescriptive about the nature of this research but re-emphasise that this research is being undertaken as a means to an end. We wish to better understand how drinking cultures are transmitted in order to identify ways of impacting on these processes.

Methods

We do not wish to specify the kind of research to be undertaken. This will depend on the particular focus of the research. However, whichever domain(s) a proposal focuses on, we want the work to include an authoritative review of the relevant literature.

Resources and number of projects

A maximum of £200,000 is available under this call for proposals. Given the openness of this call for proposals, we cannot specify the number of projects that we will fund with this sum. However, this is likely to be between two and four studies.

Timescale

We want this work to inform the latter stages of the ARC’s three year programme of work and therefore need to receive final reports within an 18 month period.

How to apply

It is essential that you read the How to apply for funding section of our website before submitting your proposal.

Criteria used in considering proposals

In considering proposals, the following key criteria are taken account of:

the importance and relevance of the topic to the Foundation’s priorities;
the relevance of the proposal to the research brief in the call for proposals;
whether the work will offer new insights or developments;
the appropriateness of the methods proposed to the aims of the project (for research projects, this includes research design, data collection and analysis);
demonstration of good knowledge of the area, including both research literature and the policy and practice context;
the ability of the staff and organisation to carry out the work and complete on time;
the policy and practice implications of the project;
an appropriate approach to dissemination;
race equality and appropriate supported involvement of people with direct experience, where appropriate; and
priority within available funds and value for money.

Judgements about proposals are made on the basis of what is written down. Some proposals are turned down because the Foundation cannot give the topic sufficient priority even though the proposal is well thought out and presented. In other cases, strong proposals may be rejected simply because, on balance, another is found to be even stronger. But proposals are most often rejected because insufficient information has been provided about key aspects or there is a lack of clarity about what is planned.

The Application Guidelines contain all the information and documents you will need to complete your application.

Submitting your proposal

FOUR sets of the following documents are required:

Proposal registration form
Summary
Proposal
Budget form
Staff Costs forms
Full CVs for all Proposers

These should be sent to:

Charlie Lloyd
Principal Research Manager
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The Homestead
40 Water End
York YO30 6WP

Please also email the Summary and Proposal to Christine Appleton – christine.appleton@jrf.org.uk.

The deadline for receipt of hard copy and email documentation is 2pm on Tuesday 6 November 2007.

Please note that this is a strict deadline. Amendments or additions to the proposal sent after this date will not be accepted.

If you wish to discuss any of the details of the proposed work,
Charlie Lloyd, Principal Research Manager responsible for the Alcohol Research Programme, can be contacted on 01904 615911 or by email charlie.lloyd@jrf.org.uk.

Administrative queries: please contact Charlie Lloyd’s secretary, Christine Appleton on 01904 615911 or email christine.appleton@jrf.org.uk.