Anna Tarrant
Biographic Data
| ID | 313445 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Anna Tarrant |
| GIVEN NAMES | Anna |
| FAMILY NAME | Tarrant |
| SIGNATURE | TARRANT A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Lincoln |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5253-6056 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 188 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
What counts as knowing? Reflections on evidence hierarchies in qualitative longitudinal and participatory research with young fathers
Background: What counts as evidence remains contested at the research–policy interface, with consequences for qualitative researchers seeking to demonstrate impact. Despite increasing recognition of lived experience and participatory inquiry, entrenched evidence hierarchies continue to privilege quantification, scale and standardisation as markers of methodological rigour and policy relevance. These dynamics pose particular challenges for researc…
Appraising the UK Labour Government’s Early Approach to Reforming Parental Leave
This article critically appraises the UK Labour government’s early approach to parental leave reform following the 2024 election, comparing pre-election promises with post-election policy directions. Drawing on Daly’s conceptualisation of care as a policy good (Daly, 2002), we analyse Labour’s reforms across three overlapping dimensions central to their pre-election pledges: access and pay levels, leave design and entitlements, and inclusion of d…
A Choice We Had to Fight For”
Father-inclusion
This article explores systemic exclusions of men as-fathers and caregivers by services, introducing the concept of father-inclusion as a sensitising concept and framing strategy with transformative potential across diverse social welfare contexts. Drawing on empirical data generated with a diverse sample of young fathers in the UK, aged 25 and under, and multi-agency professionals, the article highlights the social welfare contexts where men as-f…
We Don't Let It Build Up
This mixed-methods study examined couples' relationship quality, satisfaction and well-being by comparing semi-traditional, equal-sharing and role-reversed couples. Quantitative analysis involved 2813 parents (1380 men, 1433 women) with at least one child aged 11 or under who were primary caregivers, primary breadwinners or equal-sharers. Qualitative analysis drew on 60 in-depth interviews with 10 couples from each of the groups. Semi-traditional…
Increasing father engagement among minoritised fathers through proactive service support and outreach
Based on analyses of multi-perspective data generated from a small participatory and exploratory pilot study called Diverse Dads, this article considers how service engagement with minoritised fathers might be addressed in contexts of family and youth support. Semi-structured qualitative interviews and focus groups, complemented by a small survey, were conducted by beneficiaries and employees of a specialist charity supporting young fathers, with…
Reimagining the language of engagement in a post-stakeholder world
Language matters in shaping perceptions and guiding behaviour. The term stakeholder is widely used, yet little attention is paid to the possibility that its use may inadvertently perpetuate colonial narratives and reinforce systemic inequities. In this article, we critically examine the limitations of the stakeholder concept and its ambiguity, normativity, and exclusionary implications. We emphasise the importance of using language that gives a v…
Undoing Gendered Identities? Centrality and Meanings of Parental and Work Identities in Semi-Traditional, Equal-Sharing and Role-Reversed Couples
This mixed-methods study explored the centrality and meanings of men’s and women’s parental and work-related identities by comparing semi-traditional, equal-sharing, and role-reversed couples. Quantitative analysis involved 2,813 British parents (1,380 men, 1,433 women) who were primary caregivers, primary breadwinners, or equal sharers with at least one child aged 11 or under. Qualitative analysis drew on 60 in-depth interviews with 10 couples f…
Enhancing the participation of young and minoritised fathers in peer research
This article presents an intersectional, reflexive analysis of the research process, methods and ethical considerations involved in a community-based participatory study aimed at increasing and improving the participation of young and minoritised fathers, both in support settings and in research. Conducted by a peer research team comprising beneficiaries and a young male employee of a specialist support charity for young fathers, the substantive …
Men, Families, and Poverty
Men, Families, and Poverty
Instigating father-inclusive practice interventions with young fathers and multi-agency professionals
Interdisciplinary social sciences literature on the value and significance of engaged fatherhood and father-inclusive approaches to practice for enhanced family outcomes have begun to reach a consensus. Yet there has been less attention to how research knowledge about fatherhood, including that which is co-produced with and for fathers, can be more effectively translated and embedded in practice and policy contexts. This article elaborates on a c…
Sociological Research in the Digital Age
Covid-19 Collaborations
The COVID-19 pandemic affected everyone – but, for some, existing social inequalities were exacerbated, and this created a vital need for research. Researchers found themselves operating in a new and difficult context; they needed to act quickly and think collectively to embark on new research despite the constraints of the pandemic. This book presents the collaborative process of 14 research projects working together during COVID-19. It document…
Working at a remove
In this paper, we define and operationalise three modes of research engagement using qualitative secondary analysis (QSA). We characterise these forms of engagement as continuous , collective and configurative. Continuous QSA involves modes of engagement that centre on asking new questions of existing datasets to (re)apprehend empirical evidence, and develop continuous (or contiguous) samples in ways that principally leverage epistemic distance. …
Perceptions of gender equality and engaged fatherhood among young fathers
This article presents analyses from an international empirical study of young fatherhood in Sweden and the UK to interrogate how welfare contexts and family policies shape young fathers’ views of parenthood. Our analyses demonstrate that despite differences in constructions of young fatherhood, whereby young parenthood is problematised in UK family policy, more so than in Sweden, young fathers in both countries express an encouraging commitment t…
The Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic and Lockdown Policies on Young Fathers
This article explores the impacts of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown policies on young fathers and their families. We present analyses from a larger programme of qualitative longitudinal research examining young fatherhood in the UK and Sweden to develop a unique international comparative and empirical contribution. The views and experiences of young fathers are examined in the context of two ostensibly different policy appro…
Cocreating with Young Fathers
Our contribution draws upon a collaborative project called 'Diverse Dads', which ran between October 2020 and April 2021, during the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic. The team comprised members of the North East Young Dads and Lads (NEYDL) Project, advisors from support organisations that champion inclusivity, and the Following Young Fathers Further (FYFF) research team. 'Diverse Dads' sought to identify and address gaps in service provision for young…
Fathering and Poverty
This monograph reports on pioneering research from the ‘Men, Poverty and Lifetimes of Care’ (Leverhulme Trust, 2014-2018) study. It addresses questions concerning the routine care responsibilities of men in low-income localities and the resources and constraints that affect how they ‘do’ family and care on an everyday basis. Drawing on a mix of ethnographic, photographic and interview data generated with twenty-six men in different generational p…
Oh sorry, I’ve muted you!’
The COVID-19 crisis has placed unique restrictions on social researchers in terms of how they conduct their research. It has also created opportunities for adaptation and critical reflection on methodological practice. This article considers how the unanticipated use of remote qualitative methods impacted processes of research connection and connectivity in qualitative (longitudinal) research. The reflections are based on fieldwork conducted for …
Qualitative Secondary Analysis
This book brings together chapters from leading scholars and researchers who have developed innovative theories and methods of Qualitative Secondary Analysis (QSA). Combined, the chapters provide a comprehensive introduction to the range of epistemological, ethical and pragmatic aspects of QSA. This book especially addresses researchers new to debates on qualitative data re-use. It aims to provide both depth of understanding of the key methodolog…
Re-approaching interview data through qualitative secondary analysis
This paper addresses two interrelated questions concerning what interview data are and how researchers might use them. The first considers the value of a shift from a predominant or exclusive focus upon how data are constructed and produced at interview, and towards how such data might be apprehended through different forms of engagement. The second question relates to how and what qualitative secondary analysis (QSA) might be used to tell about …
The Ethics of Technology Choice
This article describes a two-phased reflexive ethical process initiated when choosing digital cameras for the photovoice method in research with men living in low-income contexts. While this participatory method aims to flatten power asymmetries in researcher-researched relationships, debate is needed about how pragmatic technology choices may inadvertently underscore or even reinforce participants' situated experiences of disempowerment and cons…
Everyday geographies of family
Our key aim with this collection, a combination of original empirical contributions and interventions by experts from across social geography and sociology, is to consolidate and advance feminist, interdisciplinary approaches to the everyday geographies of family via contemporary, empirically grounded research and direct interdisciplinary exchanges. This themed section showcases cutting edge geographical work in relation to the everyday geographi…
Qualitative Secondary Analysis
There have been significant developments in methods of qualitative secondary analysis (QSA), prompted in part by growth in infrastructure for archiving and sharing qualitative data, facilitating reuse. Building from these developments, this article presents QSA that brings together subsamples of men in low income contexts from two qualitative longitudinal datasets produced under Timescapes, demonstrating the complex linkages between them, and add…
Grandfathering as spatio-temporal practice
This study examines the spatio-temporalities of the intergenerational caring practices that contemporary grandfathers engage in with their grandchildren, in order to critique old men's constructions and performances of ageing masculinities and the gendering and ageing of contemporary carescapes. Findings are based on thirty-one qualitative interviews and two participant observations, conducted in the north-west of England with men who are grandfa…
Constructing a social geography of grandparenthood
In this paper I suggest ways in which a geographical approach to grandparent identities could successfully build upon social geography's understandings of relational geographies of age. In intergenerational geographies, the compartmentalised nature of age studies means that transitions in later stages of the lifecourse, particularly in family life, remain substantially under‐researched. The paper draws together established geographical literature…
Masculinities at the Margins of 'Middle Adulthood
The intersections of masculinities and age have attracted relatively little theorizing. This article examines the theoretical implications of young/old age and masculinities by bringing together two bodies of literature (young age and masculinities and old age and masculinities) and two research studies (one with pre-teenage school students in Australia and one with grandfathers in the United Kingdom). We focus on two key themes: caring practices…
Getting out of the swamp? Methodological reflections on using qualitative secondary analysis to develop research design
In recent years, the possibilities and pitfalls of qualitative secondary analysis have been the subject of on-going academic debate, contextualised by the growing availability of qualitative data in digital archives and the increasing interest of funding councils in the value of data re-use. This article contributes to, and extends these methodological discussions, through a critical consideration of how the secondary analysis of thematically rel…
Grandfatherhood
Drawing on qualitative interview data, this article examines how grandfatherhood relates to the assertion and transformation of masculinities in later life. Recent attention to ageing and masculinities has identified how older men are challenged to succeed in maintaining connections to hegemonic masculinity in light of altered family and life circumstances. We consider men's engagement with grandfatherhood as a means for so doing, illustrating ho…
Oh sorry, I’ve muted you!’
The COVID-19 crisis has placed unique restrictions on social researchers in terms of how they conduct their research. It has also created opportunities for adaptation and critical reflection on methodological practice. This article considers how the unanticipated use of remote qualitative methods impacted processes of research connection and connectivity in qualitative (longitudinal) research. The reflections are based on fieldwork conducted for …
The Ethics of Technology Choice
This article describes a two-phased reflexive ethical process initiated when choosing digital cameras for the photovoice method in research with men living in low-income contexts. While this participatory method aims to flatten power asymmetries in researcher-researched relationships, debate is needed about how pragmatic technology choices may inadvertently underscore or even reinforce participants' situated experiences of disempowerment and cons…
Everyday geographies of family
Our key aim with this collection, a combination of original empirical contributions and interventions by experts from across social geography and sociology, is to consolidate and advance feminist, interdisciplinary approaches to the everyday geographies of family via contemporary, empirically grounded research and direct interdisciplinary exchanges. This themed section showcases cutting edge geographical work in relation to the everyday geographi…
The spatial and gendered politics of displaying family
This article analyses the meaning that 27 men who are grandfathers ascribed to the domestic material cultures of their homes, during an exploratory study that investigated their contemporary social and cultural geographies. In recounting stories about a number of items and artefacts placed about their homes during the interviews, that they specifically related to their experiences as grandfathers, the men provided insight into the various ways in…
Care in an Age of Austerity
Drawing on data from linked qualitative longitudinal studies, this paper considers the under-researched impacts of economic crisis and austerity on men with care responsibilities in low-income families. Recent debates indicate that recession and austerity provide the conditions for care arrangements in which fathers are more likely to engage in social reproduction, producing ‘caring masculinities’. In an austerity context that is permeating every…
Doing gender locally
Observable anxieties have been developing about the position of boys and young men in contemporary society in recent years. This is expressed as a crisis of masculinity, in which place is often implicitly implicated, but is rarely considered for its role in the shaping of young men's practices, trajectories and aspirations. Drawing on research conducted with young people who accessed a range of social care support services, this article argues th…
Reimagining the language of engagement in a post-stakeholder world
Language matters in shaping perceptions and guiding behaviour. The term stakeholder is widely used, yet little attention is paid to the possibility that its use may inadvertently perpetuate colonial narratives and reinforce systemic inequities. In this article, we critically examine the limitations of the stakeholder concept and its ambiguity, normativity, and exclusionary implications. We emphasise the importance of using language that gives a v…
Undoing Gendered Identities? Centrality and Meanings of Parental and Work Identities in Semi-Traditional, Equal-Sharing and Role-Reversed Couples
This mixed-methods study explored the centrality and meanings of men’s and women’s parental and work-related identities by comparing semi-traditional, equal-sharing, and role-reversed couples. Quantitative analysis involved 2,813 British parents (1,380 men, 1,433 women) who were primary caregivers, primary breadwinners, or equal sharers with at least one child aged 11 or under. Qualitative analysis drew on 60 in-depth interviews with 10 couples f…
Instigating father-inclusive practice interventions with young fathers and multi-agency professionals
Interdisciplinary social sciences literature on the value and significance of engaged fatherhood and father-inclusive approaches to practice for enhanced family outcomes have begun to reach a consensus. Yet there has been less attention to how research knowledge about fatherhood, including that which is co-produced with and for fathers, can be more effectively translated and embedded in practice and policy contexts. This article elaborates on a c…
Maturing' a Sub-discipline
From the early 1990s, the study of men and masculinities and the spatiality of their identities, has established itself as a significant subfield of critical social geographies. At the same time, geographies of childhood and youth, and to a much lesser extent old age identities, have emerged and become intersected. Recently, it has been suggested that these studies of social markers of difference have reached a critical mass (Hopkins 2008). Upon …
Qualitative Secondary Analysis
There have been significant developments in methods of qualitative secondary analysis (QSA), prompted in part by growth in infrastructure for archiving and sharing qualitative data, facilitating reuse. Building from these developments, this article presents QSA that brings together subsamples of men in low income contexts from two qualitative longitudinal datasets produced under Timescapes, demonstrating the complex linkages between them, and add…
Increasing father engagement among minoritised fathers through proactive service support and outreach
Based on analyses of multi-perspective data generated from a small participatory and exploratory pilot study called Diverse Dads, this article considers how service engagement with minoritised fathers might be addressed in contexts of family and youth support. Semi-structured qualitative interviews and focus groups, complemented by a small survey, were conducted by beneficiaries and employees of a specialist charity supporting young fathers, with…
Cocreating with Young Fathers
Our contribution draws upon a collaborative project called 'Diverse Dads', which ran between October 2020 and April 2021, during the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic. The team comprised members of the North East Young Dads and Lads (NEYDL) Project, advisors from support organisations that champion inclusivity, and the Following Young Fathers Further (FYFF) research team. 'Diverse Dads' sought to identify and address gaps in service provision for young…
Men, masculinities and methodologies
Re-approaching interview data through qualitative secondary analysis
This paper addresses two interrelated questions concerning what interview data are and how researchers might use them. The first considers the value of a shift from a predominant or exclusive focus upon how data are constructed and produced at interview, and towards how such data might be apprehended through different forms of engagement. The second question relates to how and what qualitative secondary analysis (QSA) might be used to tell about …
We Don't Let It Build Up
This mixed-methods study examined couples' relationship quality, satisfaction and well-being by comparing semi-traditional, equal-sharing and role-reversed couples. Quantitative analysis involved 2813 parents (1380 men, 1433 women) with at least one child aged 11 or under who were primary caregivers, primary breadwinners or equal-sharers. Qualitative analysis drew on 60 in-depth interviews with 10 couples from each of the groups. Semi-traditional…
Perceptions of gender equality and engaged fatherhood among young fathers
This article presents analyses from an international empirical study of young fatherhood in Sweden and the UK to interrogate how welfare contexts and family policies shape young fathers’ views of parenthood. Our analyses demonstrate that despite differences in constructions of young fatherhood, whereby young parenthood is problematised in UK family policy, more so than in Sweden, young fathers in both countries express an encouraging commitment t…
Constructing a social geography of grandparenthood
In this paper I suggest ways in which a geographical approach to grandparent identities could successfully build upon social geography's understandings of relational geographies of age. In intergenerational geographies, the compartmentalised nature of age studies means that transitions in later stages of the lifecourse, particularly in family life, remain substantially under‐researched. The paper draws together established geographical literature…
Maturing' a Sub-discipline
From the early 1990s, the study of men and masculinities and the spatiality of their identities, has established itself as a significant subfield of critical social geographies. At the same time, geographies of childhood and youth, and to a much lesser extent old age identities, have emerged and become intersected. Recently, it has been suggested that these studies of social markers of difference have reached a critical mass (Hopkins 2008). Upon …
Naming the next generation
Grandfathering as spatio-temporal practice
This study examines the spatio-temporalities of the intergenerational caring practices that contemporary grandfathers engage in with their grandchildren, in order to critique old men's constructions and performances of ageing masculinities and the gendering and ageing of contemporary carescapes. Findings are based on thirty-one qualitative interviews and two participant observations, conducted in the north-west of England with men who are grandfa…
Men, masculinities and methodologies
The spatial and gendered politics of displaying family
This article analyses the meaning that 27 men who are grandfathers ascribed to the domestic material cultures of their homes, during an exploratory study that investigated their contemporary social and cultural geographies. In recounting stories about a number of items and artefacts placed about their homes during the interviews, that they specifically related to their experiences as grandfathers, the men provided insight into the various ways in…
Getting out of the swamp? Methodological reflections on using qualitative secondary analysis to develop research design
In recent years, the possibilities and pitfalls of qualitative secondary analysis have been the subject of on-going academic debate, contextualised by the growing availability of qualitative data in digital archives and the increasing interest of funding councils in the value of data re-use. This article contributes to, and extends these methodological discussions, through a critical consideration of how the secondary analysis of thematically rel…
Masculinities at the Margins of 'Middle Adulthood
The intersections of masculinities and age have attracted relatively little theorizing. This article examines the theoretical implications of young/old age and masculinities by bringing together two bodies of literature (young age and masculinities and old age and masculinities) and two research studies (one with pre-teenage school students in Australia and one with grandfathers in the United Kingdom). We focus on two key themes: caring practices…
Grandfatherhood
Drawing on qualitative interview data, this article examines how grandfatherhood relates to the assertion and transformation of masculinities in later life. Recent attention to ageing and masculinities has identified how older men are challenged to succeed in maintaining connections to hegemonic masculinity in light of altered family and life circumstances. We consider men's engagement with grandfatherhood as a means for so doing, illustrating ho…
Care in an Age of Austerity
Drawing on data from linked qualitative longitudinal studies, this paper considers the under-researched impacts of economic crisis and austerity on men with care responsibilities in low-income families. Recent debates indicate that recession and austerity provide the conditions for care arrangements in which fathers are more likely to engage in social reproduction, producing ‘caring masculinities’. In an austerity context that is permeating every…
Doing gender locally
Observable anxieties have been developing about the position of boys and young men in contemporary society in recent years. This is expressed as a crisis of masculinity, in which place is often implicitly implicated, but is rarely considered for its role in the shaping of young men's practices, trajectories and aspirations. Drawing on research conducted with young people who accessed a range of social care support services, this article argues th…
Grandfathering
Everyday geographies of family
Our key aim with this collection, a combination of original empirical contributions and interventions by experts from across social geography and sociology, is to consolidate and advance feminist, interdisciplinary approaches to the everyday geographies of family via contemporary, empirically grounded research and direct interdisciplinary exchanges. This themed section showcases cutting edge geographical work in relation to the everyday geographi…
Qualitative Secondary Analysis
There have been significant developments in methods of qualitative secondary analysis (QSA), prompted in part by growth in infrastructure for archiving and sharing qualitative data, facilitating reuse. Building from these developments, this article presents QSA that brings together subsamples of men in low income contexts from two qualitative longitudinal datasets produced under Timescapes, demonstrating the complex linkages between them, and add…
Qualitative Secondary Analysis
This book brings together chapters from leading scholars and researchers who have developed innovative theories and methods of Qualitative Secondary Analysis (QSA). Combined, the chapters provide a comprehensive introduction to the range of epistemological, ethical and pragmatic aspects of QSA. This book especially addresses researchers new to debates on qualitative data re-use. It aims to provide both depth of understanding of the key methodolog…
Re-approaching interview data through qualitative secondary analysis
This paper addresses two interrelated questions concerning what interview data are and how researchers might use them. The first considers the value of a shift from a predominant or exclusive focus upon how data are constructed and produced at interview, and towards how such data might be apprehended through different forms of engagement. The second question relates to how and what qualitative secondary analysis (QSA) might be used to tell about …
The Ethics of Technology Choice
This article describes a two-phased reflexive ethical process initiated when choosing digital cameras for the photovoice method in research with men living in low-income contexts. While this participatory method aims to flatten power asymmetries in researcher-researched relationships, debate is needed about how pragmatic technology choices may inadvertently underscore or even reinforce participants' situated experiences of disempowerment and cons…
Fathering and Poverty
This monograph reports on pioneering research from the ‘Men, Poverty and Lifetimes of Care’ (Leverhulme Trust, 2014-2018) study. It addresses questions concerning the routine care responsibilities of men in low-income localities and the resources and constraints that affect how they ‘do’ family and care on an everyday basis. Drawing on a mix of ethnographic, photographic and interview data generated with twenty-six men in different generational p…
Oh sorry, I’ve muted you!’
The COVID-19 crisis has placed unique restrictions on social researchers in terms of how they conduct their research. It has also created opportunities for adaptation and critical reflection on methodological practice. This article considers how the unanticipated use of remote qualitative methods impacted processes of research connection and connectivity in qualitative (longitudinal) research. The reflections are based on fieldwork conducted for …
Covid-19 Collaborations
The COVID-19 pandemic affected everyone – but, for some, existing social inequalities were exacerbated, and this created a vital need for research. Researchers found themselves operating in a new and difficult context; they needed to act quickly and think collectively to embark on new research despite the constraints of the pandemic. This book presents the collaborative process of 14 research projects working together during COVID-19. It document…
Working at a remove
In this paper, we define and operationalise three modes of research engagement using qualitative secondary analysis (QSA). We characterise these forms of engagement as continuous , collective and configurative. Continuous QSA involves modes of engagement that centre on asking new questions of existing datasets to (re)apprehend empirical evidence, and develop continuous (or contiguous) samples in ways that principally leverage epistemic distance. …
Perceptions of gender equality and engaged fatherhood among young fathers
This article presents analyses from an international empirical study of young fatherhood in Sweden and the UK to interrogate how welfare contexts and family policies shape young fathers’ views of parenthood. Our analyses demonstrate that despite differences in constructions of young fatherhood, whereby young parenthood is problematised in UK family policy, more so than in Sweden, young fathers in both countries express an encouraging commitment t…
The Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic and Lockdown Policies on Young Fathers
This article explores the impacts of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown policies on young fathers and their families. We present analyses from a larger programme of qualitative longitudinal research examining young fatherhood in the UK and Sweden to develop a unique international comparative and empirical contribution. The views and experiences of young fathers are examined in the context of two ostensibly different policy appro…
Cocreating with Young Fathers
Our contribution draws upon a collaborative project called 'Diverse Dads', which ran between October 2020 and April 2021, during the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic. The team comprised members of the North East Young Dads and Lads (NEYDL) Project, advisors from support organisations that champion inclusivity, and the Following Young Fathers Further (FYFF) research team. 'Diverse Dads' sought to identify and address gaps in service provision for young…
Men, Families, and Poverty
Sociology (28 works) · Gender Studies (16 works) · Political science (16 works) · Psychology (15 works) · Social science (13 works) · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving (10 works) · Work-Family Balance Challenges (10 works) · Gender Studies (8 works) · Geography (8 works) · Data Analysis and Archiving (7 works)