"I'm Doing Research…" What I’m Actually Doing When I Say This

by Elizabeth Bowker, CIL Founder & Lead Researcher

I have a habit of asking just about everyone I meet about their work. Sometimes I ask too soon and have to quickly qualify by saying, “I’m a labour researcher, that’s why I ask!” I mean, I don’t want to alarm anyone. Lucky for me people like to talk about their work and I always enjoy their responses. If I was asking about people’s families it would be a much more complicated experience!

My academic research is about middle-class underemployment. Right now I’m in the middle of a study on people with multiple jobs. I’ll present it at the British Sociology Association conference on Work and Employment in September.

I always start a study with reading as much of the relevant literature as I can find. My area is under-employment and when it comes to qualitative research, there isn’t really that much.

When I look at the big picture of how the world of work is shifting, I start with the giant, macro-level view trying to understand trends, influences and anomalies. I dig into data from the big heavy hitters—the International Labour Organization, the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, and Statistics Canada. I track down the latest trends from McKinsey, Pew Research, Forbes, and The Economist. And I spend a lot of time tucked away with peer-reviewed academic journals, looking at the beautifully nuanced data around how multiple job holders manage, or how personality traits predict entrepreneurial success.

The most relevant trend in my area is that since 2000, there’s been a significant and growing rise of non-permanent work and under-employment. In short, people are less likely to be tied to one long-term employer. Instead we move around more, and work contract, part-time and multiple jobs. What I’m finding so far is that people like having more than one job. It also gives them some security because if one thing dries up, they’ve got something else to fall back on and then develop.

But all of those massive reports and statistics are just the backdrop. The real heart of my work comes down to interviews. Lots and lots of interviews with working people, like you and me. I start with a list of questions, and then interview in batches over a period of weeks until I have a good response to a particular question.

So for my interviews this summer I’ve got a university instructor, a yoga instructor, a librarian and now I need a dog walker! I plan to head out to the Sidney Night Market one of these Thursdays and chat with the vendors until I find one who has other work, which is probably most of them, and who want to participate in my study. We can follow up with a phone call so that I can ask my questions, and more importantly, they can tell me their story. Email me if you want to be included!