Ruth Naughton-Doe
Evaluating time banking in the UK
Time banks are promoted as a new and exciting way for people to come together to help others and help themselves at the same time by sharing their skills. Participants 'deposit' their time in the bank by giving practical help and support to others and are able to 'withdraw' their time when they need something done themselves. Time banks are seen as an alternative, empowering form of social service within communities which can increase social capital and facilitate co-production.
My PhD research will use a participatory research approach to evaluate the outcomes of time banking in the UK. I will be using a mixed methods design to supplement a pre-test post-test well-being survey with a range of qualitative measures including interviews, focus groups and photography methods.
I will also be collecting data on the process of doing participatory research.
Research interests
Time banking, mental health policy, wellbeing, the ‘Big Society’, the third sector/social enterprises, research methods, Foucault and the philosophy of social science.
Profile
I studied Social Policy for my BSc at the University of Bristol, and my dissertation explored the concept of ‘well-being’ in a Mental Health Promotion Team using a Foucauldian analysis. Afterwards I was awarded ESRC 1+3 funding, and went on to study for an MSc in Social Work Research. My dissertation explored the implementation of person to agency time banking in a homeless hostel.
I co-manage the Time for Research Network, which brings together academics who research time banks. For more information, please see http://time4research.wordpress.com/
I run a training course for Timebanking UK for time bank brokers who are interested in evaluation.
Achievements
Papers
Naughton-Doe, R. (2011) Time banking in social housing: A toolkit for co-production in public services. International Journal of Community Currency Research, Vol 15.
Conference Papers
‘Delivering the Big Society: time banking and co-production in public services.’ Contestations and Continuities- Health and Welfare in the Big Society, Postgraduate Conference, January 2011, Cardiff University.
‘The implementation of person to agency time banking in a homeless hostel: the challenge of co-production’. Postgraduate Social Work Research Conference, January 2011. Cardiff University.
‘Rhetoric vs reality in social care innovation: an example of person to agency time banking’. European Conference of Social Work Research, March 2011. University of Oxford.
‘Rhetoric vs reality in the Big Society: an example of person to agency time banking’ Social Policy Association Conference, July 2011. University of Lincoln.
‘An overview of research on time banking’. Presentation to the Time Bank Research Network, October 2011. NESTA, London.