A number of small-scale studies in the late 1980s and early 1990s pointed to young caring as a growing social issue, rather than a private one. Although later research tried to estimate the extent of the problem using quantitative research methods, this often proved problematic in identifying and gaining access to large numbers of ‘vulnerable’ respondents.

Increasingly, researchers adopted qualitative methods aimed at smaller numbers of young carers in order to gain further insight into hitherto neglected areas of study and to provide “information to guide future developments” (Page, 1988, p 32). These qualitative approaches complemented the conclusions of some of the earliest studies on young carers where an emphasis on ‘the numbers game’ (O’Neill, 1988) was seen as less useful than looking at particular cases in some depth:

Adopting qualitative methods of investigation proved useful for our purposes, not just because such methods have been tried and tested in the field over some considerable time, but also because qualitative approaches place more emphasis on context and process rather than a reliance on preordained tools or instruments. In this case, questionnaire surveys would have been unlikely to uncover the kind of information needed to guide our further understanding of the nature of young caring in the context of parental mental ill health. Furthermore, qualitative approaches give priority to “the perspectives of those being studied rather than the prior concerns of the researcher” (Bryman, 1989, p 135).

Our intention was to conduct in-depth semi-structured individual interviews with three respondent groups:

• • young carers;

• • co-resident relative(s) with a severe and enduring mental health problem;

• • key welfare professionals in contact with these families.

We made the decision to approach children (and their families), not with questionnaires or structured research instruments, but with open-ended questions using semi-structured interview techniques (what Bryman refers to as ‘type 3’ interview-based studies). Here, the interviewer “uses a schedule but recognises that departures will occur if interesting themes emerge from what respondents say and in order to get their version of things” (Bryman, 1989, p 149).