City’s youth to contribute to social research project
What goes on within Wellington’s youth scene - clubbing, dance parties and raves, alcohol and other drug use, social
groups, relationships and fashion - has never been studied in-depth, until now.
Victoria University criminology lecturer, Dr Fiona Hutton, is about to embark on a major study of the City’s youth and
club culture and she is looking for young people in the 18-25 age range to talk to about their experiences.
Dr Hutton, who has written a thesis on social behaviour within the British clubbing scene, believes her research will
provide valuable information for the city’s service providers and also identify the extent to which young people are
taking risks that could affect their health and well-being.
“There’s a huge gap in research and knowledge about the youth scene in Wellington – and around New Zealand in general –
so one of the aims of the project is to give people a chance to speak frankly about exactly what goes on at clubs and
around town.
“What we’ll end up with is a snapshot of youth and club culture that, among other things, will allow us to establish
whether there are safety and health issues that we need to direct more attention towards.”
Dr Hutton needs to talk to a variety of young Wellingtonians for her research. She says information will be treated in
the strictest confidence and young people will not be named at any stage of the research. The research has also been
approved by the University’s Human Ethics Committee.
“This is a great opportunity for young people to talk honestly about exactly what they do, where they go, and who they
‘hang out’ with. At the same time, they will be able to contribute to research that has the potential to influence the
City’s decision makers.
“If people are able to help me in my research I’ll arrange to meet them in a café or bar for a coffee, in a place that’s
easy for them to get to. I’ll also reimburse their travel expenses.”
Dr Hutton is one of eight academics in the Institute of Criminology in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at
Victoria University, New Zealand's only dedicated criminology programme. Criminology is the study of crime and the
social response to crime and also addresses many fundamental questions about the nature of society, social order and the
law.