Bibliography

In this article, we explore how those taking part in an interview about sex and risk reflected on their participation and what, if any, impact it had on them. All 22 individuals who were interviewed in an initial study were invited to document their thoughts and feelings about the research process in a short follow-up exercise. The data relating to the 11 people who shared their reflections on the interview were subjected to a thematic analysis. The themes that emerged describe the value participants placed on honest and open interaction within neutral and non-judgmental environments. They also illustrate how being interviewed about prior behaviour can facilitate a sense-making process and might provide some degree of cathartic benefit. The findings help improve our understanding of how individuals reflect on their interview participation, which can in turn help to inform the development of ethically sensitive qualitative data collection.     

Reflections on Two Studies of Emotionally Sensitive Topics: Bereavement from Murder and Abortion

This article provides a candid account of the challenges two researchers faced while collecting qualitative in‐depth interview data on two different studies of emotionally sensitive topics. These studies involved asking participants to describe their feelings about a difficult experience—the loss of a loved one to murder and the termination of a pregnancy. We build on the literature on feminist methodology by offering a backstage look at qualitative research on an emotional topic and with an emotionally vulnerable population. Using illustrations from our respective studies, we share some of the insights we gained on recruitment problems, interview question development and participant compensation (e.g., financial, interpersonal and follow‐up contacts). We also discuss the need for monitoring and attending to the participants’ emotions as well as our own throughout the data collection process.     

Multiple social contexts in qualitative bereavement research

Little research focuses on the ways that bereaved family members react to and make meaning of their experience of the death of an elderly father and husband. In a qualitative, ethnographic study of 34 bereaved families we examined how family members respond to two inter-related social contexts: 1. social-cultural values and attitudes such as attitudes toward grieving for old persons, and 2. the inter-personal dyadic relationship between interviewer and interviewee. An underlying theme of uncertainty pervades the study participants' views of what is normal and expected in their own process of bereavement. Implications for future bereavement research are suggested.     

Collecting experimental network data from interventions on critical links in workplace networks

This article describes and discusses challenges associated with interventionist network data gathering in organizational settings, with a special focus on dyadic interventions. While pointing out major risks of these approaches, we argue that collecting data in combination with dyadic network alteration methods can enable social network researchers to explore network mechanisms from a new angle and potentially benefit the members of the targeted social networks and the entire collectives, if certain research design and implementation principles are followed. We introduce a facilitated self-disclosure method for strengthening critical dyads in social networks in combination with longitudinal and retrospective network measurement. We assess the participants’ perceptions of the different stages of this process by qualitative interviews. The study illustrates that experimental network data collection includes some extra challenges in addition to the many challenges of observational network data collection but participants also reported practical benefits that would not be gained through observational network surveys alone. The results highlight the importance of early and continuous communication during the data collection process with all research participants, not just the management, and the benefits of sharing more of the preliminary results. The lessons learnt through this study can inform the design of experimental network data collection to prioritize the preferences of the participants and their benefits.     

Effects of method on participants and disclosure rates in research on sensitive topics

This study replicates and extends the research of Rosenbaum, Rabenhorst, Reddy, Fleming, and Howells, which also appears in this special issue. Responses from 398 randomly assigned participants regarding differentially sensitive topics were collected via four methods of data collection: written questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, and an automated telephonic data collection system (ATDC). Several significant differences in data collection methodology and topic area were found, including greater disclosure of sensitive information via the ATDC system than via face-to-face and paper-and-pencil conditions. Participants who were assigned to the ATDC condition felt significantly more comfortable answering questions compared to those in the face-to-face interview condition. Participants in the telephone interview condition reported answering significantly more carefully than participants answering via written questionnaire. Taken together, the results of this study and the previous one it replicates suggest that the ATDC produces disclosure rates that are at least equivalent to, if not greater than, those generated using traditional methods for collecting sensitive data.     

For the greater good? Ethical reflections on interviewing the ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ in qualitative research

ABSTRACT

There is increasing emphasis on understanding economic advantage alongside disadvantage – on studying both ‘poverty’ and ‘riches’. This trend prompts and requires new ethical reflection. I argue that in qualitative interview research, a clearer distinction needs to be drawn between ethical commitments to individual research participants, and the group(s) to which they belong. This distinction is often elided in ethics guidelines and when researchers discuss their own work. Attending to the distinction highlights a symmetrical ethical dilemma: researchers studying disadvantage are often motivated to further the interests of the wider group to which their participants belong, yet the study itself risks eliciting or exacerbating negative experiences or identities amongst participants themselves. Conversely, the process of studying advantage frequently bolsters the positive identities or experiences of individual study participants, even as the research findings challenge or subvert the interests of their group.     

Hindsight,foresight and insight: The challenges of longitudinal qualitative research

This paper describes a UK based longitudinal qualitative study following approximately 100 young people over 9 years. It provides an overview of the research design, methods of data collection and analysis as well as reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of the strategies employed. We focus on the value of a devolved research design, complementary cross-section and temporal analytic approaches and the effects of being involved in a longitudinal study on researchers and participants. The paper aims to contribute to a growing understanding of the practical, ethical and epistemological challenges presented by longitudinal qualitative methods, and highlights those challenges that are specific to this method as well as those which are amplified by this kind of approach.     

Knocking on doors: recruitment and enrichment in a qualitative interview‐based study

This paper describes the process of recruiting participants for a qualitative interview‐based study by leafleting and door knocking. It is argued that door knocking can enrich and thicken research that usually takes place ‘behind closed doors’, enabling researchers to engage their ethnographic imaginations by observing neighbourhood interactions, familiarising themselves with the places their participants inhabit and through the embodied, sensory experience of walking itself. By treating the recruitment process as data, it is suggested that the door knocking researcher can ensure his/her individual participants are understood as connected to the wider social, physical and sensory environment they inhabit. Door knocking is also seen as enabling researchers to find interest in an element of the research process often viewed as a somewhat irksome means to an end.     

Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods in survey research on aging: An assessment

The benefits of triangulation have gained widespread acceptance and several notable studies have taken a combined-methods approach. However, to date there have been few analyses of attempts to extend survey research to include a qualitative component. This paper reports on what is essentially a survey research design in which three types of interviewing are triangulated: close-ended questions in a structured interview; open-ended questions embedded in the interview; and follow-up conversational interviews employing open-ended questions. This combined-methods approach is assessed in relation to elaboration of answers, interpretation and context, discovery in the field, and divergence. The author concludes that each source of data, as well as the divergence in findings among them, makes a valuable contribution to the research process.     

Home From Home? A Mixed-Methods Study of Relocation Within a Purpose-Built Retirement Community

Moving from a location where one has intimate knowledge of the physical and social aspects of space, with established daily routines, social networks, and attachment to place, can present challenges in later life. The literature supports the optimality of aging in place, and several studies point to the potentially detrimental effects of disruption, particularly in cases of involuntary relocation. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, this exploratory study aimed to examine the experiences and effects of relocation as part of a redevelopment of a community housing older people. Thirty-five interviews were completed with 17 participants across stages of the relocation process. Quantitative indicators of well-being were also compared between residents who had moved and those who had not over this period. No significant differences were found between movers and non-movers in the quantitative data. However, the qualitative data suggested that the relationship with the environment is more nuanced than the duality of optimal and detrimental. Individuals’ agency in relation to their environment was found to be mediated by such factors as lifestyle and daily routine, bereavement, sociospatial factors, and access to nature. The effects of relocation appear to be complex and mediated by a variety of individual and social factors.     

Incorporating intersectionality into research design: an example using qualitative interviews

As intersectionality gains more prominence, scholars still face difficulties of incorporating principles of intersectionality into empirical research. Key concepts of intersectionality theory include moving away from additive thinking, relationality, and social constructionism. An important challenge is how to incorporate these concepts into research design. While existing scholarship examines intersectional methodology, most of the focus has been on issues of analysis not data collection. I argue that some of the difficulties in intersectionality scholarship are not just issues of analysis but issues of data collection. In particular, I discuss how scholars can incorporate intersectionality concepts into research design by offering examples from my own research that used qualitative interviews to examine how race and gender influenced neighborhood experiences. I also present the obstacles I encountered in conveying the key concepts of intersectionality into language that is relatable to study participants.     

Mandalas as a visual research method for understanding primary care for depression

Depression is a complex problem, commonly but not always successfully managed in primary care. We know relatively little about the system of primary care for depression particularly at the level of organisations. In this paper, we describe the use of mandalas as a visual data collection method within an in-depth programme of participatory action research undertaken in six primary care organisations in Victoria, Australia. We draw on mandala images, selected and discussed by 49 multidisciplinary primary health care professionals and demonstrate how they can be employed as an effective graphic elicitation method. We conclude that mandalas offer an innovative approach for qualitative data collection for two reasons. First, they can engage busy research participants in a reflective space. Second, using the mandalas as an elicitation method generates meaningful data: it provides new insights, reveals unrecognised aspects of practice, generates new learning, gives physical form to tacit processes and enables complex information to become accessible; all within short timeframes.     

Hidden boundaries and shared meanings: the roles of researcher characteristics and cultural norms in shaping understandings of sexuality in the unstructured interview setting

This paper examines the role of the research process in shaping the construction of knowledge about sensitive topics in in-depth interviews particularly with regard to researcher identity and cultural influences or norms. We argue that these influences shape all aspects of the research process and that researchers will benefit from reflecting upon them when planning, undertaking and interpreting qualitative studies. Drawing on an empirical study interviewing Australian women aged 55 years and older about sexuality we address differences and similarities between researchers and participants; cultural constructions of sexuality and ageing, and generational influences. Using examples from our interview data we interrogate the contribution of each of these aspects to the interview dynamic and the co-production of meaning. Our analysis draws attention to the fluidity of insider and outsider status and to the existence of hidden boundaries that impact on how certain topics can be discussed in interviews. The paper argues that knowledge about sensitive topics such as older people’s sexuality must be viewed as a situated occurrence shaped by the particularities of the interview and the cultural context. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for qualitative inquiries into sensitive topics.     

The Longitudinal Qualitative Interview

Studies have emerged that use qualitative techniques to collect and analyze data on subjects followed over time. But due to the novelty of this approach, a codified methodology underlying longitudinal qualitative research is underdeveloped. This article focuses on one method of longitudinal qualitative research, the longitudinal qualitative interview (LQI), to: 1) account for its origin and epistemology, and; 2) delimit the parameters within which LQIs are successfully conducted, using an example from the author’s studies of careers. LQIs are conducted with the same people over a time period sufficient to allow for the collection of data on specified conditions of change. They are also an important means by which to study how people experience, interpret, and respond to change. Accordingly, they are a prime means to study development at individual, group, and societal levels. While the foundation of LQIs is traceable to a long history, their robust application belongs to an as yet unrealized future.     

Network Canvas: Key decisions in the design of an interviewer-assisted network data collection software suite

Self-reported social network analysis studies are often complex and burdensome, both during the interview process itself, and when conducting data management following the interview. Through funding obtained from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA/NIH), our team developed the Network Canvas suite of software – a set of complementary tools that are designed to simplify the collection and storage of complex social network data, with an emphasis on usability and accessibility across platforms and devices, and guided by the practical needs of researchers. The suite consists of three applications: Architect: an application for researchers to design and export interview protocols; Interviewer: a touch-optimized application for loading and administering interview protocols to study participants; and Server: an application for researchers to manage the interview deployment process and export their data for analysis. Together, they enable researchers with minimal technological expertise to access a complete research workflow, by building their own network interview protocols, deploying these protocols widely within a variety of contexts, and immediately attaining the resulting data from a secure central location. In this paper, we outline the critical decisions taken in developing this suite of tools for the network research community. We also describe the work which guides our decision-making, including prior experiences and key discovery events. We focus on key design choices, taken for theoretical, philosophical, and pragmatic reasons, and outline their strengths and limitations.     

Vignette development and administration: a framework for protecting research participants

This paper is a discussion regarding vignette development and administration as a means of protecting research participants in social research. Health and social care researchers investigate a plethora of issues that may be sensitive or upsetting, for example, abuse or bereavement. This exposes participants to potential emotional harm caused by revisiting the original trauma. Using research methods that offer a protective layer is important. Evidence suggests that vignettes provide protection for research participants by placing distance between their experience and that of the vignette character. However, there are few methodological papers regarding vignette use. Utilising examples from our own research, we engage in a critical discussion regarding vignette development and administration. The paper offers a new framework to support researchers – particularly those in health and social care – in the development and administration of vignettes. We contend that the framework supports best practice in vignette use, particularly when researching sensitive issues.     

Children orphaned by HIV and AIDS in middle childhood in Potchefstroom,Northwest: The role of a social worker

ABSTRACT

The effects of HIV and AIDS have devastated families and communities in South Africa. The scourge has also left many children orphaned in the country. Given the vulnerability of orphaned children, social workers are in the forefront of ensuring that these children are cared for and protected from any harm. Hence, the purpose of this paper was to explore the role of a social worker in issues related to children orphaned by AIDS in their middle childhood. This study was situated within a qualitative research paradigm utilizing purposive, non-probability sampling of 10 participants recruited from Potchefstroom in the Northwest Province of South Africa. A semi-structured interview schedule was employed as a research tool, and in-depth one-on-one interviews were adopted as the method of data collection. A thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data collected during the interviews. The main findings point towards the need to educate children about HIV and AIDS and to empower their caregivers. The primary conclusion drawn from this study is that social workers play various key roles which contribute towards the well-being of orphaned children. Recommendations are posed in relation to social work service providers, government interventions, and future research.     

Aligning research and practice: The role of academic-community partnerships for improving measurement and process

ObjectiveCommunity programs addressing social determinants of health are growing in prominence and are increasingly expected to provide metrics of success. Our objective is to assess the role of an academic-community partnership for a community health worker program targeting social and medical needs, and determine factors impacting its effectiveness.MethodsWe draw on a 4.5-year partnership that includes both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. Quantitative data collection mechanisms evolved as a result of the partnership. Qualitative interviews were conducted with community health workers and leadership.ResultsTo align medical and social support services in a sustainable and measurable manner, our academic-community partnership found that creating and maintaining a mutually beneficial space through small wins enabled us to then address larger problems and needs. Ongoing self-study and process evaluation allowed quick adjustments. Unique partnership elements such as having consistent funding and flexible timelines and objectives were essential.ConclusionsWhen integrating health and social services, academic-community partnerships create pathways for bidirectional learning than can quickly turn research into practice and support sustainability, especially when based on incrementally built trust and a history of small wins.