Negotiating Professional and Social Voices in Research Principles and Practice

Abstract

SummaryThis paper draws on work conducted for a qualitative interview based study which explores the gendered racialised and professional identifications of health and social care professionals. Participants for the project were drawn from the professional executive committees of recently formed Primary CareTrusts. The paper discusses how the feminist psychosocial methodological approach developed for the project is theoretically, practically and ethically useful in exploring the voices of those in positions of relative power in relation to both health and social care services and the social relations of gender and ethnicity. The approach draws on psychodynamic accounts of (defended) subjectivity and the feminist work of Carol Gilligan on a voice-centred relational methodology. Coupling the feminist with the psychosocial facilitates an emphasis on voice and dialogic communication between participant and researcher not always captured in psychosocial approaches which tend towards favouring the interviewer as 'good listener'. This emphasis on dialogue is important in research contexts where prior and ongoing relationships with professional participants make it difficult and indeed undesirable for researchers to maintain silence.-2 - Negotiating Professional and Social Voices in Research Principles and Practice

‘Is that what I Said?’ Interview Transcript Approval by Participants: An Aspect of Ethics in Qualitative Research

“…A comfortable place, especially one that is chosen by the interviewee, will afford him or her feeling of comfort (McDowell, 2001), creating a pleasant atmosphere which may reduce tension. Hunter (2005) described the opposite situation in her research and "rather than constituting a comfortable trusting environment, research situations were characterized by anxiety" (p. 152).…”

“…The balance of power between the interviewee and the interviewer is, however, variable: even when it appears that the interviewer controls the structure of the research (for example, in the questions posed, the topics being discussed, the amount of information the researcher is prepared to supply the interviewees, as well as data analysis, interpretation and summarizing), the interviewees control the information they are prepared to give the interviewer, and may omit information they are not keen to disclose (Bhopal, 1995). Hunter (2005) notes an asymmetry that may prevail when interviewing elitist groups. In such a situation, the interviewees are in a position of power relative to the researcher-interviewer, and accordingly there is a need to adopt "strategies to 'protect' the researcher…" (pp.…”

Towards equitable commissioning for our multiethnic society: a mixed-methods qualitative investigation of evidence utilisation by strategic commissioners and public health managers

“…These perspectives fit closely with the work of Hunter, 70 Husband 71 and Gunaratnam and Lewis, 72 all of whom highlight the need to explore the 'felt dimension' of health-care policy-making and practice within the multiethnic, post-Macpherson setting. As Hunter 70 argues, in exploring the role of those in policy-making positions, we must 'consider these individuals as emotional as well as relational actors' (p. 150). For example, professional anxiety and uncertainty about cultural competence can be disempowering to professionals and detrimental to care.…”

“…The team followed Hunter's 70 advice regarding the use of reflexive, narrative approaches that emphasise dialogue within the research context, as 'prior and on-going relationships with professional participants make it difficult and indeed undesirable for researchers to maintain silence' (p. 149). This assisted in accessing more implicit understandings and discussion of sensitive topics that might not easily have been articulated within the interview setting.…”

Working for Equality and Diversity in Adult and Community Learning: Leadership, Representation and Racialised ‘Outsiders Within’

“…This article draws on work from ongoing qualitative research focusing on an adult and community learning (ACL) context. A feminist psychosocial relational methodology, drawing on interpretive and psychodynamic traditions, was employed to generate and analyse data (see Hunter, 2005a). Given the dearth of research into ACL generally, only more acute in relation to diversity and leadership in that context, the study was exploratory.…”