Participatory Work-Along as an Apprentice—A Qualitative Research Tool in Studying Organizations and Work Practices

Double bereavement, mental health consequences and support needs of children and young adults—When a divorced parent dies

“…Participant observations and interviews were chosen as data collection methods to investigate children and young adult's experiences with double bereavement and the influence of this on their mental health and need of support. The methods were chosen to gather unique data from their perspective supported by their relative's perspective and to gain sufficient depth and breadth of the investigation (Kvale & Brinkmann, ; Spradley, , ; Wadel, ). In this study, we used the working‐along role that increases chances of revealing people's lives and experiences and to capture understandings, feelings and interpretations that informants usually do not express or keep to themselves (Wadel, ).…”

“…The methods were chosen to gather unique data from their perspective supported by their relative's perspective and to gain sufficient depth and breadth of the investigation (Kvale & Brinkmann, ; Spradley, , ; Wadel, ). In this study, we used the working‐along role that increases chances of revealing people's lives and experiences and to capture understandings, feelings and interpretations that informants usually do not express or keep to themselves (Wadel, ). We asked questions to the participants (Kvale & Brinkmann, ; Spradley, ), such as “How has your divided life because of your parent ' s divorce influenced your bereavement and the support provided from your families?”…”

“…And what kinds of support needs are expressed? The first author had a role of being a co‐group leader, and she had a participatory work‐along role in the field (Wadel, ). She had been educated, trained, supervised and worked as a volunteer co‐group leader within 2 years prior to data collection and was familiar with the field and the bereavement culture within the field (Figure ).…”

“…However, the results indicate that the children and young adults trusted the observer and this proximity provided access to necessary in‐depth interviews and important data that were crucial to understanding the phenomenon under investigation. The researcher's proximity to the field site and participants provided unique access to the relatives of core informants and enabled a depth of data collection through visiting some of the children's homes, and including interviews with stepparents and grandparents (Spradley, , ; Wadel, ). Fourth, we limited our focus to the divorced parental death experience, but acknowledge that there are other family structures that may encounter similar grief problems such as single‐parent families, stepfamilies and fully intact families (Marcussen, Hounsgaard, Bruun, et al, ; Russell et al, ).…”

The mark of the researcher’s hand: the imperfections of craft in the process of becoming a qualitative researcher

“…As I am yet to fully appreciate the 'traditions of the field' I am increasingly open to the intensity of doubt (Klag and Langley, 2013) while I develop an attunement to situational cues in the environment and move towards becoming a competent potter and researcher (Dreyfus, 2014). Through this process of acculturation, I learn how to speak, how to act, what things mean and why things are important (Lave and Wenger, 1991;Wadel, 2015). Hence, the empirical materials document what was salient to me through my changing participation in overlapping practices, as I developed increasingly comprehensive understandings of how to work the clay and do research (Lave, 2011;Ray and Smith, 2012;Sandberg and Pinnington, 2009).…”