The Challenge of Multiple Roles in the Qualitative Clinician Researcher-Participant Client Relationship

Abstract

Fundamental to obtaining data for qualitatie, fleld-based studies is the relationship between researcher and participant. Although sociological, anthropological, and feminist perspectives have identified some of the concerns that arise when relationships develop in the context of research, the health sciences literature provides limited information for clinicians as researchers, particularly in home settings. This article discusses the multidimensional relationships that developed between researcher and participants during an exploratory study of enrichment processes in family caregiving to frail elders. The data collection processes of intensive interviews and observations revealed the following unintended relationships: stranger-stranger, friend-friend, nurse-client, and guest-host. Suggested are topics for additional discussion regarding the experience of researcher-participant relationships in the home setting.

The culture of cancer and the therapeutic impact of qualitative research interviews

“…One participant in the study -Julien -was very forthright in his manner and went through the motions of welcome, but I often came away from interviews feeling that I had done something wrong, or that, intellectually, I was his inferior. I found solace, however, in the descriptions by Cartwright and Limandri (1997) of researcher roles and participant relationships. They illustrated that at the start of a research relationship the roles of participant and researcher are generally that of 'stranger-stranger' and that it takes time for the development of self-disclosure and to foster trust to create a 'friend-friend' relationship or, at a minimum, a 'researcher-participant' one.…”

Split personalities: Role conflict between the nurse and the nurse researcher

“…Nevertheless, there do need to be boundaries in the nurse researcher-participant relationship. The literature (Hinds, et al, 1992;Rubin and Rubin, 1995;Cartwright and Limandri, 1997;Wengraf, 2001) cautions that there is a need to consider the impact of the nurse researcher-participant relationship on the research, yet there have been few texts to illustrate to the nurse researcher how to deal with any emotive situations or emergencies that may arise.…”

You Have to Make Something of All That Rubbish, Do You? An Empirical Investigation of the Social Process of Qualitative Research

“…The poststructuralist turn, through its emphasis on reflexivity (Davies et al, 2004;Finlay, 2002;Lather, 1993), has discouraged idealization in the reconstructed logic of qualitative research. It has given researchers permission to attend and admit to previously secret aspects of their logic-inuse, such as how we cope with data in which participants contradict themselves (Power, 2004), how we feel when a participant comments about our bodies (Burns, 2006), how we negotiate multiple roles and relationships with participants (Cartwright & Limandri, 1997), how we deal with unexpected ethical dilemmas (Goodwin, Pope, Mort, & Smith, 2003), or what we do with "useless" interviews (Owens, 2006). This privileging of transparency over idealization in reconstructed logic has provided a new type of insight into the nature of qualitative research and qualitative knowledge.…”