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7.5.3 Method issues
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Chapter 7 Discussion
Phase one data collection methods were designed and developed from the
concept analysis of resident autonomy. This enabled consistency in the
exploration across the data sets. Interviews as a data collection tool on their own
may not always provide accurate details of real world practices, rather they
provide subjective interpretations of those practices. Therefore a combination of
interviews, observations and documentary data collection methods were used. If
a researcher chooses interviews as a data collection method then their interview
technique must be practised. The use of pilot interviews ensured that the
technique was sufficient to elicit the relevant information. The quality of the
interview is dependent on the skills of the interviewer. The researcher availed of
one-to-one tuition on research interview technique in order to develop these
skills prior to collecting the data. At times during the course of the interviews,
some participants tended to move away from the discussion topic and talk about
their own individual concerns. It was decided to allow the participant to talk as it
would be insensitive to show a lack of interest, and refocusing was done when
the participant was ready.
For the observational data collection, some interactions were not observable due
to the privacy needs of the resident (curtains around beds etc.) and the ethical
principles of the research. It is also recognised that observational data may be
vulnerable to the “Hawthorne effect” whereby people behave differently when
being observed. The researcher believes that her familiarity with the people in
the case study site helped to reduce this effect. However the researchers
familiarity with the environmentmay also be seen as a limitation this was
overcome by maintaining a reflective journal which helped the researcher to look
at issues with “new eyes” and therefore reduced the likelihood of missing
important data. It could be argued that observing for longer time periods may
have generated more data and different findings. However, given the experience
from the pilot, longer time periods may have yielded more data interms of
quantity but less in terms of quality. Furthermore the time sampling employed
ensured that an entire shift was observed.