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Ethics and organisations with the staff in the locked unit and the length of time I had been part of the institution led to a decision to revoke the ban for my research (Johnson & Scott, 1997, p. 30). Interestingly, in the light of this change, Johnson became focused on the process of deinstitutionalisation, making her research a unique study of the impact of this policy shift on the intellectually disabled women, their families and the staff inside the institution. This brought added challenges, not the least being that the families thus became research participants as well. The researcher also became privy to the conflictual processes within the organisation as staff faced the loss of jobs and the uncertainty of the process of closure. . . . many of these families had put their own ambivalence and pain behind the walls of the locked unit with their relative. Now with the decision to close the institution, these feelings were released, and the existing processes of deinstitutionalisation did nothing to resolve them...the complexity of my study increased. I became involved in management meetings and in work with the people closing the institution. I found the gap between these encounters and life in the unit enormous. Because of the industrial disputes arising from the closure decision, I found myself privy to information from groups in conflict with each other (Johnson & Scott, 1997, p. 31). It is fortunate that most qualitative studies in human service settings are not as challenging as Kelley Johnson’s turned out to be, but all research conducted in organisations will present some difficulties as organisations are complex and dynamic sociopolitical worlds. Conducting research within such settings inevitably adds to their complexity. ‘Getting out’ also creates its ethical and political challenges. Issues about differences in interpretation also arise when feedback occurs before the report is completed. While the point of view of participants about a social process is important, it is also self-interested and embedded in the power relations of the community. The final interpretation has to rest with the researcher, except in action research in which discussion and negotiation are a part of the research design (Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health 1995, p. 12). Organisational researcher Richard Scott has identified the later stages of a study as being particularly likely to be fraught by such problems. 33
Qualitative research in practice ...misunderstandings between the researcher and his subjects often come to the surface on the occasion when the research findings are published ...even the researcher who does not centre his analysis on deviations (from rules or ideals) of one sort or another may still offend his subjects simply by applying his particular perspective, for he attempts to take an objective and relative view of matters which from the standpoint of his subjects are value-laden and unique. How much and what sorts of things to tell subjects about the research in progress and how much and what sorts of things to put into the published report—these are the kinds of ethical questions to which the open field researcher will find no easy solutions (Scott, 1969, pp. 571–2). While such issues are relevant in all social research, they are of critical importance in qualitative research in the human services. Feedback loops from the research to policy and practice will often be central to the research, and the tensions which may arise need to be anticipated and managed in an honest and open manner. Stories from the field While it is tempting to ask for clearer guidelines to assist researchers in their decision-making about ethical issues, it is illusory to think that there will be simple prescriptive solutions to the complex ethical and organisational dilemmas inherent in qualitative research in human services settings. Ultimately many of the dilemmas require individual judgements based on the characteristics of specific situations. Unfortunately there is a lack of case studies or detailed descriptive accounts of how different researchers have grappled with ethical issues in the research process. The lack of such accounts may be partly due to the apprehension researchers feel about exposing their decisions ‘warts and all’ and leaving themselves open to criticism. We hope that the following first-hand accounts of how qualitative researchers have struggled with some of these issues may help others in their endeavours to conduct ethical qualitative research. After all, ‘Ethics is not just a nice thing to have; research is fundamentally weak without it’ (Deetz, 1985, p. 254). In the following examples, the complexity and, at times, the interrelationship of ethical issues and organisational issues which can be involved in qualitative research in the human services are highlighted. 34
Page 2 and 3: Qualitative research in practice St
Page 4 and 5: Contents The researchers vi Table o
Page 6 and 7: Contents 8 Presenting and writing u
Page 8 and 9: The researchers Anne Coleman began
Page 10 and 11: The researchers into factors associ
Page 12 and 13: Table of research studies Tim and W
Page 14 and 15: Preface In this book we aim to brid
Page 16 and 17: Preface known to us, either through
Page 18 and 19: 1 From practice to research In the
Page 20 and 21: From practice to research social wo
Page 22 and 23: From practice to research in relati
Page 24 and 25: From practice to research consumer
Page 26 and 27: From practice to research parent—
Page 28 and 29: From practice to research space—t
Page 30 and 31: From practice to research what peop
Page 32 and 33: From practice to research developed
Page 34 and 35: From practice to research or exit f
Page 36 and 37: From practice to research tracked d
Page 38 and 39: 2 Ethics and organisations The best
Page 40 and 41: Ethics and organisations relevant i
Page 42 and 43: Ethics and organisations Informed c
Page 44 and 45: Ethics and organisations Yet a mino
Page 46 and 47: Ethics and organisations Observatio
Page 48 and 49: Ethics and organisations Ethical an
Page 52 and 53: Ethics and organisations Dorothy Sc
Page 54 and 55: Ethics and organisations happened,
Page 56 and 57: Ethics and organisations an intensi
Page 58 and 59: Ethics and organisations to outside
Page 60 and 61: Ethics and organisations Yvonne: To
Page 62 and 63: Ethics and organisations Dorothy: R
Page 64 and 65: Ethics and organisations can only e
Page 66 and 67: In-depth interviewing them or not m
Page 68 and 69: In-depth interviewing Stories give
Page 70 and 71: In-depth interviewing experience of
Page 72 and 73: In-depth interviewing There is a re
Page 74 and 75: In-depth interviewing data sought,
Page 76 and 77: In-depth interviewing interview. Th
Page 78 and 79: In-depth interviewing Generally, th
Page 80 and 81: In-depth interviewing in-depth inte
Page 82 and 83: In-depth interviewing Yvonne: So a
Page 84 and 85: In-depth interviewing Sampling Yvon
Page 86 and 87: In-depth interviewing much they tal
Page 88 and 89: In-depth interviewing encouraged mu
Page 90 and 91: In-depth interviewing contact, the
Page 92 and 93: Observation Choosing observation Li
Page 94 and 95: Observation The observation process
Page 96 and 97: Observation When to observe and for
Page 98 and 99: Observation Anne Coleman—Five sta
Page 100 and 101:
Observation Yvonne: Anne: Yvonne: A
Page 102 and 103:
Observation Anne: Another useful th
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Observation couldn’t understand h
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Observation interesting because I s
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Observation of questions separate f
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Tailoring data collection We focus
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Tailoring data collection The exper
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Tailoring data collection be achiev
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Tailoring data collection Making us
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Tailoring data collection children
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Tailoring data collection collectio
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Tailoring data collection • Settl
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Tailoring data collection Caroline
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Tailoring data collection Dorothy:
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Tailoring data collection Dorothy:
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Tailoring data collection Tim: real
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Tailoring data collection supermark
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Tailoring data collection Wendy: th
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6 Mixing methods ‘Mixed methods
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Mixing methods the different compon
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Mixing methods methods which allowe
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Mixing methods obtained through one
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Mixing methods in itself. Rather, t
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Mixing methods and how they would e
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Mixing methods violence; that they
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Mixing methods incredibly arrogant
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Mixing methods about 1200 organisat
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Mixing methods Yvonne: that overarc
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Mixing methods Yvonne: Cheryl: Yvon
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Mixing methods reducing the benefit
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Analysing data possible about what
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Analysing data sometimes referred t
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Analysing data Team research makes
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Analysing data crying—and I could
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Analysing data Analysing the observ
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Analysing data I’d said that’,
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Analysing data straight to the inte
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Analysing data They also highlight
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Presenting and writing up be used.
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Presenting and writing up participa
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Presenting and writing up the princ
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Presenting and writing up difficult
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Presenting and writing up adopted c
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Presenting and writing up Yvonne: L
Page 188 and 189:
Presenting and writing up of the th
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Presenting and writing up Tim: stor
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Presenting and writing up Anne felt
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9 Epilogue: From research to practi
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Epilogue are presented to the way i
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Epilogue • Diffusion (disseminati
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Epilogue practical and simple langu
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Epilogue violence, the things we em
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Epilogue [it] was dragging me along
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Epilogue through reporting the expe
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References Beresford, B. 1997 Perso
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References Darlington, Y., Osmond,
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References Johnson, K. & Scott, D.
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References ——1995 In-depth Inte
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References ——1990 Writing Strat
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References Tilse, C. 1994 ‘Long t
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Index Page numbers in italics refer
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Index ‘getting in/getting on/gett
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Index quantitative research 3; meth
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