An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

isolating experience was certainly not expected. For the duration of the data collectionperiod and afterwards I was immersed in the field and the data. To have the benefit ofopenness during the semi-structured interviews, an environment where the respondentscould talk freely was provided. However when the interviews were being recorded some ofthe respondents were less willing to volunteer information. They were generally cautiousabout what was said about the church and its doctrine in particular. They talked morefreely when the interaction was not being recorded.Hammersley (1993) reports that by complying with the dress code of the group theresearcher is complying with impression management. It may be necessary for theresearcher to adopt, at least in part, the dress code of the group being studied if the dresscode of the researcher is significantly different to that of the group. Another part ofimpression management is the vocabulary and the diction of the researcher if this isconsiderably different to that of the research group. As a researcher and born againChristian the spoken language was relatively easy to manage. Although I spoke theirlanguage I did not feel accepted as „one of them‟. The unspon language such as the dresscode was more difficult as there were aspects of the dress code that I have objected to formany years although I conformed to avoid conflict. As the researcher I was conforming fora different purpose, one of being accepted. This was not very effective when I wanted toexplore their views and perceptions on a sensitive topic of healing, in more depth.On exploring my own experience as a researcher compared to that of a church member, itbecame evident that my own pattern of behaviour had to change (taking notes) and thiswas an extremely uncomfortable position. This position of discomfort did not changethroughout the eighteen months of the data collection period. I wanted to participate in the76