1.6.1 Challenges and tensions in qualitative research (193)

Jennifer Wingham, Research Nurse, Research and Development Directorate, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Truro, United Kingdom Jenny.Wingham@rcht.cornwall.nhs.uk

Abstract:

This paper presents the challenges and tensions encountered while conducting qualitative research with 31 heart failure patients recruited between October 2004 and September 2006. Qualitative research involves individuals creating their narrative in telling their story. In this study, some interviews also involved carers presenting the researcher with the challenge of dealing with intertwined stories and determining how this affects the research process and outcomes. There is a challenge and tension in interpreting powerful rhetoric to derive meaning data. Some articulate individuals make powerful case studies but there is a tension in remaining true to the individual while some of the power is lost through coding and comparison with others. Contradictory statements and seemingly unrealistic statements also tested the researchers. In reality researchers help shape the narrative as asserted by post-modernists (Scheurich 1997). The interview is a socially constructed situation and the researcher and the participant have their own agenda, influences and identity affected by factors such as tiredness, mood and relationships. Both the researcher and the participant also choose what to say and what to keep hidden and there is a skill in ethically eliciting the narrative. The principle researcher is a nurse and identified how this affected both the researcher and participant. There can be a challenge and tension in meeting the needs of the research and the profession, particularly relating to patient knowledge and use of medicines. Qualitative researchers need to use critical reflexivity to aid the interview process and analysis. Using field notes, memo notes and a reflexive research diary provide a framework to account for what influences the researcher and set an audit trail for decisions made. They are useful tools for developing themes and demonstrating quality. Qualitative research is important in developing knowledge for nursing but it is far from a soft science.

Biography:

Jenny Wingham has experience of working with elderly people in acute, rehabilitation and community-based rehabilitation settings. A move to Cornwall opened the opportunity to work for a GP in cardiac rehabilitation research. While collecting data for an RCT she carried out a qualitive study on choice in cardiac rehabilitation. Having been bitten by the research bug she is currently completing a PhD with the Peninsula Medical School exploring the self-management experience of heart failure patients and the role of the specialist nurse.