Archives
What's emotion go to do with it? Reflections on the personal in health research
Glennys Howarth
Centre for Death and Society
University of Bath
United Kingdom
Abstract
Some years ago I was asked by a research student experiencing the emotional stresses of researching in a nursing home, why it was that sociologists, and notably those working in the field of health, were expected to be "made of stone". It crossed my mind to tell her that PhD research was an apprenticeship and that when she had survived the initial trial she would have picked up crucial survival strategies along the way. After a moment of reflection, however, I thought better of that explanation, realising that no matter how sophisticated the techniques employed or experienced the individual, researchers are always susceptible to the emotional pressures of fieldwork.
There is a body of literature that considers the nature of sensitive research in the social sciences. Some of this literature addresses issues that are either politically or sexually sensitive (see, for example, Lee, 1993). Other texts provide first hand accounts of the nature and problems of fieldwork, informing and educating us of some of the difficulties and challenges experienced by researchers (Cannon, 1989; Kellehear, 1989; Young & Lee, 1995). Common among these are the accounts of ethnographers whose project it is to become an 'insider' in a specific group or community (Foote Whyte, 1955; Hockey, 1990; Howarth, 1993). A further swathe of literature takes a feminist approach, urging researchers to reject the objective, detached research paradigm and instead to cultivate intimacy and empathy with their female respondents (Finch, 1984; Oakley, 1981; Stanley & Wise, 1983). Yet each of these sources of insight appears to be discrete and relevant only to a specific issue or individual. This leads to an assumption that only certain types of research are sensitive, and that only particular types of individuals may find research emotionally challenging. With the exception of feminist explanations' , none question the nature of the sociological enterprise that discourages contemplation of the researchers' emotional involvement with the research.
Of course, some social scientists would argue that examining the emotional experiences of researchers is a wasted exercise as it is not they who are important but the subjects of the study - the researcher is merely a tool for finding out about, and possibly improving, the social situation of the group under study. From this standpoint, time spent considering researchers' experiences would be better utilised examining the effect of research strategies on the respondents themselves. As Cook and Fonow stress, "[r]ejection of the artificial separation of the subject and object has led feminist sociologists to question the strict dichotomy between research and women who are the focus of investigation" (1990: 76). The issue is an important one for researchers, and particularly for those working in health fields as it raises ethical questions about the nature of the interaction between researcher and researched and, inevitably, has ramifications for the methodological approach and the collection, interpretation and presentation of data'.
In much health research, the researcher acts a mediator between research subjects and policy makers - the way in which they approach the field and the anxieties and preoccupations they take with them will inevitably slant the nature, direction and results of each study. The content of the questions and the manner in which they are asked, the responses given, data interpreted and reports prepared depend to some extent on the sensitivities of the researcher. There is, however, an assumption among social scientists that those who become emotionally affected by their work are poor researchers; not only have they breached the object/subject divide but in so doing they have shown themselves to be weak individuals incapable of setting aside their feelings and anxieties. There is also an assumption that those who experience research as emotionally challenging are in the minority.
This paper develops the suggestion that health research is frequently experienced as problematic and ambiguous. It begins by discussing two research projects conducted to explore the impact of health research on researchers themselves. The question is then asked as to why this is not addressed in the texts on methods training. The discussion which follows considers the extent to which traditional social science methods and the gendered nature of much health research is responsible for concealing some of the difficulties researchers face. Strategies are then proposed which aim to support researchers whilst acknowledging the relevance of their experiences for the research process.
References
Bowie, F., Kirkwood, D. & Ardener, S. (eds) (1993)
Women and Missions'. Past and present:
anthropological and historical perceptions, Berg,
Providence.
Cannan, S. (1989) 'Social research in stressful settings;
Difficulties for the sociologist studying the treatment of
breast cancer'. Sociology of Health and illness, 11, 1:
62-77.
Comfort, A. (1964) Ageing: Biology of senescence,
Rinehart & Winston, New York
Cook, J.A. & Fonow, M.M. (1990) 'Knowledge and
women's interests: Issues of epistemology and
methodology in feminist sociological research'. In J.
McCart Nielsen (ed) Feminist Research Methods:
Exemplary readings in the Social Sciences, Westview
Press, London.
Field, D. (1989) Nursing the Dying, Tavistock/Routledge,
London.
Finch, J. (1984) 'It's great to have someone to talk to: The
ethics and politics of interviewing women'. In C. Bell &
H. Roberts (eds) Social Researching: Politics, problems
and practice, Routledge & Kegan Paul London.
Foole Whyle, W. (1955) 'Appendix A: On the evolution
of Street Corner Society', Street Corner Society, 4th edn.,
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Hochschild, A.R. (1983) The Managed Heart: The
commercialisation of human feelings, The University of
California Press, Berkeley, CA.
Hockey, J. (1990) Experiences of Death: An
anthropological account, Edinburgh University Press,
Edinburgh.
Howarth, G. (1993) 'Investigating deathwork'. In D.
Clark (ed) The Sociology of Death, Sociological
Review Monograph, No. 40: 221-237
Kellehear, A. (1989) 'Ethics and social research'. In J.
Perry (ed) Doing Fieldwork. Eight personal accounts
of social research, Deakin University Press, Geelong.
Lee, R. (1993) Doing Research on Sensitive Topics,
Sage, London.
Oakley, A. (1981), 'Interviewing women: A
contradiction in terms'. In H. Roberts (ed.), Doing
Feminist Research, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
Rowling, L. (1996) 'A comprehensive approach to
handling sensitive issues in schools, with special
reference to loss and grief', Pastoral Care, March:
17-21.
Russell, C. (forthcoming) 'Interviewing vulnerable old
people: Ethical and methodological implications of
imagining our subjects', Journal of Aging Studies.
Stanley, L. & Wise, S. (1983) 'Back into the persona or:
Our attempt to construct feminist research'. In G.
Bowles & R. Duelli Klein (eds) Theories of Women's
Studies, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
Wyn, J., Lumley, J. & Daly, J. (1996) 'Women's health:
Methods and ethics'. In J. Daly (ed) Ethical
Intersections: Health research, methods and researcher
responsibility, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Young, E. & Lee, R. (1996) 'Fieldworker feeling as data:
"emotion work" and "feeling rules" in first person
accounts of sociological fieldwork', Sociology of
Health and illness, monograph, V. James & J. Gabe,
(eds) Health and the Sociology of Emotions: 97-113.
eContent Home