In this article I am going to discuss the challenge in researching sensitive subjects and some of the ways this can be overcome by adopting a reflexive approach to conducting qualitative research. These particular challenges are detailed in relation to data collected from in-depth interviews from men and women bereaved by the death of their child following stillbirth and neonatal death. I discuss how a reflexive approach when combined with a voice centred relational method to analyse data, can be used to manage both the breadth and depth of the data as well as unearthing some of the ways in which men and women contextualised their experiences in relation to aspects of their lived biography. I propose that these combined approaches permit an explicit account of how the analysis was conducted and critically, how the researcher impacts upon the research process and product.
AhoA.L.TarkkaM.T.KurkiP.A. and KaunoenM. (2009) ‘Father's experience of social support after the death of a child.’American Journal of Men's Health, 3, (2): 93–103.
2.
BeharR. (1996) The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology that Breaks Your Heart. Boston: Beacon Press.
3.
BrownL.M., & GilliganC. (1992) Meeting at the Crossroads: Women's Psychology and Girl's Development. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
4.
BrunerJ. (1990) Acts of Meaning. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
5.
BurrG. (1996) ‘Unfinished business: Interviewing family members of critically ill patients.’Nursing Inquiry, 3: 172–177.
6.
CainA.C., and CainB.S. (1964) “On replacing a child.”Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry3: 443–456.
7.
Centre for Maternal and Child Enquires (2011) Perinatal Mortality 2009. London: CMACE.
8.
DavidsonD. (2008). ‘A Technology of Care: Caregiver Response to Perinatal Loss.’Women's Studies International Forum, Special Edition, Women and Technologies of Reproduction31(4): 278–284.
9.
DensizN.K., and LincolnY.S. (2000) Handbook of Qualitative Research. (2nd edition). London: Sage.
10.
DeckerS.E.NaugheA.E.Carter-VisscherR.BellK. and SeifertA. (2011) ‘Ethical Issues in Research on Sensitive Topics. Participant Experience of distress.’, Journal of Empirical Methods on Human Research. An International Journal. 6,11: 55–64
11.
DonA. (2005) Fathers Feel too. London: Bosun.
12.
EllisC. (1995) Final Negotiations: A Story of Love, Loss and Chronic Illness. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
13.
EllisC. and BergerL. (2003) Their story/ my story/ our story; Including the researcher's experience in interview research. In GubriumJ.F. and HolsteinJ.A. (Eds.) Postmodern Interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
14.
EtheringtonK. (2004) Becoming a Reflexive Researcher. Using ourselves in research. London: Jessica Kingsley.
15.
FinkenbeinerA. (1996) After the death of a child. Living with loss through the years. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University press.
16.
FontanaA and FreyJ.H. (2000) The interview: From structured interviews to negotiated text. In DenzinN.K. & LincolnY.S. (Eds.) Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd edition) Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.
17.
FrankA. (1995) The wounded storyteller: Body, illness and ethics. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
18.
FreemanM. (1993) Rewriting the Self: History, Memory, Narrative. London: Routledge.
19.
FrostJ. (2004) Uncertain Age: Late Motherhood and Early Miscarriage. Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
20.
GiddensA. (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.
21.
GilbertM. (1985) The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe during the Second World War. New York: Holt, Rineheart and Winston.
22.
GroutL.A., and RomanoffB.D. (2000) ‘The myth of the replacement child: Parents' stories and practices after perinatal death.’Death Studies, 24: 93–113.
23.
JonesK. (2013) Parental Perspectives on Grief and loss Following Perinatal Death. Saarburken, Germany: Lambert Academic Press
24.
JordanJ.LynchU.MoutrayM.O'HaganM., T.OrrJ.PeakeS. and PowerJ. (2007) 'Using Focus Groups to Research Sensitive Issues: Insights from Group Interviews on Nursing in the Northern Ireland “Troubles.”International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 6, (4): 1–19.
25.
JosselsonR. (1996) Ethics and Process in the Narrative Study of Lives, 4. London: Sage.
26.
JosselsonR. (2004) ‘The Hermeneutics of Faith and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion’. Narrative Inquiry, 14 (1): 1–28.
27.
LangerL.L. (1991) Holocaust Testimonies: The ruins of memory. London: Yale University Press.
28.
LayneL. (2003) Motherhood lost. A feminist account of pregnancy loss in America. London: Routledge.
29.
LewisC. (1998) ‘Loss and change on the neonatal intensive care unit.’Paediatric Nursing, 10:21–23.
30.
LeeR. (1993) Doing Research on Sensitive Topics. London: Sage.
31.
LetherbyG. (2003) Feminist Research In Theory and Practice. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
32.
LovellA. (1983) ‘Some Questions of Identity: Late Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Perinatal Loss.’Social Science and Medicine17: 755–761.
33.
LovellA.(1997) Death at the beginning of life. In FieldD. & HockeyJ. and SmallN. (Ed.) Death, Gender and Ethnicity. London: Routledge.
34.
LynchM. (2000) ‘Against reflexivity as an academic virtue and source of privileged knowledge.’Theory, Culture and Society17: 26–54.
35.
LundqvistA.M. and NilsunT. (1998) ‘Neonatal death and parents' grief. Experience, behaviour and attitudes of Swedish nurses.’, Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 12: 246–50.
36.
MauthnerN. and DoucetA. (1998) Reflections on a Voice Centred Relational Method. In RibbensJ. and EdwardsR. (Eds.) Feminist Dilemmas in Qualitative Research: Public Knowledge and Private Lives. London: Sage.
37.
McCoskerH.BernardA. and GerberR. (2001) ‘Undertaking Sensitive Research: Issues and Strategies for Meeting the Safety Needs of All Participants.’Qualitative Social Research2,1: 22.
38.
MorleyL. (2006) Interrogating patriarchy: The challenges of feminist research, in MorleyL. & WalshC. (Eds.) Breaking boundaries women in higher education. London: Taylor Francis.
39.
OkleyJ. (1992) Anthropology and autobiography: Participatory experience and embodied knowledge. In OkleyJ. & CallawayH. (Eds.) Anthropology and Autobiography. London: Routledge.
40.
OchbergR.L. (1994) Life stories and storied lives. In LibelichA. (Ed.) Exploring Identity and Gender: The Narrative Study of lives'. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.
41.
ParkesP. (2011) Rescuing the inner child. Therapy for Adults Sexually Abused as Children. London: Human Horizon Press.
42.
PatersonB.GregoryD. and ThorneS. (1999) ‘A protocol for researcher safety.’Qualitative health Research, 9, 2: 259–269.
43.
SarbinT.R. (1986) The narrative as a root metaphor for psychology. In SarbinT.R. (Ed.) Narrative Psychology: The Storied Nature of Human Conduct. New York: Praeger.
44.
StilesW. (1993) ‘Quality control in qualitative research.’Clinical Psychology Review13: 593–618.
