Researching the Vulnerable

A Guide to Sensitive Research Methods

Pranee Liamputtong

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781446235614
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Research & Methodology
• Index: Social Sciences

?This book is refreshing, both as an addition to the general literature and as a text that considers cultural and social issues in studies relating to improving the situation of vulnerable people…. [T]his book will be a helpful, accessible and interesting resource for novice and experienced researchers alike in a number of fields? - Nurse Researcher

?Pranee Liamputtong has offered a well organized, clear and accessible work in Researching the Vulnerable…this book can offer very good guidance to the postgraduate student who is willing to focus in qualitative research methods, but also to an experienced researcher who may consider testing out its procedures or eventually is attempting to put into practice innovative qualitative research procedures? - Sociological Research Online

Researching Vunerable People takes as its starting point the particular considerations and sensitivities of being a researcher faced with a subject group at the margins of society, and explores the ethical, practical and methodological implications of working with such groups.

Pranee Liamputtong is an experienced textbook author, and in this book she attempts to explore qualitative methods using examples, drawn from around the world, from the wide variety of contexts that might count as ?researching the vulnerable?. Numerous salient points for the conduct of research within vulnerable groups of people, including ethical and moral issues, are considered, and discussed in the context of sensitive and innovative research methods.

1

The Sensitive Researcher: Introduction to Researching Vulnerable People

Chapter Objectives 1

Introduction 1

The ‘Vulnerable’ and Sensitive Research 2

The ‘Vulnerable’: Who are these Populations? 2

Sensitive Research 5

Qualitative Research: Researching Sensitive Issues 7

Theoretical Framework 9

Feminism and Feminist Research 9

Postmodernism 14

Conclusion 20

Starting research from the standpoint of the oppressed is valid because it is often the lives and experiences of oppressed people that provide significant insight and perspective. Complex human relations can become visible when research is started at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

(Hesse-Biber et al. 2004: 16)

The goal of research is ‘that of discerning and uncovering the actual facts of [people’s]’ lives and experience, facts that have been hidden, inaccessible, suppressed, distorted, misunderstood, ignored’.

(DuBois 1985, cited in Bergen 1993: 200)

Chapter Objectives

In this chapter, readers will be introduced to the following issues:

• An preamble to the text.
• The concepts of the vulnerable population and sensitive research.
• The utilisation of qualitative research in researching vulnerable people.
• A theoretical framework including feminist research and postmodernism.

Introduction

It is almost inevitable in the present climate of our fractured world that sensitive researchers will have to engage with the vulnerable, disadvantaged and marginalised groups as it is likely that these population groups will be confronted with more and more problems to their health and well-being. Despite this, there have been few books that document and provide advice on how to go about performing sensitive research with vulnerable people. This, as Margaret Melrose (2002: 338) contends, may leave us, as sensitive researchers, ‘feeling methodologically vulnerable, verging on the distressingly incapable, because of emotional and anxiety challenges, and thus ill equipped to deal with some of the issues that may arise in this context’.

In this book, I attempt to bring together numerous salient points for the conduct of research among vulnerable people. The task of undertaking research with vulnerable people presents researchers with unique opportunities, but also dilemmas (Pyett 2001; Melrose 2002; Dickson-Swift 2005). My discussions are by no means exhaustive, but I include issues pertaining to both the researched and the researcher. I hope that throughout this book, I will be able to provide some thought-provoking points so that our sensitive research may proceed well and that we may still retain ethical values in our approach.

The ‘Vulnerable’ and Sensitive Research

Social researchers increasingly undertake research on topics which are ‘sensitive’ as they are concerned with behaviour that is ‘intimate, discreditable, or incriminating’ (Renzetti and Lee 1993: ix). De Laine (2000: 67) refers to these sensitive areas as ‘back regions’. Accordingly, back regions are ‘private space, where personal activities take place and only “insiders” participate’. To a researcher, this ‘private space’ renders ‘the need to be sensitive to the confidences and intimacies of others. One who intrudes into private space may pose a threat or risk to actors who fear exposure and sanctions’ (see also Lee 1993; Wolcott 1995). De Laine’s (2000) position situates neatly within the private space of the ‘vulnerable’ populations that I am discussing in this book.

The ‘Vulnerable’: Who are these Populations?

A precise definition of the ‘vulnerable’ is problematic as the concept is socially constructed (Moore and Miller 1999). Silva (1995: 15) suggests that a vulnerable person is an individual who experiences ‘diminished autonomy due to physiological/psychological factors or status inequalities’. Based on Silva’s definition, Moore and Miller (1999: 1034) contend that vulnerable individuals are people who ‘lack the ability to make personal life choices, to make personal decisions, to maintain independence, and to self-determine’. Therefore, vulnerable individuals may ‘experience real or potential harm and require special safeguards to ensure that their welfare and rights are protected’. Vulnerable populations, according to Jacquelyn Flaskerud and Betty Winslow (1998: 69), are ‘social groups who have an increased relative risk or susceptibility to adverse health outcomes’. These vulnerable people then will include those who are ‘impoverished, disenfranchised, and/or subject to discrimination, intolerance, subordination, and stigma’ (Nyamathi 1998: 65). Based on these descriptions, we may include children, the elderly, ethnic communities, immigrants, sex workers, the homeless, gay men and lesbians and women (Nyamathi 1998: 65; Flaskerud and Winslow 1998; Russell 1999; Weston 2004). Adeline Nyamathi (1998: 65) also argues that historically, people suffering from chronic illness, the mentally ill and the caregivers of the chronically ill are also referred to as vulnerable populations.

The term ‘vulnerable’ is often used interchangeably with such terms as ‘sensitive’, the ‘hard-to-reach’, and ‘hidden populations’ (see Melrose 2002; Benoit et al. 2005). To Wayne Wiebel (1990: 6), the term ‘hidden population’ points to a group of people ‘whose membership is not readily distinguished or enumerated based on existing knowledge and/or sampling capabilities’. Wiebel argues that this definition is particularly applicable to the hidden population in research relating to drug trends and patterns of drug use. We may extend Weber’s group to include sex workers, bouncers, gang members and those engaging in so-called ‘illegal’ activities including burglaries. As Cecilia Benoit and others (2005: 264) suggest, sex workers are likely to be legally and socially labelled as ‘“outcast”-the whore stigma typically permeates all aspects of a sex worker’s life’. Similar to other stigmatised people (see Goffman 1963; Falk 2001; Melrose 2002), women who sell sex services are discriminised and rejected by other societal members. Due to their social stigma, sex workers tend to be isolated from the community and society. This often weakens any support and social networks they have, and, hence, increases their vulnerability to stress, depression and other ill health (see also Downe 1997; Wojcicki and Malala 2001; Melrose 2002).

Tammie Quest and Catherine Marco (2003: 1297) refer to the ‘vulnerable’ as people with ‘social vulnerability’. They contend that some population groups, including children, the unemployed, the homeless, drug addicts, sex workers and ethnic and religious minority groups, face particular social vulnerability. When these groups of people are involved in research, they need special care from the researchers. According to Howard Stone (2003: 149), the ‘vulnerable’ are those who are ‘likely to be susceptible to coercive or undue influence’. To Stone (2003), the ‘vulnerable’ include children, pregnant women, mentally disabled persons and those who are ‘economically or educationally disadvantaged’. Samantha Punch (2002: 323) suggests that children are marginalised in an adult-dominated society, and as such they ‘experience unequal power relations with adults’ in their lives. In this sense, children are particularly vulnerable in society, especially when their situation involves abusive behaviour on the part of adults in their lives (see also Melrose 2002). Some groups may be vulnerable due to their so-called ‘legal status’. Some immigrants in the United States, for example, are undocumented immigrants (see Birman 2005). Due to their illegal status, they are denied access to health and social services. Most of these groups live in poverty, and most are employed in seasonal cropping industries which are prone to poor health and bad living conditions.

Other vulnerable groups may also experience several factors that diminish their autonomy and marginalise their lives. Their vulnerabilities are then double, hence the terms ‘doubly vulnerable persons’ (Moore and Miller 1999: 1034), ‘multi-faceted vulnerability’ (Radley et al. 2005: 274) and ‘overlapping marginality’ (Madriz 1998: 7) have been coined. For example, these doubly vulnerable populations may include women who are single mothers and who come from ethnic backgrounds and live in poverty. Their social statuses as women, single mothers, ethnic persons and low-class individuals render them doubly vulnerable. This may also apply to low-income black men who sell sex on streets, gay men living with HIV/AIDS, homeless young Asian men living with mental health problems and drug dependents. Men who have sex with men, and intravenous drug users share hidden population characteristics. They, too, may become doubly stigmatised if they also engage in trade in sex (see also Romero-Daza et al. 2003).

In this book, I refer to the ‘vulnerable’, ‘difficult-to-access’ and ‘hidden populations’ of several social groups: homeless people, children and adolescents, older people, people with disabilities, chronically and terminally ill persons, women who have experienced violence such as rape and domestic violence, female and male sex workers, gay men and lesbians, indigenous populations, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, the mentally ill, illicit drug users and dealers, and those who are affected by stigmatised diseases such as mental illness and HIV/AIDS. The list is not exhaustive, but these groups of people are often hard to reach; they are the silent, the hidden, the deviant, the tabooed, the marginalised and hence ‘invisible’ populations in society (Stone 2003).

The reasons for their invisibility are many and may include their marginality, lack of opportunity to voice their concerns, fear of their identity being disrespected, stigma attached to their social conditions, heavy responsibilities and scepticism about being involved in research (Sieber 1992; Lee 1993; Polit and Hungler 1995; Silva 1995; Scambler and Scambler 1997; Moore and Miller 1999;Anderson and Hatton 2000; Pyett 2001; Dunne et al. 2002; Morse 2002; Wenger 2002; Stone 2003; Weston 2004; Benoit et al. 2005; Birman 2005; Fisher and Ragsdale 2005). Lynn Cannon and her colleagues (1988) state that women from ethnic backgrounds and low socioeconomic backgrounds are less willing and able to participate in research due to their heavy responsibilities and their well-founded scepticism about the value of social research (see also Edwards 1990; Phoenix 1994). Some vulnerable people may face pressing socioeconomic needs that limit their participation in research (Anderson and Hatton 2000). Dina Birman (2005: 197) suggests that most undocumented immigrants in the United States, do not wish to be identified and, hence, will avoid participation in any research, especially if the research reveals their identification to authorities. Refugees may ‘feel vulnerable’ in taking part in any research due to their past experiences of dealing with authorities (Liamputtong Rice 1996; Birman 2005). For others, like sex workers, as Cecilia Benoit and colleagues (2005: 264) suggest, simply to be identified as belonging to the group can be threatening. Being a part of the sex trade can subject one to hate, scorn and prosecution. These people are, therefore, ‘distrustful of non-members, do whatever they can to avoid revealing their identities, and are likely to refuse to cooperate with outsiders or to give unreliable answer to questions about themselves and their networks’ (see also Heckathorn 1997).

Sensitive Research

A closely related issue with vulnearable and marginalised people is the concept of ‘sensitive research’. Research is deemed as sensitive, Kaye Wellings and colleagues (2000: 256) suggest, ‘if it requires disclosure of behaviours or attitudes which would normally be kept private and personal, which might result in offence or lead to social censure or disapproval, and/or which might cause the respondent discomfort to express’. In this sense, research into topics like sexual conduct and preferences (gays or lesbians, children as sex workers, the use of drugs and abuse, illegal activities, illness status (particularly stigmatised disorders, e.g. schizophrenia, bulimia, anexoria and HIV/AIDS), miscarriage and abortion to name a few, may be included within the definition of sensitive research. In her research with mature women and bulimia, Janet Robertson (2000: 531–32) contends that sensitive research may include research which involves the private sphere of an individual. In her research, she is involved with women who ‘engage in deep and meaningful conversations about life experiences, many of which have not previously been voiced’. This potentially carries an element of risk to the well-being of the participants and to herself as a researcher. Once the women trusted Robertson, they told her about their isolation and their attempt to keep their bulimia secret. The women told her they felt ‘ashamed and disgusted’ by their own behaviour. By disclosing their secret to her, these women have a lot to lose.

Socially sensitive research, according to Loan Sieber and Barbara Stanley (1988: 49), encompasses ‘studies in which there are potential consequences or implications, either directly for the participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research’. Although one might argue that all research has its consequences and implications, some groups of people may have to deal with the consequences or implications more than others, and hence these groups of individuals are deemed more vulnerable than others. Marina Barnard (2005: 2) refers sensitive research to as those projects dealing with the ‘socially-charged and contentious areas of human behaviour’, such as the impact of parental drug problems on the well-being of their children. Rebecca Campbell (2002: 33) contends that sensitive topics would be ‘often the “difficult” topics – trauma, abuse, death, illness, health problems, violence, crime – that spawn reflection on the role of emotions in research’.

Claire Renzetti and Raymond Lee (1993: ix) suggest that sensitive research includes studies which are ‘intimate, discreditable or incriminating’. Lee (1993: 4) too convincingly argues that sensitive research is ‘research which potentially poses a substantial threat to those who are or have been involved in it’. And this includes not only the research participants but also the researchers (Jones and Tannock 2000; Robertson 2000; Melrose 2002). In her recent piece of research on undertaking sensitive health research, Virginia Dickson-Swift (2005: 11) contends that sensitive research ‘has the potential to impact on all of the people who are involved in it’. She also argues that this definition obliges sensitive researchers ‘to examine the potential for harm to the researchers as well as to the research participants’. As I shall show in this book, researchers are caught in emotionally laden research, and they too are vulnerable to harm as much as the participants in their sensitive researches.

Renzetti and Lee (1993: 6) point to some areas that will make research sensitive and pose more threats and create vulnerability of the researched and these include the following:

• Studies which are concerned with deviance and social control.
• Inquiries which exercise coercion or domination.
• Research that intrudes into the private lives or deeply personal experiences of the research participants.
• Research that deals with sacred things.

Raymond Lee (1993: 4) contends that sensitive research poses several threats to the people: intrusive threat, threat of sanction and political threat. Research which intrudes into private lives creates stressful experiences and will pose intrusive threats to the research participants. Threats of sanction encompass researches which result in stigmatisation or incrimination of the researched. Political threats occur when the research involves social conflict and powerful individuals in society. Lee (1993: 3) also suggests that sensitive research stretches beyond the consequences of carrying out the research, but methodological issues are also inherently essential in doing such research. Lee advocates the need to examine this issue from the view of both the researchers and the researched, and this is what I have done in this book.

From the definitions outlined in this section, it is clear that sensitive research encompasses many areas which are deemed to be sensitive. According to Lee (1993) and Renzetti and Lee (1993), sensitive research includes deviance behaviours, drug use and abuse, death, sexual behaviours and any so-called ‘taboo topics’ including child prostitution. Claire Draucker (1999) and Virginia Dickson-Swift (2005) include issues involving abuse, death and violence as sensitive research. In this book, I would include issues like miscarriage, abor...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Childhood Memory
• 1 The Sensitive Researcher: Introduction to Researching Vulnerable People
• 2 Moral and Ethical Issues In Researching Vulnerable People
• 3 The Vulnerable Research Participants: Procedural Sensibilities
• 4 The Sensitive and Vulnerable Researcher
• 5 Traditional Interviewing Research Methods Appropriate for Researching Vulnerable People
• 6 Flexible and Collaborative Investigative Methods
• 7 Innovative and Alternative Research Methods in Consideration
• 8 (Re)Presentation of Vulnerable Voices – Writing Research Findings
• A Closing Word.… For Now
• Glossary
• References
• Index