The position of the researcher in relation to the research topic and the participants is a crucial consideration. As a learning disability nurse working in an academic setting, whose chronology of nursing spanned the 30 years focused on in the study, this positioning required reflexivity in approach in order to explore the influences of one’s own social reality on the data collected. Issues of power relationships needed to be considered and addressed as far as they possibly could. Additionally some of the participants were known to the researcher and some were not, the methodology here being important in acknowledging and ensuring any potential negative effects of this were mitigated against. Narrative research, particularly using a minimally structured approach, has been suggested and offers the opportunity to shift the power balance and empower participants to tell their story. BNIM also places the researcher in listening mode, as the first part of the interview takes place with no interruptions and just non-verbal encouragement, and, during the second part, the research, repeats back the phrases used by the participant when seeking expansion of aspects of the narrative (Wengraf, 2001). It was observed that for those participants who knew the researcher, phrases like ‘you know what I mean?’ were frequently used in the narrative, these were responded to with a non-verbal nod. There were challenges to this type of interviewing style for both the researcher and the participants who knew me, in that it felt uncomfortable at times, as if in a one-way conversation with someone who knew there was a shared understanding and history. This was less apparent for those participants who did not know the researcher, as they narrated their story without knowledge of a shared history. All participants were given an
explanation of the interview technique prior to the commencement of the interview and this appeared to aid understanding of the process. Shared histories and understandings can enhance data (Leicester, 1999; Oakley, 1981) through what Stanley (1993) describe as ‘epistemological privilege’. These shared understandings may also shape the narrative in relation to what the participant chooses to leave out of their story; shared understandings of Codes of Practice or unwritten codes of behaviour may shape the story as participants choose to present themselves in particular ways (Goffman, 1978). The elements of the story which are untold, it can be argued, are just as important as the told story (Wengraf 2001).
Throughout this study my key focus had been on ensuring the ‘voice’ of learning disability nurses was heard whilst recognizing that this is my ‘voice’ too. Choosing a method therefore that acknowledged my place as a researcher but also as part of the community I was researching was crucial. My role as researcher in the context of this study has been a privilege and also a challenge as a learning disability nurse who has also ‘lived’ the history described by the study participants. A reflexive approach throughout the process of undertaking the study allowed me to check my thoughts, assumptions and feelings as a learning disability nurse, to acknowledge and to challenge some of these. Identifying as a learning disability nurse with over thirty years of experience early on in the research process enabled me to explore research methods which would not ignore my position as a nurse but ensure that these were acknowledged and accounted for to ensure rigour and validity within that process. Having a supervision team made up of non-nurses and an advisor who is a learning disability nurse also allowed me open up discussions for challenge and the team provided another check for any assumptions I may have made.
There were numerous reasons why a narrative approach to my study was chosen, with two key reasons chosen. Firstly, there is a paucity of this type of research using these methodologies as, whilst learning disability nurses may write about their practice, there is less written about the practice of learning disability nursing from a narrative perspective. The stories of learning disability nurses as a group have not been subject to narrative analysis and there are few studies using biographical or autobiographical approaches to careers of learning disability nurses. This study would contribute to the small body of research in this area and therefore represents
an original contribution to the knowledge base. Secondly, the narrative helps us to understand professional practice, both in learning disability nursing, and in education, as we seek to understand who these nurses are, their identity and their career trajectories.
3.5.1 Communication with participants through the life of the project
A ‘blog’ for which all participants have the link (www.nickyphd.blogspot.com) was maintained by the researcher for the first five years of the study, which automatically updated to a ‘Facebook’ page through which participants could follow the progress of the project at any time. No identifiers were used within the blog, relating more generally to theoretical and methodological issues than to specifics. Ownership of the domain on which the blog sat changed in 2013 and I am now unable to maintain and update the blog. All participants remain in contact with me, however, either through social media or through email contact. The findings and various stages of the project have been presented at conferences annually, and it has been important to me to be able to update the participants on where I am presenting the study findings, maintaining my view that these stories ultimately belong to the participants.