3.8.1 Social desirability effect
Social desirability refers to the tendency of people to deny socially undesirable traits and to admit socially desirable ones (Phillips and Clancy 1972). It is based on people’s inclination to endorse statements on the basis of their implicit social desirability rather than on their actual content (Edwards, 1953, 1957, 1959;
Dohrenwend, 1966; Phillips and Clancy, 1970; cited in Phillips and Clancy, 1972). A social desirability bias may affect the validity of investigators’ results and researchers have discussed how this bias has influenced their findings. Bleek (1987) found that women in his research sample had lied in a survey to present themselves in a way that would make the nurses carrying out the survey respect them; for example, by saying that they were married when in reality they were not. However, Nachman (1984 cited in Bleek 1987) contests that lying is in fact a strategy to safeguard “social survival” and may provide a respondent’s only escape from potential embarrassment.
I was aware that a social desirability bias may have featured in my research in a number of ways. Firstly, in a professional sense, nurses may have felt obliged to present themselves as altruists when asked about why they became a nurse. In addition, when questioned about their reasons for migration, the nurses may have a legitimate fear of being judged, and may have resisted saying that they were
interested in earning more money as a primary motivating factor13. I employed a number of strategies to address these issues. I was aware of the need not to press for answers, especially as a few of the interview questions may have been perceived as being of a sensitive nature, for example why they migrated. My strategy was to time the questions so that they fell naturally after the respondent had “warmed up” with more neutral questions. I also reiterated to the respondent that the interviews were anonymous and they did not have to answer a question if they did not wish to.
However, in reality, it was difficult to gauge the impact of social desirability bias on the research findings.
3.8.2 Timing of interview
It is important to take into account when the interview takes place in relation to the timing of the migration event (Boyle, Halfacree and Robinson 1998). This is because the timing of the migration is intrinsically linked to the length of time that the individual has had to reflect on their experience. For example, if the respondent is interviewed about their recent migration, they may be more hesitant and less objective in
discussing their experience compared to when the same individual is interviewed later on. In order to take this into account, I interviewed respondents who had been in the country for more than six months (for consistency), and I noted details of exact migration timings and analysed them according to the respondent’s narrative. Interview timing may also be associated with recall problems that may affect the credibility of the results, especially if the migration event was a while ago. It was difficult to control for this in the research process, because of the reliance on the information that the respondents gave; however, it is still important to acknowledge the existence of memory recall issues and their potential impact on the findings.
13
In reality most respondents were comfortable taking about the financial motivations behind their migration.
3.8.3 Criteria for trustworthiness
If you find something that doesn’t fit in with everything else, don’t throw it away, it might just be true … that’s important.
Key informant, doctor in Malawi
It is important to address issues of trustworthiness throughout the research process and during interpretation stages to ensure that the qualitative research is of high quality (Stiles 1999). The three components of trustworthiness as defined by Bloomberg and Volpe (2008) are:
Credibility: how accurately the respondents are portrayed;
Dependability (or reliability): whether one can track the methods used to collect and analyse the data;
Transferability: whether or not the study used a representative sample. Transferability can also relate to ‘generalisability’, in terms of the extent to which the data can be applied to different populations or settings. However, generalisation of the results to other settings outside Malawi was not an intention of the study, and I have chosen to focus on issues relating to the transferability of the data as opposed to ensuring absolute generalisability. The steps taken to ensure that all three
components of trustworthiness were addressed throughout the research process are outlined in Table 3.4.
Table 3.4 Steps taken to ensure trustworthiness
This table is based on trustworthiness criteria developed by Bloomberg and Volpe (2008) and by McLeod (1994)
Component of trustworthiness
Steps taken Details
Credibility Maintaining reflexivity - Disclosure of assumptions and personal
characteristics such as gender, ethnicity and profession, which might have an impact on the research process (Mays and Pope 2000)
- Acknowledging expectations and then setting these aside to ensure objectivity Non-participant
observation in Malawi
- Prolonged involvement in the field to allow for an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon (Bloomberg and Volpe 2008)
Member validation - Checking findings with key informants and respondents
Triangulation - Collecting data from a variety of sources including documents, key informant interviews, non-participant observation Presenting variation in
results and negative findings
- Including cases that might not conform or challenge emergent findings
(Bloomberg and Volpe 2008, Graneheim and Lundman 1994)
Developing relationships with informants
- Creating rapport with respondents to encourage the disclosure of important data (McLeod 1994)
Dependability Presenting an audit trail*
- Providing a detailed description of how data were collected and analysed Consulting others
during data analysis
- Consulting supervisors during coding stage of data analysis, verifying codes Ensuring systematic
data collection**
-Taking notes during data collection on all the research steps
Transferability Including thick description
- Presenting rich descriptions of context and cultural background
- Situating the research in its historical and social context, for example the history of nursing in Malawi
Including a
representative and diverse interview sample
- Interviewing respondents from diverse backgrounds, representing different cadres, and living in different locations. This allows for the research question to be explored from various positions (Patton 1987; Adler and Adler 1988 cited in Graneheim and Lundman 1994)
*The audit trail is presented in Appendix 3
**As agreed by the British Sociological Association Medical Sociology Group (1996)
3.8.4 Reflexivity and the researcher’s position
Reflexivity refers to the influence of the researcher on the data and interpretation and is an essential component of the qualitative research process. Reflexivity and
transparency in the report of fieldwork activities is thought to be the only way to
control biases resulting from the status of the researcher, as well as their gender, age, and social status (De Tona 2006). There has been a call for researchers to locate themselves within the research process and to discuss the influence of their social background on data collection and analysis (Roberts 2002:13). This has become an important issue in migration research (Sheridan and Storch 2009) especially as
cultural differences may exist between the respondent and researcher. In the following paragraphs I expand on the reflexive process briefly described in Table 3.4. I present my position as a researcher by stating my cultural background, profession and gender; and assess how these may have affected the research study, in particular during data collection.
I am a young white female of European descent, working as a PhD researcher with a background in biological anthropology. I am not a member of the Malawian
respondents’ ethnic community or country, and I have not trained as a nurse. This may have influenced the way in which respondents perceived the study and my involvement. For example, I may have been perceived as having money (when in Malawi), or as representing a link to authority (when in the UK), which would not be favourable in light of issues relating to vulnerability of migrants. Also, not being a nurse may have affected the ways in which I interpreted the results and how the nurses’ perceived me. In order to overcome this last issue, I was in regular contact with an English nurse working in the UK and Malawi, who was able to check and verify the results and explain any nursing issues that I may not have been familiar with.
It is difficult to assess how gender may have influenced the research process, as being female may be a limitation or an advantage depending on the situation. In this research project being a female may have been an advantage in that the majority of the respondents were also female. Many feminists believe that it is beneficial for women to interview other women because of a shared understanding of experiences
(Merrill and West 2009). However, my status as a female also meant that in some cases the male respondents were given the wrong impression about my intentions to interview them, despite going through the formal process of the information sheet and informed consent, and this led to feelings of discomfort. The misunderstanding
surrounding my research aims relate strongly to Malawian cultural systems, where men would not expect a woman to be travelling alone to conduct interviews.
Throughout the research these cultural issues may have affected not only the way in which I was perceived by Malawian respondents, but may have led to some cultural bias during the interpretation of the data. Cultural differences are particularly important in migration research as problems can occur when the research is carried out by researchers from a different culture to that of the respondents (Halfacree and Boyle 1993), in that the researcher may not understand fully the background of the
respondent under study. I attempted to address this issue through a prolonged period of fieldwork during which I was able to learn about aspects of Malawian culture. I also read literature about Malawian culture and drew on the experiences and advice of Malawian friends and contacts.
Despite the challenges outlined above, my position as a White European may have also been an advantage, as the nurses may have perceived that I had no affiliation to their local or host communities. Storch and Sheridan (2009) found that being
considered an outsider in national cultural terms put them in an ideal position to create a platform for their interviewees to describe their migration experiences and to freely express their thoughts about the host culture without fear of retribution. My position as a researcher also affected the way in which I have presented the research findings. In line with the biographical method I have chosen to give an appropriate level of
authority to the nurses’ voices over my own. I present two edited interview transcripts before presenting the results (as well as including various summaries of key events in the nurses’ lives), which allows the respondents voices to come before any form of interpretation.