Liquidación de la sociedad patrimonial derivada

Whilst recruitment of participants was not as efficient or as extensive as had been expected, a sample size of seven was achieved. This exceeded the minimum requirements proposed by Smith et al. (2009) for Doctorate level research. Given that the interviews were all of reasonable length, averaging 71 minutes and appeared to include adequately rich data, it seemed entirely feasible to complete recruitment after seven interviews. Efforts were made to create a homogenous sample in relation to the study of obesity. As such only adult, female participants were invited to take part if they demonstrated a BMI greater than 37kg/m², ensuring that all were experiencing at least a severe level of obesity but ensuring that all service users had the potential to meet criteria for the study. Though all the participants who were recruited demonstrated a BMI greater than 40kg/m², meeting the criteria for morbid obesity. However, BMI was calculated from self-reported height and weight and therefore is unlikely to be entirely accurate. The literature suggests that adult females have a tendency to inaccurately over report height and under report weight but that any discrepancy between BMI classification with measured height and weight tends to be small (Craig & Adams, 2009; Stommel & Schoenborn, 2009). Additionally research suggests that if there is any discrepancy in the BMI’s calculated for the participants’ in this study it is likely to represent an underestimated BMI (Craig & Adams, 2009; Merrill & Richardson, 2009; Stommel & Schoenborn, 2009) and therefore it is probable that all participants were indeed in the morbidly obese range as indicated. Craig and Adams (2009) also found that accuracy increased if participants had recently been assessed by a medical practitioner which may have been the case for many of the participants, given their recent referral by a GP or Weight Management Clinician. There was however, variation in the cultural and clinical presentations of the participants. Firstly, it was deemed necessary to include some obese individuals who met the criteria for BED. Whilst the literature suggests additional complexities to the presentation of binge-eating obese individuals, this presentation is pertinent to the experience of obesity for many women. As Smith et al. (2009) put it; it is a question of “How much of that variation can be contained within an analysis of this

phenomenon?” (p. 49). It was deemed that experiences of BED would add to the depth of the data and could either bring interpretable contrasting perspectives or similar experiences to those without a binge-eating presentation. Secondly two of the women recruited to the study were American, whilst the remaining five women were British. As obesity was not under exploration from a cultural perspective these women were not excluded and met all inclusion criteria for the study. This allowed for potentially broad-ranging experiences within the context of morbid obesity.

Aspects of validation and interpretative rigour could have been improved with more efficient planning and reflexivity regarding the transcription process. There has been increasing emphasis in recent years on the importance of greater consideration of the transcription process in the methodological design of research (Tilley & Powick, 2002). Three of the seven interviews were transcribed directly by the researcher and the remaining transcription was carried out by individuals with no other involvement in the study.

Transcription itself is viewed as an interpretative process (Markle, West, & Rich, 2011; Tilley & Powick, 2002). Had more efficient planning and time scales been in place the rigour and validity of the study may have been enhanced by transcription being carried out by

individuals more closely involved in the research (Tilley & Powick, 2002). Improvements could also have been achieved through more detailed discussions regarding process and a clear set of conventions. Additionally post-analysis validation interviews could potentially have enhanced the validity of the transcription (Kitto et al., 2008). However, compliant with methodological guidelines for IPA, all transcripts were systematically compared to the audio tapes by the researcher and amended accordingly.

Greater immersion in the data by the researcher in only three of the transcripts had the potential to bias both the analysis and reporting of the data. However, adherence to the guidelines for IPA (discussed previously) should have ensured that the researcher was immersed thoroughly in all transcripts. Reflecting on the results presented it is apparent that

relatively equal emphasis was given to all participants in the extracts quoted, with the exception of ‘Orla’. It may be that Orla should be considered as somewhat of an outlier, being represented in only four of the twelve sub-themes less than for any other participant. Orla also differed in her psychological profile achieving the lowest BDI-II score and being one of only two participants to score below clinical cut-off. Additionally she was the only participant not to relate to any of the maladaptive schema on the YSQ-S3. It seems that her lived experience may have varied in some aspects from that of the rest of the group and therefore her statements were not as representative of the group narrative. As is the nature of qualitative research, the results of the study cannot be generalised. However, the research does provide interesting insights into the experiences of these seven women in relation to their emotional and interpersonal experiences, and relationships with food, which alongside previous research point to a number of possibilities for future research and treatment.