Propiedades Funcionales

The rationale for this research project is to explore how individuals’ access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has been shaped by the current policy context in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Many commentators (Daniels, 1994a; Daniels & Hargreaves, 1997; Coney, 1999a) have observed that social policy on ART in Aotearoa/New Zealand has been created through a combination of existing legislation, professional self-regulation, health service controls, and consumer demand. They have also noted that the recommendations from various commissions and committees throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s did not result in legislation. Therefore, policy was often created by default, using these recommendations as guidelines. The Status of Children Amendment Act 1987 (SCAA) is the only piece of legislation that specifically addresses ART. In order to appreciate the current policy situation I decided to identify and analyse the discourses that have informed these various ‘default’ policies. I concentrated on documentary evidence produced in relation to the ART policy debate and conducted in-depth interviews with representatives of organisations that had been involved in producing policy documents or were active in implementing policy.

In this chapter, I will provide a detailed discussion of the research methods and processes used to inform this thesis. Firstly, I will outline the research principles I applied to the research process and provide the definition of ‘policy’ as used in this research. This will be followed by a discussion of my subject position in the ART policy arena. I will then describe the research methods and the strategies used to select the documents and participating organisations or

individuals. Next, the procedures used to make contact with and gain access to interview participants will be examined, followed by a detailed description of the interview process. An analysis of the power relations encountered during this research will be followed by a discussion of the difficulties I experienced when engaging in cross-cultural research. The chapter will conclude with a brief discussion of the programmes and strategies used to analyse the accumulated documents and interview material.

In undertaking this research project, I recognised and tried to adhered to the five core principles of ethical conduct in social science research; do no harm, voluntary participation, informed consent, avoid deceit, and confidentiality or anonymity (Tolich & Davidson, 1999:69- 77). I acknowledge that my own subjectivity and interest in the subject matter are relevant to the research process, from topic selection to dissemination of the findings (Oakley, 1981; Harding, 1987; Bishop, 1996; Tolich & Davidson, 1999). In this chapter, I have attempted to place myself in the research process and provide a detailed account of the methods used, including the rationale for choices made throughout the process. Although I identify myself as a feminist sociologist, I am aware that “there is not one feminism, but many feminisms: feminists across the disciplines work from within a multitude of intellectual paradigms and political positions” (Ray, 1996:36). Therefore, I acknowledge that there is no definitive feminist method and that processes used by feminists are often widely divergent and multi- methodological (Ray, 1996). Reinharz (1992:6-10) relies on feminists' self-definitions of their work because she believes it avoids the danger of applying a one-dimensional definition to all feminist researchers and research and allows for the rapid changes in feminist scholarship. My approach to this research was derived from feminist principles and understandings of how power differentials impact on all aspects of the research process. Consequently, my attempts at reducing the impact of the power differentials that exist between researcher and participant were informed by feminist critiques of research methodology (Oakley, 1981; James, 1986; Cook & Fonow, 1990; Stanley, 1990a; Stanley, 1990b; Stanley & Wise, 1990; Fonow & Cook, 1991; Reinharz, 1992; Ray, 1996; Wyn, et al., 1996; Casper, 1997). While I recognise that the research participants should be actively involved in the research and reciprocity should be encouraged in order to reduce the power differential between the researcher and participants (Oakley, 1981; Wyn, et al., 1996), I discovered this was not always practical or welcomed by some participants.22 _{Similarly, I recognise that applying feminist ideals to the research process}

does not automatically ensure that power inequities are eliminated (James, 1986:25). This

became apparent when attempting to justify the inclusion of Mäori focused interviews and documentary information.23 _{I was also influenced by the belief that feminist-based research}

strives to advance the well-being of women by contributing to political changes that improve women’s lives (Cook & Fonow, 1990; Stanley & Wise, 1990; Reinharz, 1992; Stanley & Wise, 1993). Although this research is not overtly ‘women focused’, my interest in this topic has been shaped by an interest in how gender and the politics of reproduction affect women. My decision to undertake ‘policy-focused’ research was influenced by this interest and the knowledge that policy has a profound effect on the “material conditions under which choices are made”, especially choices made by women in relation to reproduction (Petchesky, 1990:11). In this thesis ‘policy’ is used in its broadest sense to include both the private and public strategies used to regulate the provision and use of ART. Acts of Parliament, Ministerial edicts, and Government initiated guidelines and strategy documents play a major part in policy formulation and implementation. However, these are not the only contributions to policy. Managers, healthcare professionals, patients, and the wider community also establish policy through interpretation and implementation of these guidelines and strategies. This broad approach to policy was influenced by Green and Thorogood’s (1998) position on health policy analysis.

To understand how policy is made, and how it impacts on various groups in the population, it is not enough merely to look at the decisions of government departments. We also need to examine the more local arenas of decision making and action. (Green & Thorogood, 1998:11)

Therefore, policy analysis in this thesis attends to the positions of various stakeholders, forms of legislation, organisational regulation, and debate about regulation and funding. In the context of this research, ‘policy documents’ refers to both published and unpublished documentation that has contributed to the policy debate, influenced practices within fertility clinics, or affected consumer engagement with ART practices. Published documents include records that have been published or made available to the public such as parliamentary debates (Hansard), published reports from committees and commissions, discussion documents, submissions on reports and discussion documents, parliamentary bills, academic papers, and service provision contracts. Unpublished documents include records held by organisations or individuals that are not generally available to the public but contribute to the policy arena by outlining individual and organisational practices and the strategies used to implement policy. They may also be specifically written to lobby for official policy changes. They include

submissions to select committees and government organisations, providers’ ‘Conditions of Service’ and policy documents, personal correspondence, documents generated by consumer and policy orientated lobby groups, service specifications, and clinical access criteria (see Appendix B for a list of the documents consulted for this thesis). Commentary on ART policy was sought from representatives of organisations that were involved in the production of these documents. Individuals who had contributed to or authored such documents were approached for interviews, as well as those who were actively involved in some aspect of the policy debate. As a result, interviewees were located within a variety of organisations including government policy agencies, fertility clinics, consumer representative groups, and health activist groups, as well as academic contexts (see Appendix C for a list of people interviewed).