U NIDAD 4 M ECANISMOS DE LA HERENCIA

At each interview, confidentiality was reiterated and it was explained exactly how the data were going to be anonymised and used. There was a brief discussion of the format of the interview and the themes that I was specifically interested in. This was also used as an opportunity to go over the information sheet and the consent form that the participants were provided. This period also allowed the respondent to ask the researcher any other questions that they had. This phase of the interview was important as it also allowed the interviewer to develop a sense of a relationship with the participant, and it made the interview feel less formal. It was reiterated to the participant that I was interested in anything that they felt to be important and that they could talk for as long as they wanted to. This emphasised that the interview was an opportunity for them to tell ‘their story’, and explore things that had been important to them.

The SQUIN was asked and then sub-session one was undertaken. The majority of the women interviewed appeared to find the method easy; only one woman asked if I could “just ask her questions”. However some women did ask to see a general list of the things that I was interested about, just in case they felt that they got “stuck”. The interview technique allowed women to produce a narrative and therefore each interview was highly individual with interviews lasting an average of 45 minutes; the shortest being 23 minutes and the longest lasting 1 hour and 35 minutes. Although some of the interviews were short, the respondents in each interview had the responsibility for setting the agenda (other than the SQUIN) and therefore they had the control over length; it was the telephone interview which was by far the shortest interview. This could have been improved upon by perhaps conducting the third sub- session interview, however time and financial constraints within the research prevented this.

After the participant ended their narrative, questions were asked upon things that they had mentioned, these followed the order in which they had appeared in the narrative and at all times used the words that they had produced in their narrative. All participants were offered a break between sub-session one and sub-session two.

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However, only a few women took this opportunity. Those that did so were mostly women in the home who wanted to check on their sleeping children. At the end of each interview, participants were asked if there was anything else that they would like to add, and this was a useful method for ensuring that the ending was not a ‘fake’ ending, and offered a good way of closing the interview. It was evident that the participants enjoyed taking part in this study, as it provided them with an opportunity to talk about their experiences of pregnancy. This period for reflection was accounted to be found to be enjoyable by some of the participants who welcomed feeling as though their stories ‘counted’. At the end of the interview each respondent was asked to sign the consent form if they were happy with their narrative being used in the study. This was done afterwards as it was felt that the participants were more capable to consent to their narrative being used after they had produced it. Also several women were in contact with the researcher after the research interview had ended to report information they had forgotten which they thought might be important, similar occurrences were reported by Oakley (1981). On the whole I felt that the interviews went well, the general tone used by the participant during the interviews was one of happiness and on reflection, many interviews contained laughter, and in some interviews jokes featured, or women shared ‘in’ jokes that they have with their friends, family or partner from when they were pregnant or from particular experiences. However within the majority of interviewees sadness was also a feature as women spoke of personal tragedies or hard times in their lives including but not limited to; miscarriage, death of a family member, alcoholism, cancer and post natal depression. In some interviews the participants cried and so did I. In most, laughs were commonplace and these were shared, I feel that all of this helped to break the interview/participant power dynamic, and ensure that the research was more feminist in nature. A main feature of all the interviews was the hospitality I was shown from the women involved. At nearly every interview I was offered tea, biscuits, cake or some lunch, within the interviews in cafes or coffee shops a few women when interviewed even insisted on buying me a coffee because I was a student. I concur with the writing of Undurraga (2012) in that I felt ‘my appearance, approach, personality, voice intonation, overall manner and others’ perception of me may have also contributed to gaining access and getting a good response from participants’ (Undurraga, 2012, p.424). It is true that within

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the interviews ‘something may ‘fail’ to be discussed because the topic or information is deemed irrelevant or lacks salience for the participants’ (Poland and Pederson, 1998, p.305). However I have assumed that the women interviewed have told me their stories and this was a truthful version, I considered their narrative to be valid and honest.

Silences in research

As Mazzei (2003) contends silences and pauses often occur within qualitative research and are a prominent feature within the biographic narrative research method. Nearly all the interviews carried out for this research featured some silences or long pauses. In thinking about these silences the question remains what do these silences come to represent and how as researchers can we interpret these silences? Kirkman (2008, p.303) argues that ‘silence signifies an absence-of words and / or perceivable emotions’, but what is the importance of these silences and what value do they bring to our research? An examination is given to silences within this research here, as in agreement with Poland and Pederson (1998) I believe, these silences are often overlooked. The question therefore exists, how do we consider these silences as part of our data collection? I think it is important that within qualitative research we consider that silences have meaning (Charmaz, 2002, Mazzei, 2003, Poland and Pederson, 1998, Lawler, 2002) and as Mazzei (2003, p.355) contends, do ‘not dismiss silence as an omission or absence of empirical materials but rather engage the silences as meaningful and purposeful’.

When examining silences amongst methodological literature, attention is more often given towards uneven power relations, how some people are silenced (Charmaz, 2002) or the ‘privileging of a normative position’ (Mazzei, 2003, p.358). However I think it is important that we consider these silences, as potential indicators of something being intentionally or unintentionally being omitted or representing the unspeakable, or the seemingly knowable where shared experience is assumed. This is especially true for this research study, as the interview discussions touched upon sensitive matters, for example, where an admission to consuming alcohol consumption during pregnancy may lead participants to feel they have failed as a ‘good’ mother and therefore feel stigmatised, or other highly emotive topics such as miscarriage or post natal depression.

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Silences are often deliberate and can be laden with meaning, therefore, potentially they reveal the performative aspect of interviews and narratives and how we manage ourselves for different audiences (Charmaz, 2002). As Poland and Pederson (1998, p.294) argue, silence is ‘a cultural mode of self-presentation’. We therefore should ‘pay increased attention to silent subtexts, to what is being left out, not said, or intentionally repressed in our ongoing quest to discover the ‘truths’ within out spoken stories’ (Mazzei, 2003, p.356). We, therefore, cannot presume that because nothing is said that someone has nothing to say; in fact, what is not said may be as telling as what is, and might exceed what is put in (Poland and Pederson, 1998). Silences in this study may have represented the process of self censorship or a hesitancy to speak for fear of offending or being labelled or stigmatised, therefore, intentional silence exists as a form of resistance or withholding. However within this method as there were no real questions asked, just to elicit a narrative story, women were able to self-censor.

It is inevitable that some silences, or pauses, featured within the interview. These sometimes clearly highlighted moments where women reflected on what they had just said, were trying to remember a specific story, or also at times of sadness. Pauses and silences featured both on the part of the researcher and the participant as moments of reflexion. As in the psychoanalytic context, silences are laden with meaning and represent the space to reflect and grown within an exchange. I also need to consider the silences I, myself, added to the research. As a feature of the methodology, silence was used to help elicit more detail within the interview, being that silence can make us uncomfortable if we are not used to hearing it. Interview silences thus became a subtle ‘cue to elaborate further’ (Poland and Pederson, 1998, p.296) but also revealed active engagement on the behalf of the listener. Within the structure of the BNIM methodology there is restricted input on the behalf of the researcher. This builds on the idea that ‘there is something to be said for giving people time to reflect, ponder, and engage with you and with the subject matter at their own pace – namely being willing to wait’ (Poland and Pederson, 1998, p.296). This feature of the methodology that as a researcher whose natural response to something interesting is to follow it up with questions and probing, I had to fight to remain silent until the participant had given their full story before taking my turn to speak. My silences are therefore also a feature of the interviews. Instead I gave

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supportive utterances to make sure it was evident that I was listening to what they were telling me, and to demonstrate that I felt their story was valid and of use. False starts could be indicative that perhaps some of the story is not something that may have recounted or spoken about before, unlike the birth narrative which in general felt more rehearsed. It could be inferred from this that women talk less around their experiences of alcohol consumption whereas, in comparison, the birth story is likely to have been told and re-told to family, friends, and health professionals.

Sometimes silences, can be wrongly interpreted as ‘inaction, disinterest, or non- response’ (Mazzei, 2003, p.363). I am not demonstrating that every silence is possibly understandable but that we should give them as much consideration to them as we do to what is said, as Mazzei (2003, p.358) contends it is in those absences where ‘the very fat and rich information resides’. In conjuncture with these silences, I also argue that attention needs to be paid towards other – non-verbal cues and body movements. Body language during the interview process is as important as what is said, and also gives an indication of a participant’s willingness or comfortableness during the interview. It therefore reveals ‘the hidden, the covert, the inarticulate: the gaps within/outside the observable’ (Mazzei, 2003, p.358). Linked to silence is also body language. I paid attention to non-verbal communication, which is key within the BNIM methodology, as is voice intonation, pauses, reading between the lines and paying full attention towards each participant. Researchers must, therefore develop methods for listening (Devault, 1990) and I ensured that I made a note of this during each face-to-face interview.

All interviews were recorded on a digital voice recorder and then transcribed verbatim and an attempt was made to not clean up the transcripts. The process of doing this offered a rich introduction into the data (Devault, 1990). Ellipses have been used in transcription to show any deleted or un-clear speech, however because of the nature of the methodology there were very few interruptions to the narratives. Participants were asked if they would like to receive a copy of the transcript, and it was made clear that the participants were free to withdraw from the study at any time. The participants were asked if they would be happy to receive future contact possibly so that a third sub-session could be carried or if any questions occurred at a

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later date. All participants received a card or an email thanking them for their time and generosity and wishing them well for the future.

When thinking about the ownership of the data ‘what a story means and whose story it becomes may change, when stories are research data’ (Charmaz, 2002, p.303). Data are co-constructed or co-produced, (Lawler, 2002, Mason, 2002, Buckner, 2005, Mishler, 1997) between researcher and the participant. Mason (2002, p.227) expounded that ‘the task is to work out how to organise the asking and the listening so as to create the best conditions for the construction of meaningful knowledge’. I am interested in what I am told, even if aspects of it may be fabricated. I am looking for the hidden meanings and inconsistencies, contradictory opinions present and listening to the silences within the research;

As social scientists, we start with research participants’ stories but we tell; them in another way. Which stories we tell, how we tell them, and how our audiences, including research participants, receive them all differ from the stories we heard. Sometimes we relate facts; often we provide fragments of stories, and, frequently, analytic stories

(Charmaz, 2002, p.318) I hope that within this research I represent the women who chose to talk to me. I am sorry that all women are not completely represented as the wealth of information received could not be commented on within the confines of this thesis, and as already examined, because of the highly individual nature of the data collected, some women’s stories may appear more prominent.

The participants

The 21 participants who took part in the research are briefly described below (pseudonyms are used):

Edinburgh:

Zoe, aged 42 classifies herself as a light drinker. She is the full-time carer for her home and family lives at home with her husband and two daughters. She is of a Chinese background and is a Non-smoker.

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Rhea, aged 35, works part-time as a midwife. She lives with her boyfriend and her eight month son and at the time of interview was trying to get pregnant again. She classifies herself as a light drinker, having started drinking when she was 15.

Catriona aged 29 lives with her husband and their nine month old son. She is a full- time carer for home and family; however is also currently a student in higher education.

Neala, 30 lives with husband and eight week daughter. She is self employed. She drinks alcohol and classifies herself as a light drinker.

Wendy, 33, lives with her six month son and husband. She works full-time as a teacher but is currently still on maternity leave.

Florence, 31 lives with her husband and their 13 month baby. She classifies herself as a moderate drinker and currently works part-time.

Mya, 21 is a full-time carer for her home and family. She lives with boyfriend and son. She classifies herself as a moderate drinker having drank since she was 18 and has also been smoking moderately on and off for the past 5 years.

Olivia, 32, works full-time as a nurse, and lives with her husband and daughter. She is a light drinker and smokes occasionally.

Elsie, 42, works full-time as a physiotherapist. She lives with her five month old daughter and her husband. She classifies herself as a light drinker, and remembers first trying alcohol when she was 7. Elsie referred to herself as having issues with alcohol and a very poor relationship with it, her father was also an alcoholic.

Jennifer, 20 works full-time, and previous to her pregnancy was working two jobs. She lives with her boyfriend and their 14 week son, and describes herself as a light drinker.

Paige, 28 works full-time within a council but is currently on maternity leave, she lives with her husband and newborn son. She classifies herself as a light drinker.

Tina, 32 works part-time in Schools and lives with her boyfriend and their two month old son. Tina was pregnant with her second child at the time the interview was conducted. She classifies herself as a light drinker.

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Yvette, 35 - 44, is a full-time worker in the pharmaceutical industry. She lives with her husband and 6 month old daughter. She classifies herself as a light drinker. (please note Yvette provided an age range).

Imogen, 32, is a full-time carer for home and family. She lives with her husband and 2 and a half month old son. She doesn’t drink, describing herself as pretty much tee total because she doesn’t really react very well with alcohol. She also is a non- smoker.

Inverness:

Kylah, 25, is a single mother who lives with her 7 year old son and her one and a half month old daughter. At the time of interview she was pregnant with her third child. She classifies herself as a light drinker and a light smoker, smoking 5-10 cigarettes a day.

Leah, 39, is an architect but is currently a full-time career for home and family. She is planning to return to her carer when her children are at school. She has two sons one aged three years old and the other was two months at the time of the interview. She is a light drinker.

Rachael, 32, Lives at home with her husband and is a full-time carer for home and five year old son and two month old son, previously having worked in a call centre. She is a Light drinker, however reported previously having a problem with alcohol in her first marriage.

Victoria, is a single mother with a son aged thirteen, a sixteen year old daughter and baby daughter. She doesn’t drink and doesn’t allow alcohol in the house after her previous partner was abusive when drunk.

Eilidh, 35, is currently a full-time carer for home and for her partner along with three daughters, aged 13, 10 and one and a half. She categorises herself as a light drinker and a light smoker, smoking on average 8 cigarettes a day. She grew up with her family working in pubs.

Skyla, 42, works part-time. She lives with her husband and two daughters, oldest