Research Note: The Methodological Implications of Relying Upon Fieldworkers for Qualitative Health Psychology Research

Authors

  • Lynlee Howard-Payne University of the Witwatersrand

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-16.2.2232

Keywords:

data collection, fieldworkers, grounded theory methodology, researcher characteristics, voluntary medical adult male circumcision, South Africa

Abstract

The fact that a researcher forms a critical component of the world that he or she is studying is no more evident than during the gathering and analysis of data that underpins his or her qualitative research study. Having selected a Straussian grounded theory of the meanings of voluntary medical adult male circumcision (VMAMC) for HIV prevention in South Africa as a research topic, I found that my personal characteristics (being a young, white, English-speaking female researcher) had a profound impact on my ability to recruit and interview participants for this study. Thus, I had to rely on fieldworkers to act on my behalf in this capacity. However, this had a number of methodological implications for my study and as such, this article addresses these to remind qualitative researchers that practical solutions to overcoming research process obstacles can have methodological implications that need to be considered and addressed to ensure rigor within qualitative health psychology research.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs150239

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Author Biography

Lynlee Howard-Payne, University of the Witwatersrand

Lynlee Howard-Payne is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology, School of Human and Community Development at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She holds a PhD in psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand and specialises in qualitative health research and critical public health psychology. She has recently published work on grounded theory methodology, public health in South Africa, and voluntary medical adult male circumcision.

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Published

2015-03-10

How to Cite

Howard-Payne, L. (2015). Research Note: The Methodological Implications of Relying Upon Fieldworkers for Qualitative Health Psychology Research. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-16.2.2232