Accessing the community: Gaining insider perspectives from the outside

TY - JOUR

T1 - Accessing the community

T2 - Gaining insider perspectives from the outside

AU - Sixsmith, Judith

AU - Boneham, Margaret

AU - Goldring, John E.

PY - 2003/4/1

Y1 - 2003/4/1

N2 - Accessing participants for research projects is often treated as unproblematic. However the experience outlined here of negotiating access to participants within a community setting illustrates the inherent difficulties of recruitment. The authors describe the techniques used and practical challenges faced when accessing participants within a socially deprived community for a qualitative research project on social capital. They used a number of different strategies to generate a diverse sample including advertising, snowballing, accessing gatekeepers, and street surveys. The value of a stakeholder analysis is described alongside issues surrounding the use of gatekeepers. Rather than acting as outsiders seeking participants at every available opportunity, a more fortuitous strategy involved the ethnographic approach of "being there" as active contributors to community life. Here, the cornerstones of credibility and trust were addressed in a process of continually negotiating access from a semi-insider position.

AB - Accessing participants for research projects is often treated as unproblematic. However the experience outlined here of negotiating access to participants within a community setting illustrates the inherent difficulties of recruitment. The authors describe the techniques used and practical challenges faced when accessing participants within a socially deprived community for a qualitative research project on social capital. They used a number of different strategies to generate a diverse sample including advertising, snowballing, accessing gatekeepers, and street surveys. The value of a stakeholder analysis is described alongside issues surrounding the use of gatekeepers. Rather than acting as outsiders seeking participants at every available opportunity, a more fortuitous strategy involved the ethnographic approach of "being there" as active contributors to community life. Here, the cornerstones of credibility and trust were addressed in a process of continually negotiating access from a semi-insider position.

KW - Community

KW - Recruitment

KW - Research process

KW - Researcher role

KW - Stakeholder analysis

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0038823851

U2 - 10.1177/1049732302250759

DO - 10.1177/1049732302250759

M3 - Article

C2 - 12703418

AN - SCOPUS:0038823851

SN - 1049-7323

VL - 13

SP - 578

EP - 589

JO - Qualitative Health Research

JF - Qualitative Health Research

IS - 4

ER -