This book is a comprehensive guide to the methodological, ethical and practical issues involved in undertaking research on sensitive topics. Raymond M Lee explores the reasons why social research may be politically or socially contentious: its relation to issues of social or political power; its capacity to encroach on people's lives; and its potentially problematic nature for the researcher. Issues examined include: the choice of methodologies for sensitive research; problems of estimating the size of hidden populations; questions of sampling, surveying and interviewing; and sensitivity in access and the handling of data. The book also discusses the political and ethical issues at stake in the relations between the researcher and the researched, and in the disclosure, dissemination and publication of research.

This book critically examines the potential of, and suggests ways forward in, harnessing a versatile and powerful method of research - focus groups. The book challenges some of the emerging orthodoxies and presents accessible, insightful and reflective discussions about the issues around focus group work. The contributors, an impressive group of experienced researchers from a range of disciplines and traditions, discuss different ways of designing, conducting and analyzing focus group research. They examine sampling strategies; the implications of combining focus groups with other methods; accessing views of `minority' groups; their contribution to participatory or feminist research; use of software packages; discourse anal

The term ‘sensitive research’ is applied to a wide range of issues and settings. It is used to denote projects that may involve risk to people, stigmatising topics, and/or require a degree of sensitivity on behalf of the researcher. Rather than take the notion of ‘sensitive research’ for granted, this collection unpacks and challenges what the term means. This book is a collective endeavour to reflect on research practices around ‘sensitive research’, providing in-depth explorations about what this label means to different researchers, how it is done – including the need to be sensitive as a researcher – and what impacts this has on methods and knowledge creation. The book includes chapters from researchers who have explored a diverse range of research topics, including sex and sexuality, death, abortion, and learning disabilities, from several disciplinary perspectives, including sociology, anthropology, health services research and interdisciplinary work. The researchers included here collectively argue that current approaches fail to adequately account for the complex mix of emotions, experiences, and ethical dilemmas at the heart of many ‘sensitive’ research encounters. Overall, this book moves the field of ‘sensitive research’ beyond the genericity of this label, showing ways in which researchers have in practice addressed the methodological threats that are triggered when we uncritically embark on ‘sensitive research'. The chapters in this book were originally published in the International Journal of Social Research Methodology and the journal Mortality.

This book seeks to support social science researchers who interact with vulnerability and/or sensitivity in the context of their research. Whilst there has been some important debate about the theoretical, methodological and ethical issues of conducting research on sensitive topics, and/or with vulnerable populations, the number of scholarly publications focused solely on these topics is limited and not up to date. The book intends to fill this gap by providing various research experiences, as well as the elements that characterize them. The articles selected for this book intend, first and foremost, to stimulate reflexivity amongst the use of the concepts of sensitive topics and vulnerable groups, and to provide tools that will allow researchers to improve their research practices The book integrates several articles that explore a wide range of dilemmas that, to a certain extent, might allow the reader to access the backstage of this type of research. The reader will find here a rich and fruitful space for theoretical and empirical reflection, where several social science researchers with different backgrounds share their experiences and research paths in a rigorous and creative way.

This book takes as its starting point the particular considerations and sensitivities of being a researcher faced with a subject group at the margins of society, and explores the ethical, practical, and methodological implications of working with such groups. Author Pranee Liamputtong explores qualitative methods using examples, drawn from around the world, and from the wide variety of contexts that might count as 'researching the vulnerable'. Numerous salient points for the conduct of research within vulnerable groups of people, including ethical and moral issues, are considered, and discussed in the context of sensitive and innovative research methods.

Doing Development Research is a comprehensive introduction to research in development studies, that provides thorough training for anyone carrying out research in developing countries. It brings together experts with extensive experience of overseas research, presenting an interdisciplinary guide to the core methodologies. Informed by years of research experience, Doing Development Research draws together many strands of action research and participatory methods, demonstrating their diverse applications and showing how they interrelate. The text provides: · an account of the theoretical approaches that underlie development work · an explanation of the practical issues involved in planning development research · a systematic overview of information and data collecting methods in three sub-sections: · methods of social research and associated forms of analysis · using existing knowledge and records · disseminating findings/research Using clear and uncomplicated language – illustrated with appropriate learning features throughout - the text guides the researcher through the choice of appropriate methods, the implementation of the research, and the communication of the findings to a range of audiences. This is the essential A-Z of development research.

Violence is a research topic that is fraught with difficulties. A notoriously sensitive subject, and one that is presumed to be largely hidden, researchers have long struggled with the question of how to measure its impact and how to explore its incidence. Arising from the ESRC's Violence Research Programme, Researching Violence is a practical guide both to theses problems and to the obstacles encountered when negotiating this uneasy terrain. Comprising the reflections of researchers who have worked on diverse projects - from violence in the home to racial violence and homicide - this book demonstrates the ingenuity and at times courageous actions of researchers having to think on their feet. It also investigates the ethical and emotional issues arising from working with the victims and perpetrators of violence. This book will be indispensable for students and academics doing research projects on violence.

`Strongly recommended as it provides a very useful overview of a range of methods, mainly textual, for exploring children′s experiences. These accounts are placed well in the broader conceptual frameworks concerning both methodologies and ethical considerations′ - Educational Review How should the researcher approach the sensitive subject of the child? What are the ethical issues involved in researching children′s experiences? In essays written by a collection of key, international authors, Researching Children′s Experience addresses these questions, and examines up-to-date methodological and conceptual approaches to researching children. This book is a practical, comprehensive and interdisciplinary guide for advanced students and researchers, exploring a range of studies, and the theoretical and ethical motivations behind them. The book is divided into three coherent sections: - Conceptual, methodological and ethical issues in researching children′s experiences. - Methods for conducting research with children. - The generation and analysis of text. Researching Children′s Experience provides examples of how researchers from a variety of social science perspectives have set about carrying out research into children′s experience. Useful to students embarking on a research project, and to experienced researchers wishing to explore new methods, Greene and Hogan′s book is an essential addition to anyone doing research on children. It will be especially useful to those in developmental psychology, education, nursing and other disciplines interested in studying children′s experience.