Gaining access to a research site and participants in medical and nursing research: a synthesis of accounts

Abstract

We suggest that future medical and nursing research should emphasise a detailed, unvarnished documentation of the access process that incorporates existing accounts of the process.

“It’s a case of access.” The problematics of accessing research participants

“…The problem of access to research sites seems to be common for not only academic research staff but also for masters and doctoral research students (Hoyland et al, 2015). This is also the case for international students from developing countries undertaking their studies in developed countries, when they embark on their fieldwork back in their country of origin (Broadhead & Rist, 1976).…”

“…Sometimes access is unable to be gained, necessitating a change in direction of the initially intended research. The misconnections between the processes of gaining access as submitted during ethics application processes with what occurs in practice is largely ignored by the literature, yet are commonly faced by research practitioners (Corra & Willer, 2002;Hoyland et al, 2015;Reeves, 2010). As a consequence, education researchers who negotiate the power relationship with kaiārahi, gatekeepers and participants need to communicate their experiences about the process of access with other researchers.…”

“…The process of accessing the research site and participants is paramount to the successful achievement of educational research outcomes, yet may be less under a researcher's control. More recently, over the past 15 years, researchers have carefully considered and analysed encounters related to accessing a research site and participants (Cheah & Parker, 2014;Clark, 2010;Corra & Willer, 2002;Emmel, Hughes, Greenhalgh, & Sales, 2007;Horwood & Moon, 2003;Hoyland, Hollund, & Olsen, 2015;Lund, Panda, & Dhal, 2016;Reeves, 2010;Roguski & Tauri, 2013). In this body of research, the relationships and power dynamics between the researcher and the researched comes to the fore, demanding careful consideration.…”

Unanswered questions on access from the margins

“…In their article published in this issue, Høyland et al . discuss an important and underappreciated issue faced by qualitative researchers in the field: access to clinical settings and participants.…”

“…Høyland et al . write within a tradition, the aim of which Cho and Trent call ‘truth seeking’, which has often been called post‐positivist .…”