Research in black and white.
The authors consider the methodological, interpretative, and practical issues that arise when there is a difference in ethnicity between researcher and informant in qualitative research by drawing on the academic literature and their fieldwork experiences as White researchers undertaking studies with individuals of African/Caribbean and South Asian descent. Some contemporary issues raised by "researching the other" in the context of pragmatic health services research are highlighted, including access to same-ethnicity researchers, the involvement of interpreters, and the potential for ethnocentric interpretation. The authors believe that qualitative research should be judged by the plausibility of the findings and by a critical evaluation of the way in which the research was conducted and the reflexivity of the researcher.
Joint Medical Research Council, Department of Health, University of Bristol, UK.
Joy
J
Adamson
Jenny L
JL
Donovan
D001741:Black or African American; D044383:Black People; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods*; D006805:Human Experimentation; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006113:United Kingdom; D044465:White People