Overcoming ambivalence: the challenges of exploring socially charged issues.
In this article, the author considers the challenges associated with the investigation of sensitive and socially charged issues. Drawing on a qualitative study of older women's body image and embodied experience, she discusses how societal ambivalence toward older women's bodies and appearances shapes and constrains the establishment of rapport between a young researcher and the study participants. Exploring the internalized anxiety expressed by the women, she investigates how life history narratives, multiple interviews, photographs, location of the interview, self-disclosure, information sharing, provision of assistance, student and stranger statuses, collaborative interviewing, and impression management combine to enhance rapport and ease the women's sense of discomfort.
Clarke
Laura Hurd
LH
School of Social Work and Family Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety; D001828:Body Image; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008016:Life Change Events; D008875:Middle Aged; D033262:Narration; D011593:Psychology, Social; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012107:Research Design; D035844:Researcher-Subject Relations; D012650:Self Disclosure