title: Overcoming ambivalence: the challenges of exploring socially charged issues.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work and Family Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: Laura Hurd
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Clarke
mesh_terms: 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