Collaborate – Think Critically: Learn from researchers who have been in your shoes – use their examples and experiences to explore how their ‘lessons learned’ can improve your own research approach. Take it one step further with additional thought-provoking questions online.

6.1 Using narrative analysis

If you are using interviews, what would you gain and lose by following Katarin and treating what interviewees tell you like stories which are neither true nor false?

Katarin categorised these stories into three different forms of discourse. How might you categorise the responses of interviewees, and how useful would this be?

6.2 Partial data

How can you learn from Julia’s concern about having only ‘partial’ data? How can you successfully make do with what you have?

Julia gathered data using interviews, observation and video recordings. When collecting data from different sources, how can you analyse the data separately, without trying to represent the ‘whole picture’?

6.3 Respondents having an agenda

Helen is concerned that ‘people and organisation representatives may have an agenda when answering questions. What are some ways to handle and identify this agenda, yet still collect relevant credible data?’.

How will you handle this issue in your own research?

Does an agenda represent a problem in your research or something to be analysed in its own right? How will you address the issue of credibility, and how do you decide what is relevant data?

6.4 Is my data adequate?

Suzanne is worried that she might not have enough data. How can you answer that question in your own research?

Suzanne also raises questions around what conclusions can be drawn from limited data. How would you respond to this in relation to your own research?