Using data collected in a study of how people living with Parkinson's disease assess the efficacy of the alternative and complementary therapies they use, the author addresses the impact on qualitative data collection and analysis of communication problems between researchers and informants who experience speech difficulty. There is little literature that deals with these issues. In what little does, the emphasis is most often on the “problem” informants who experience speech difficulty present for communication, rather than seeing communication problems as a product of interviewer/informant interaction in which the researcher also plays a role in hindering communication. In this article, the author argues that a focus on the linguistic inability of informants, however unwitting, constructs the person who experiences difficulty speaking as problematic and the researcher as the “expert” who solves the communication problem the informant presents.
Atkinson, P.1997. Narrative turn or blind alley?Qualitative Health Research7:325–344.
2.
Becker, H. S.1970. Sociological work: Method and substance. Chicago: Aldine.
3.
Boeije, H. R.2004. And then there were three: Self-presentational styles and the presence of a third person in the interview. Field Methods16 (1): 3–22.
4.
Booth, T., and W. Booth. 1994. The use of depth interviewing with vulnerable subjects: Lessons from a research study of parents with learning difficulties. Social Science and Medicine39:415–424.
5.
Booth, T., and W. Booth. 1996. Sounds of silence: Narrative research with inarticulate subjects. Disability & Society11:55–69.
6.
Charmaz, K.2002. Stories and silences: Disclosures and self in chronic illness. Qualitative Inquiry8 (3): 302–328.
7.
Clifford, J., and E. G. Marcus. 1986. Writing culture: The poetics and politics of ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press.
8.
Corbin, J. M., and A. L. Strauss. 1990. Grounded theory research: Procedures, canons, and evaluative criteria. Qualitative Sociology13 (1): 3–21.
9.
Ellis, C., and L. Berger. 2002. Their story/my story/our story: Including the interviewer's experience in interview research. In Handbook of interview research: Context and method, ed. J. F. Gubrium and J. A. Holstein, 849–875. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
10.
Glaser, B. G., and A. L. Strauss. 1967. The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine.
11.
Higgins, P. A., and B. J. Daly. 1999. Research methodology issues related to interviewing the mechanically ventilated patient. Western Journal of Nursing Research21:773–784.
12.
Hutchinson, S., and H. S. Wilson. 1992. Validity threats in scheduled semistructured research interviews. Nursing Research41:117–119.
13.
Jones, R. D., C. Heath, J. Harnsford, H. Hutchinson, L. Hyde, L. Thurlow, and L. Spanton. 1999. The needs of people with Parkinson's disease and their families: The Parkinson's disease study, Devon and Cornwall, 1989-92. In Parkinson's disease: Studies in psychological and social care, ed. R. Percival and P. Hobson, 60–78. Leicester, UK: British Psychological Society Books.
14.
Lesser, R., and A. Whitworth. 1999. Communication in Parkinson's disease with cognitive impairment: A diagnostic and therapeutic medium? In Parkinson's disease: Studies in psychological and social care, ed. R. Percival and P. Hobson, 236–245. Leicester, UK: British Psychological Society Books.
15.
Low, J. (2001). Lay perspectives on the efficacy of alternative and complementary therapies: The experiences of people living with Parkinson's disease. Leicester, UK: Division of Health Studies, Faculty of Health & Community Studies, De Montfort University.
16.
Morse, J.2002. Interviewing the ill. In Handbook of interview research: Context and method, ed. J. F. Gubrium and J. A. Holstein, 317–328. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
17.
Parsons, J. A., S. Baum, T. P. Johnson, and G. Hendershot. 2001. Inclusion of disabled populations in interview surveys: Review and recommendations. Research in Social Science and Disability2:167–184.
18.
Paterson, B., and S. Scott-Findlay. 2002. Critical issues in interviewing people with traumatic brain injury. Qualitative Health Research12 (3): 399–409.
19.
Pentland, B.1999. The nature and course of Parkinson's disease. In Parkinson's disease: Studies in psychological and social care, ed. R. Percival and P. Hobson, 1–12. Leicester, UK: British Psychological Society Books.
20.
Perkins, L.1995. Applying conversation analysis to aphasia: Clinical implications and analytic issues. European Journal of Disorders of Communication30:372–383.
21.
Prus, R.1997. Subcultural mosaics and intersubjective realities. Albany: State of New York University Press.
22.
Sigelman, C. K., E. C. Budd, C. L. Spanhel, and C. J. Schoenrock. 1981. When in doubt say yes: Acquiescence in interviews with mentally retarded persons. Mental Retardation19:53–58.
23.
Stalker, K.1998. Some ethical and methodological issues in research with people with learning difficulties. Disability & Society13:5–19.
24.
Thomas, K. J., J. P. Nicholl, and P. Coleman. 2001. Use and expenditure on complementarymedicine in England: Apopulation based survey. Complementary Therapies in Medicine9:2–11.
25.
Trow, M.1970. Comment on “Participant Observation and Interviewing: A Comparison.” In Qualitative methodology: Firsthand involvement with the social world, ed. W. J. Filstead, 143–149. Chicago: Markham.
26.
Wenger, G. C.2002. Interviewing older people. In Handbook of interview research: Context and method, J. F. Gubrium and J. A. Holstein, 259–278. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
27.
Williams, M.2000. Interpretivism and generalisation. Sociology34 (2): 209–224.
28.
Yarrow, S.1999. Members' 1998 survey of the Parkinson's Disease Society of the United Kingdom. In Parkinson's disease: Studies in psychological and social care, R. Percival and P. Hobson, 79–92. Leicester, UK: British Psychological Society Books.
29.
Zipp, J. F., and J. Toth. 2002. She said, he said, they said: The impact of spousal presence in survey research. Public Opinion Quarterly66:177–208.
