Liz McDonnell

Balancing powers: university researchers thinking critically about participatory research with young fathers:

The Talking Dads Project brought together young fathers, an NGO and university researchers to explore the experiences of young fathers in a UK seaside city. Young fathers took a lead role in developing the content of, and conducting, interviews with peer participants. Drawing on an analytical framework derived from participatory research literature, this article provides an analysis of five critical processes that created intense debate and became sites for negotiation of the delicate balance of powers between participants. These included young fathers’ initial engagement, the translation of their research ideas into research tools, research ethics such as confidentiality and duty of care, the academic researchers’ role in making adjustments to facilitate comprehensive, in-depth data collection, and the differential impact of the research on the lives of all involved. The learning emerging from this evaluation of the research process contributes to the understanding of the challenges of participatory research and the value of flexibility in responding to challenges and constraints.

Negotiating the boundaries of intimacy: the personal lives of asexual people

This paper uses findings from research diaries to explore the use of practices of intimacy among asexual people. While much of the literature to date has focused on the supposedly transformative and political nature of uniquely asexual practices of intimacy, our findings suggest something different. Rather than seeking to transform the nature of intimate relationships, asexual people make pragmatic adjustments and engage in negotiations to achieve the forms of physical and emotional intimacy they seek. We discuss this in relation to three areas: friendships, sex as a practice of intimacy, and exclusion from intimacy. Our findings suggest the importance of not only considering the social context in which asexual people practise intimacy, but also how the practices in which they engage may be shared with non-asexual people.

Me, you and us: Intimate relationships and the question of children

This article draws on data from a study conducted between 2001 and 2005 that investigated university employees’ desires to have children. Forty-seven participants reflected upon key elements of their personal histories, experiences of intimate relationships and what they thought it was possible to achieve in their life worlds. Theories of de-traditionalization and connectedness were considered in the research. Although participants’ intimate relationships were central to their life worlds and there was sometimes anxiety about relationship failure, couples engaged in dynamic processes of accommodation and compromise. Participants who wanted children aspired to committed, fairly traditional relationships in which the practical elements of sharing and caring were emphasized. Functioning family units rather than satisfied individuals were privileged. Participants were deeply embedded in their relational networks – past or present – and these shaped both fertility intentions and outcomes.

Developing research-informed practitioners – an organisational perspective

Abstract Background: Two current trends are making it increasingly important for counsellors and psychotherapists to be more engaged with research. Evidence of effectiveness is being increasingly demanded by those who fund our therapies and also by our clients. Meanwhile therapy research is offering practicable ways for therapists to improve their practice. Therapy organisations have an opportunity, perhaps even a duty, to meet the research needs of their members. Methods: This paper reports on a survey conducted by the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) to help it plan the activities of its Research Faculty. Findings: Key findings from the survey were that the most common ways of UKCP practitioners engaging with research were through reading, discussions with colleagues and doing research. Engaging with research collaboratively with other therapists, having more time, and access to user-friendly web-based research resources and updates, were the factors most commonly cited as supporting practitioner eng...

Note on recruitment as an ethical question: lessons from a project on asexuality

Abstract This short piece considers how participant recruitment can have ethical elements. With reference to a qualitative research project on asexuality we explore the challenges associated with recruiting from an emerging, and politically charged, identity group. In our attempt to broaden the representation of asexual stories we sought to recruit people who may not fully identify with the emerging term ‘asexual’ as a sexual orientation while also not equating this with a lifestyle choice of abstinence. This was attempted through crafting suitable recruitment materials via the use of the Mass Observation archive and expanded sampling criteria. Our efforts met with mixed success, on which we reflect. We conclude by suggesting how such ethical questions related to recruitment will remain ‘gaps’ in ethical regulation, calling for a greater reflexive approach from researchers about sampling criteria.

'Asexual isn't who I am': the politics of asexuality.

Some literature on asexuality has claimed that it is inherently radical and contains the potential for resistance. Unfortunately, this literature has tended to be unempirical, has imagined asexuality as a disembodied entity, and has marginalised the multiple identities held by asexual people. This article, inspired by Plummer’s critical humanist approach, seeks to explore how individuals understand their asexuality to encourage forms of political action in the areas of identity, activism, online spaces, and LGBT politics. What we found was a plurality of experiences and attitudes with most adopting a pragmatic position in response to their social situation which saw large-scale political action as irrelevant. We conclude by reflecting on what these results mean for those who see asexuality as potentially radical.

A multidimensional view? Evaluating the different and combined contributions of diaries and interviews in an exploration of asexual identities and intimacies

This article evaluates the relative contributions of diaries and interviews in multiple methods qualitative research exploring asexual identities and intimacies. Differentiated by three core differences: reflective time-frame (the day just had/lifetime), context (alone/with researcher) and mode (written/verbal), these methods had the potential to generate a multidimensional view of our topics. Using five cases in which data from both interviews and diaries were collected, this article explores how the intermeshed issues of identity and intimacy were constructed in each method, as well as reflecting on what was gained by their combination. Our analysis leads us to conclude that multiple methods do not always produce a fuller or a more rounded picture of individual participants’ lives. Nevertheless, the decision to collect data using different strategies did increase our chances of finding a method that suited individual participants, whether in style or focus.

Freedom and foreclosure: intimate consequences for asexual identities

This article considers the intersections between identity and intimate practices for asexual people. Drawing on findings from a project exploring asexual lives, we argue that asexual identification produced consequences for intimate lives in the form of either freedom or foreclosure. Eight perceptions of increased freedom or foreclosure in personal life are discussed. Using Symbolic Interactionist theory, we suggest that these attitudes reflected tendencies towards either introspection or negotiation. In all cases, however, participants drew on conceptions of significant others, real or imagined, and what was considered to be acceptable in intimate relationships. We conclude by highlighting how our argument reminds us of the need to be aware of the relational elements of intimate lives.