Regranting identity to the outgraced – narratives of persons with learning disabilities: methodological considerations

Abstract

Good research should be relevant and useful, it may even be enlightening or symbolic, but it can also be emancipatory. Qualitative research can be useful in challenging structures, policies and practices that disempower and marginalize segments of the population. However, could it be that the empowerment of the participant ends where the weakness of the researcher begins? In qualitative studies the researcher seems to have a number of favourite interviews. In a study on the relational and sexual experiences of 46 people with learning disabilities, 12 interviews were withdrawn from the general data on the basis of lack of relevance. It is important to re‐examine why the voice of some people fell out of the in‐depth analysis and whether this was justified. In this article some methodological opportunities and pitfalls to re‐grant identity to these silenced narratives are considered and discussed.

Keywords:

• qualitative research
• re‐examination of data
• empowerment
• selection of participants
• silenced narratives
• communication difficulties