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Methodological Considerations and Research Methods to Advance Social Justice

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Book cover Gender and HIV in South Africa

Part of the book series: Global Research in Gender, Sexuality and Health ((GRGSH))

Abstract

This chapter situates the research methods applied in the empirical investigation within research approaches and methods that embrace normative social justice commitments that advance equity. The South African context at the time of the research design, and the research methods used in the empirical study, are communicated. Methods debates and ethical challenges faced when engaging socially disadvantaged groups in qualitative research methods in studies such as this one are reviewed. The chapter closes with attention to the contribution of qualitative research to advance knowledge of health inequities in marginalised groups in ways that may be transformative for both research participants and researchers.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Research methods that engage marginalised groups of women are increasingly encouraged to be gender-responsive. For instance, research undertaken in the US on gender-responsive data collection involving previously incarcerated women found that women place a high value on relationships, and that data collection involving women should employ relational approaches where researchers can engage with participants face to face, through in-depth interviews (Staton-Tindall, n.d.).

  2. 2.

    One brief example may be illustrative of the value of collecting independent sources to unravel the complexity of the patient experience of seeking care in the labyrinthine public health system. When I interviewed one participant, she told me that she was turned away at one clinic, and she thought it might be because she was HIV positive, i.e., she thought she was being stigmatised. However, when I interviewed the health providers, they described strategies they used to manage the high patient load (evident in the long queues and innumerable patients to attend to). In providers’ descriptions, they explained that turning patients away and telling them to go to a different, neighbouring clinic was one strategy they employed to manage the patient demand. These strategies emerged in more than one health provider interview. In this case the patient attributes the health provider’s actions to HIV stigma when, in fact, they seemed to be attributed to health providers’ coping strategies.

  3. 3.

    This became a source of worry in the field research. When I first arrived in the Eastern Cape, one researcher (a nurse ) shared a disturbing anecdote with me. She explained that she had provided translation for an American researcher. When the Eastern Cape colleague interviewed the participants in Xhosa, the American researcher was present in the interviews. The participants would explain their experience with the health system and they would insist: ‘But don’t tell the white woman that!’ After hearing this, I became worried that I might face the same difficulty. I told the translators to watch for this, and if it occurred, to let me know immediately after the interview. Thankfully, it never occurred.

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  1. University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA

    Courtenay Sprague

  2. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Courtenay Sprague

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Sprague, C. (2018). Methodological Considerations and Research Methods to Advance Social Justice. In: Gender and HIV in South Africa. Global Research in Gender, Sexuality and Health. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55997-5_5

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