Politically sensitive encounters: Ethnography, access and the benefits of ‘hanging out’

Negotiating politically sensitive research environments requires both a careful consideration of the methods involved, and a great deal of personal resolve. In drawing upon two distinct yet comparable fieldwork experiences this paper champions the benefits of ethnographic methods in seeking to gain positionality and research legitimacy amongst those identified as future research participants. The authors explore and discuss their use of the ethnographic concept of ‘hanging out’ in politically sensitive environments when seeking to negotiate access to potentially hard to reach participants living in challenging research environments. Through an illustrative examination of their experiences in researching commemorative rituals in Palestine and mental health in a Northern Irish prison, both authors reflect upon their use of hanging out when seeking to break down barriers and gain acceptance amongst their target research participants. Their involvement in a range of activities, not directly related to the overall aims of the research project, highlight a need for qualitative researchers to adopt a flexible research design, one that embraces serendipitous or chance encounters, when seeking to gain access to hard to reach research participants or when issues of researcher legitimacy are particularly pronounced such as is the case in politically sensitive research environments.

A critical ethnography of communication processes involving the management of oral chemotherapeutic agents by patients with a primary diagnosis of colorectal cancer: study protocol

Aim
To describe the protocol used to examine the processes of communication between health professionals, patients and informal carers during the management of oral chemotherapeutic medicines to identify factors that promote or inhibit medicine concordance.

Background
Ideally communication practices about oral medicines should incorporate shared decision-making, two-way dialogue and an equality of role between practitioner and patient. While there is evidence that healthcare professionals are adopting these concordant elements in general practice there are still some patients who have a passive role during consultations. Considering oral chemotherapeutic medications, there is a paucity of research about communication practices which is surprising given the high risk of toxicity associated with chemotherapy.

Design
A critical ethnographic design will be used, incorporating non-participant observations, individual semi-structured and focus-group interviews as several collecting methods.

Methods
Observations will be carried out on the interactions between healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses and pharmacists) and patients in the outpatient departments where prescriptions are explained and supplied and on follow-up consultations where treatment regimens are monitored. Interviews will be conducted with patients and their informal carers. Focus-groups will be carried out with healthcare professionals at the conclusion of the study. These several will be analysed using thematic analysis. This research is funded by the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland (Awarded February 2012).

Discussion
Dissemination of these findings will contribute to the understanding of issues involved when communicating with people about oral chemotherapy. It is anticipated that findings will inform education, practice and policy.

Playing free: an ethnography of Brazilian free improvisers

In this article I investigate the practice of free music improvisation in Brazil. The reflections and findings presented here are derived from research conducted as part of a four months Higher Education Academy (HEA, UK) Fellowship, carried out between February and June 2014. The aim was to enquire whether or how the practice of free improvisation is taught in the Brazilian higher education system.
As part of this ethnographic study visits to the following universities were scheduled:
The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ
The Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO)
The University of São Paulo - USP
The Federal University of Minas Gerais – UFMG
The Federal University of Bahia – UFBA.
The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal (UFRN) and
The ELM, the Escola Livre de Música in Unicamp.

I discuss here some general background thinking to the research process, specifically recalling the work of French composer and educator Alain Savouret. I proceed to examine the improvisational spirit, the improvisatory worldmaking approach (the ‘jeitinho brasileiro’) that is often considered to be integral to the Brazilian way of life. In the final part of the article I discuss applied ethnographic methodologies, including the design of questions that were used for over 50 video interviews with Brazilian musicians during the research. I conclude with a final reflection on the video interviews with a specific focus on whether free improvisation can be taught, and the importance of listening in the context of free improvisation practices.