Can the presentation of research findings as composite narratives address challenges of reflexivity and confidentiality for insider researchers?

Problem

Researchers are often drawn to investigate topics which concern them directly, increasing the likelihood that they will investigate their own workplaces. As ‘insider researchers’ they must acknowledge their own feelings and opinions about the phenomena they are investigating and ensure reflexivity, perhaps drawing on autoethnographic study to examine their own experience of the phenomenon. The close proximity of research participants, who may be their colleagues, enhances the need to ensure their anonymity, particularly if the setting for the study is small or clearly identifiable. This approach can also raise questions of how to maintain confidentiality if the research is to be disseminated.

This paper describes how the author addressed these concerns by taking a methodological approach of creating composite narratives. This involved combining narrative data from participants with the researcher’s autoethnographic narrative, blending the experiences of multiple participants into a representative whole. Composite narratives are a means of presenting research findings which have not, to our knowledge, previously been used in medical education research.

Approach

Composite narratives were utilised in researching the pathways into and experiences of being an Academic GP at a Scottish University. The philosophical approach to the research was constructivism which emphasises the importance of multiple viewpoints in understanding a phenomenon as well as the importance of understanding the researcher’s own constructs. These must be synthesised with the data to come to a new level of knowledge of the phenomena under investigation. Aligned with this constructivist approach, multiple methods of data collection were employed including written autobiographical narratives, semi-structured individual interviews and the author’s autoethnographic study (comprising written narrative and interview).

Written and interview data was analysed independently by two researchers using a thematic narrative approach. Composite narratives were produced by multiple readings of the data to discern commonalities within participants’ narrative arcs as well as common predominant themes. Three groups who shared common experiences were identified and three composite narratives which synthesised the data from the participants in these groups were produced.

Findings

Composite narratives are an effective way of conveying findings in research where it is important to preserve the anonymity of participants. In the case of insider research, they can be used to combine autoethnographic enquiry with data from other participants to enhance reflexivity for the researcher and anonymity for participants including the researcher.

Consequences

Composite narratives can convey emotionally authentic findings while addressing some of the concerns raised by insider research and autoethnography. They make research findings accessible to audiences from the lay as well as scientific communities, and as such could be useful in disseminating research findings to policy makers and the public.