Access
Bergman Blix, Stina LU
(2019)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Access is the process of establishing rapport with a field containing different phases without an articulated end. Qualitative research often involves studying people in their social setting, documenting action, and meaning making in relation to the field in which it occurs through ethnographic methods such as observations, shadowing, and interviews. Gaining permission to a site or a specific group of people is essential to collect research data. Permission typically includes gaining approval from an ethics review board as well as from organizations or collectives that make up the research site but, most importantly, from the individuals whose actions and meaning making the researcher wants to understand. Gaining and maintaining access... (More)
- Access is the process of establishing rapport with a field containing different phases without an articulated end. Qualitative research often involves studying people in their social setting, documenting action, and meaning making in relation to the field in which it occurs through ethnographic methods such as observations, shadowing, and interviews. Gaining permission to a site or a specific group of people is essential to collect research data. Permission typically includes gaining approval from an ethics review board as well as from organizations or collectives that make up the research site but, most importantly, from the individuals whose actions and meaning making the researcher wants to understand. Gaining and maintaining access builds on feelings of trust and interest and can therefore not be secured once and for all; it remains a continuous process throughout the data collection phase of a research project. The issues and obstacles encountered when gaining access demand practical solutions in the moment but can also give important analytical insights about the field itself.
This entry first discusses formal access and the role of gatekeepers and then develops the importance of trust and interest to secure access. Access is thereafter problematized in relation to proximity to the field and in relation to the position of the researcher vis-à-vis the informants. Finally, the entry elaborates upon emotion management involved in gaining and maintaining access. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2bf186f2-4acf-4a97-88f8-c7add639808c
- author
- Bergman Blix, Stina
LU
- publishing date
- 2019
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- host publication
- Sage Research Methods Foundations
- editor
- Atkinson, Paul A. ; Delamont, Sara and Williams, Malcolm
- pages
- 10 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- ISBN
- 9781526421036
- DOI
- 10.4135/9781526421036808803
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 2bf186f2-4acf-4a97-88f8-c7add639808c
- date added to LUP
- 2026-01-27 14:53:13
- date last changed
- 2026-01-29 12:57:57
@inbook{2bf186f2-4acf-4a97-88f8-c7add639808c,
abstract = {{Access is the process of establishing rapport with a field containing different phases without an articulated end. Qualitative research often involves studying people in their social setting, documenting action, and meaning making in relation to the field in which it occurs through ethnographic methods such as observations, shadowing, and interviews. Gaining permission to a site or a specific group of people is essential to collect research data. Permission typically includes gaining approval from an ethics review board as well as from organizations or collectives that make up the research site but, most importantly, from the individuals whose actions and meaning making the researcher wants to understand. Gaining and maintaining access builds on feelings of trust and interest and can therefore not be secured once and for all; it remains a continuous process throughout the data collection phase of a research project. The issues and obstacles encountered when gaining access demand practical solutions in the moment but can also give important analytical insights about the field itself.<br/>This entry first discusses formal access and the role of gatekeepers and then develops the importance of trust and interest to secure access. Access is thereafter problematized in relation to proximity to the field and in relation to the position of the researcher vis-à-vis the informants. Finally, the entry elaborates upon emotion management involved in gaining and maintaining access.}},
author = {{Bergman Blix, Stina}},
booktitle = {{Sage Research Methods Foundations}},
editor = {{Atkinson, Paul A. and Delamont, Sara and Williams, Malcolm}},
isbn = {{9781526421036}},
language = {{swe}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
title = {{Access}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526421036808803}},
doi = {{10.4135/9781526421036808803}},
year = {{2019}},
}