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Establishing long-term research relationships with older people: exploring care practices in longitudinal studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2018

Katia Attuyer ,
Rose Gilroy  and
Karen Croucher
Katia Attuyer
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University College London, London, UK
Rose Gilroy
Affiliation:
School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Karen Croucher*
Affiliation:
Centre for Housing Policy, University of York, York, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: Karen.Croucher@york.ac.uk
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Abstract

Drawing on a recently completed longitudinal research project with 96 participants aged 55+, the paper provides insight into the challenges of carrying out ethical practices when engaged in longer-term research relationships with older people. It builds on a body of work that purposely records in detail the ethical dilemmas researchers face, the options available to them and the rationale guiding their reaction. The Co-Motion research, led by the University of York, examined the impact of major later-life transitions on mobility and wellbeing, and was therefore focused on times of change that were, for some participants, accompanied by suffering. Over three years, the project used a range of methods to explore with each individual the dynamic nature of lived experience: change, continuity, endurance, transition and causality. The paper addresses the negotiation of informed consent over the life of long-term research relationships; the ‘care work’ involved; contested understandings of vulnerability; and the need for ongoing ethical reflection. The paper concludes by calling for greater reflexivity and suggests a more participant-focused approach to ethics in the field, demanding both greater self-awareness from researchers and allowing the participants to have greater voice in the research processes.

Keywords

ethicslife transitionsqualitative longitudinal researchvulnerability
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 40 , Issue 5 , May 2020 , pp. 1064 - 1083
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018

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