The Limitations of Language: Male Participants, Stoicism, and the Qualitative Research Interview. (March 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Affleck, William; Glass, KC; Macdonald, Mary Ellen
• Is Part Of: American journal of men's health. Volume 7:Number 2(2013)
• Page Start: 155
• Page End: 162
• Publication Date: 2013-03
• Subjects: researching masculinity -- men's health -- qualitative interviewing -- emotional expression -- photo-based methods; Men -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Sex factors in disease -- Periodicals; Men -- Health and hygiene -- Periodicals; Men -- Health and hygiene -- United States -- Periodicals; Men -- Medical care -- Periodicals; 362.10811
• DOI: 10.1177/1557988312464038
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1557-9883

Abstract

The semistructured, open-ended interview has become the gold standard for qualitative health research. Despite its strengths, the long interview is not well suited for studying topics that participants find difficult to discuss, or for working with those who have limited verbal communication skills. A lack of emotional expression among male research participants has repeatedly been described as a significant and pervasive challenge by health researchers in a variety of different fields. This article explores several prominent theories for men's emotional inexpression and relates them to qualitative health research. The authors argue that investigators studying emotionally sensitive topics with men should look beyond the long interview to methods that incorporate other modes of emotional expression. This article concludes with a discussion of several such photo-based methods, namely, Photovoice, Photo Elicitation, and Visual Storytelling.