Accounting for Presence of Self: Reflections on Doing Qualitative Research

In a qualitative study, the researcher’s curiosity, relationships with participants, and conceptual lenses through which data are gathered and interpreted have significant bearing on the research. This reflective account of the author’s experiences conducting a study of prenatal care use among low-income women reveals the necessarily personal nature of her work. She address some of her motives for carrying out the study, feelings that arose during interactions with participants and responses to those feelings, challenges in managing her role as researcher, and strategies to make meaning of gathered data. The author makes explicit how her self was a significant influence on the process of inquiry. Locating oneself in the research endeavor in this manner is essential for establishing a context within which others can appreciate the evolving search for new understanding and the creation of a final research product.