Introduction

Qualitative research involving interviews and focus groups has become a popular means of collecting data in the social sciences (Mason, 1996). Yet literature that discusses the practical aspects of arranging and conducting qualitative research is still relatively rare. With the exception of articles in specialist methodology journals (such as the International Journal of Qualitative Methods and the International Journal of Social Research Methodology: Theory and Practice), few authors write in detail about how they did their research. Rarer yet is any acknowledgement of the difficulties or barriers that need to be overcome to enable both potential interviewer and potential respondent to participate in the qualitative research process; this is despite Croft and Beresford's (1992) call for researchers to explicitly consider the support needs of research participants. Where such discussions are found, they tend to be within specialist publications relating to population groups who are perceived to be ‘hard to reach’, for example disabled people (Barnes and Mercer, 1997) or minority ethnic groups (Edwards, 1998); and may or may not go so far as to include strategies for overcoming the identified barriers.

The lack of detailed discussions about the practicalities of conducting qualitative research within the ‘methods’ sections of most mainstream qualitative literature means there is little guidance available for researchers who wish to inform their own methodological practices. Readers are left thinking that arranging and conducting qualitative interviews and focus groups is a straightforward process, and the lack of evidence to the contrary encourages funding bodies to question requests for the resources and time that may be necessary to facilitate participation. Similarly, a lack of consideration of the barriers faced by those who wish to participate in qualitative research does little to encourage the involvement of those who are least likely to have their voices heard.

Building on the history of addressing these issues within disability studies and minority ethnic studies, this chapter is specifically concerned with the practicalities of involving disabled refugees and asylum seekers in qualitative research. While methodological literature in the minority ethnic field frequently addresses issues related to overcoming linguistic barriers in research contexts (for example, Jentsch, 1998; Temple and Edwards, 2002), literature in the disability studies field tends to focus on overcoming barriers associated with impairments and developing research practices based on social and political perspectives of disability (for example, Zarb, 1997; Humphrey, 2000).