Dr. Hart-Johnson Introduces her theory, Symbolic Imprisonment, Grief and Coping, and shares how to overcome sampling with hard to reach qualitative samples.

1. Gaining & Maintaining
Access to Stigmatized
Samples (lessons learned)
Hidden in Plain Sight
© 2015, Avon Hart-Johnson, PhD
Walden University
DC Project Connect, USA
June 24, 10:45 – 11:00 a.m.

2. “When people are stigmatized they hurt.When
people hurt, they hide. People may hide physically
and emotionally.They may hide to protect
themselves and mask their circumstances. Social
research problems may concern people who
experience shame, marginalization, grief, and
stigma, and they may be hidden in plain sight. If
the researcher/informant relationship is not
managed properly, we may never gain access to
their important, deep, and rich qualitative
stories.” –Hart-Johnson
© 2015

3. Scope: Learn how African American
females experience psychosocial
responses from separation and
loss/incarcerated mate.
Purpose: qualitative study was to
construct theory
Problem: A paucity of literature and lack
of theory to explain the experiences
(Western & Muller, 2013).
Theory: Disenfranchised grief (Doka, 2002)

4. Inclusion
Criteria:
Over 18, current or
previously
incarcerated mate,
African American
female, over 18 yrs.,
fromWashington,
DC, United States.
Grounded
Theory
Nonprobability
Sample

5. What is the process and theory that
explains how African AmericanWomen
experience separation and loss on
physical, psychological, social, and
symbolic levels?
What if any, are their experiences of grief
and how do they cope?

6. Socioeconomic status ranged from
unemployed to upper middle class
status
Commonality: Grief, shame, and
stigma
Ages ranged from 24 - 75

7. • Stigma: A person reduced
“from a whole and usual
person to a tainted,
discounted one…”
(Goffman, 1963, p. 3).
• Marginalization: “…not
taking others into account
… resulting in
powerlessness, ignorance,
poverty, illness, insecurity,
and other manifestations
of devaluation" (Brown, 2006, p.
1).
• Power Differentials Must
be Managed: Every
researcher is in a position
of power.

8. Prone to Hiding
Relationship
Exclusive
Group/Lack of
trust for
outsiders
The more
extreme the
case, greater the
challenge
Marginalized and
socially stigmatized
Incarcerated Mates
Gaining Access
Shame
Snowball/Chain
Stigma

9. Recruitment: Finding the
initial informants to start the
snowball approach – just not
that simple. Placing a flyer
does not magically yield a
sample.
Eligibility: Acquiring referrals
that met the inclusion criteria
(received ineligible referrals)
Overlapping Acquaintances:
informants knowing each
other, confidentiality issues.
Self Definition: Does not fit
the criteria of the research
flyer.
Prior Behaviors /Current
Status: Women may have felt
at blame for mate’s
incarceration and culpable.
Rich Cases: Extend interview
time & Costs
Ethical: Rich & Thick Cases
may have sensitive and
possibly criminal related data
– Informed consent buffered
this risk

10. (Gubrium,Holstein,Marvasti,&McKinney,2012)
Efficiency: Collect only the data that you need. It could
be invasive. (e.g. no criminal data)
Flexibility: Offer flexible scheduling /Emphasis on
Private locations
Participatory: Co-create theory via participant stories of
processes, triggers, consequences. My Role: “outsider
and student” Their Role: “Conversation partner and
expert”
Checkpoints: Embedded controls in every phase of the
project, as safeguards to attend to participant
discomforts and concerns during recruitment phase
through member checking.

11. “brief, everyday
exchanges that
send
denigrating
messages to
marginalized
groups” (Sue,
2014, p. 10).
Verbal or
nonverbal
Research flyer
Study Participants Wanted:
• African American Woman
• Over 18 years old
• Unemployed
• Multiple Children
• Less than 12th grade Education

12. “Cultural work: takes place in a
cultural context” it cannot be set apart from
history, shifting voice, self definition, and outsider
status.
Cultural identities are created and
negotiated in a context of social
environments (recruiter v. informant) One cannot
understand a culture unless you understand the language
(Patton, 2002).Shapes our world, what we do, how we feel.
Powerful groups have privilege of
defining self and others” (Carter, 2012, p. 257)

13. Technology: Unfair Burden
interviewees may feel inept
Interview Scheduling/Location, Time,
initial contact/offered flexibility
Environments Can be: Sterile, Threatening
or Private, & inviting
Informed Consent: Emotionally
prepare participants & foreshadow
experience

14. Maintained Empathetic Neutrality:
Interaction based on cognitive or
emotional stance? Too Involved or Too
Distant?: Blurs Lines & Clouds Judgment
Highlighted SME Status: I highlighted the
need for subject matter expertise with
mates incarceration secondary
What Breeds Inherent Distrust?: Trying to
be what you are not. Language for
interpretation not for interviews

15. Meaningful Engagement:
Manage Risky Relationships:
First Impressions Can Be Lasting:
Sterile, Cognitive or Emotional Stance?
Balance Disclosure: Blurs Lines & Clouds
Judgment
(Brahler, 2012)

16. Women were found to Socially Isolate
and withdraw for extensive periods of
time, and emulate their mate’s
incarceration (Vicarious Imprisonment).
Women used Metaphoric rituals as
coping strategies
Other deep and rich stories about
Psychosocial & Physical impacts
Grief, akin to loosing a love one through
death.(Hart-Johnson, 2014)

17. “Research that fails to produce conclusions
about practice, falls short of being valuable”
(Crosby, Salazar, DiClemente, & Lang, 2010, p.4)
Recruitment – Information rich cases may also
be the hardest to reach.
Know the Vernacular of the Population: Field
research
Don’t Assume that you understand the context
or the problem because you are from the same
culture or ethnic group.

18. Brahler, V., (2012).Gaining and maintaining access. Retrieved from
http://researchingsecurity.org/research/research-ethics/gaining-access/
Cook, K.E. (2012). In J. F. Gubrium, J. A. Holstein, A. B. Marvasti, & K. D.
McKinney (Eds.), Interview Research: The complexity of the craft (2nd ed.
pp. 348-350). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication, Inc.
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Doka, K. (2002). Disenfranchised grief. Champaign, IL: Research Press.
Hart-Johnson, A. (2014). Symbolic Imprisonment, Grief, and Coping Theory:
African American women with incarcerated mates (doctoral dissertation).
Retrieved from ProQuest database. (3670212).
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (3rd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, Publication, Inc.
Stroebe, M., & Schut, H. (1999). The dual process model of coping with
bereavement: Rationale and description. Death Studies, 23(3), 197-224.
doi:10.1080/074811899201046 20140405162547644768953
Western, B., & Muller, C. (2013). Mass incarceration, macrosociology, and the
poor. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,
647(1), 166-189. doi:10.1177/0002716213475421
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