Adopting a reflexive approach to researching sensitive subjects: parental experiences of stillbirth and neonatal death

In this article I am going to discuss the challenge in researching sensitive subjects and some of the ways this can be overcome by adopting a reflexive approach to conducting qualitative research. These particular challenges are detailed in relation to data collected from in-depth interviews from men and women bereaved by the death of their child following stillbirth and neonatal death. I discuss how a reflexive approach when combined with a voice centred relational method to analyse data, can be used to manage both the breadth and depth of the data as well as unearthing some of the ways in which men and women contextualised their experiences in relation to aspects of their lived biography. I propose that these combined approaches permit an explicit account of how the analysis was conducted and critically, how the researcher impacts upon the research process and product.