Safety matters: Carrying out face-to-face research

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The resumption of in-home, face-to-face data collection post-pandemic has led to many queries to the MRS Codeline advisory service concerning personal safety.

There are several dimensions to the risk that researchers may face when involved in close social interaction:

• Risk of physical threat or abuse
  
• Risk of psychological trauma, as a result of actual or threatened violence or the nature of what is disclosed during the interaction
  
• Risk of being in a compromising situation, in which there might be accusations of improper behaviour
  
• Increased exposure to risks of everyday life and social interaction, such as road accidents and infectious illness
  
• Risk of causing psychological or physical harm to others.

Budgeting for safety

All research proposals and funding agreements should include the costs of ensuring the safety of researchers working on the project. It may be helpful to distinguish infrastructure costs that are apportioned to all projects from costs particular to the project.

Infrastructure costs might cover training on risk assessment, communication aids, personal or vehicle insurance cover, a named member of staff responsible for fieldwork safety, or staffing a fieldwork contact point. It is important to clarify which of these costs fall to the employer and which are to be borne by the funder.

Project costs might include extra fieldwork time (working in pairs, providing a ‘shadow’ or reporting back to base), taxis or hired cars, appropriate overnight accommodation, special training, and counselling for staff researching sensitive topics.

Planning for safety in research design

Researcher safety can be built into the design of proposals.

• Choice of methods – include safety in the balance when weighing up methods to answer the research questions
  
• Choice of interview site – consider whether home interviews are necessary for the research
  
• Staffing – consider designs where it is possible to use pairs of researchers to conduct an interview, or to interview two members of the household simultaneously
  
• Choice of researchers – consider whether the research topic requires the recruitment of researchers with particular attributes or experience
  
• Recruitment methods – where possible, design methods of recruitment to allow for prior telephone contact
  
• Time-tabling – take account of the tiring effects of spells of intensive fieldwork. A more relaxed schedule may mean that researchers are more alert to risk and better able to handle incidents.

Assessing risk in the fieldwork site

Once the fieldwork site has been selected, try to reconnoitre the area before fieldwork starts. Questions to ask include:

• ● Is there reliable local public transport?
  
• Are reputable taxi firms easy to access?
  
• Is it safe to use private cars and leave them in the area?
  
• Is there a local rendezvous or contact point for researchers?
  
• Are there appropriately priced and comfortable hotels within easy reach?
  

Risk and research participants

The topics for discussion in many social research interviews – for example, poverty, unemployment, relationship breakdown, social exclusion, bereavement and ill health – may provoke strong feelings in participants and prompt angry reactions.

Some participants may present a greater possibility of risk than others. Some research involves people who have a history of psychological disturbance or violent behaviour. If such characteristics are known in advance, the researcher and supervisor should be as fully briefed as possible on the risks involved and understand the precautions they need to undertake.

Personal safety when interviewing

Do not appear aggressive or annoyed if an interviewee is late or says they must leave early. Respect their wishes. You are taking up their time. Consider whether your interviewees might have expectations that you will give them something in return for their cooperation.

Where questions might be sensitive, trial your questions where possible with someone you trust who is aware of the context. Familiarise yourself with any culture sensitivities.

Never start an interview with someone who appears to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or where the interviewee or any other person present is in a disturbed, charged, or emotional state. If the interviewee becomes upset during the interview, offer them the opportunity to take some time to compose themselves before continuing.

Interview precautions

Assess the situation before beginning the interview and, if in doubt, rearrange it for when a colleague can be present. Carry an alarm or other device to attract attention in an emergency and let the interviewee know that you have a schedule, and that others know where you are.

Always carry identification, a badge or a card, authenticated by the head of the research organisation and giving the researcher’s work address and telephone number.

Maintaining contact

Details of the researcher’s itinerary and appointment times – including names, addresses and telephone numbers of people being interviewed or called, and accommodation details – should be left with a designated person at the office base or a temporary fieldwork base (taking care with interviewee confidentiality).

Fieldworkers should carry mobile phones so that the base can contact them. Where more than one researcher is working on the site, they should meet or communicate by mobile phone at pre-arranged times. If such an arrangement is not kept, the other researcher should inform the responsible person at base.

Strategies for handling risk situations

Employers should ensure that researchers are trained in techniques for handling threats, abuse or compromising situations, and research managers could consider ways of refreshing their knowledge. External trainers may be useful, both for initial training and in keeping the issue live.

Researchers should also be prepared to deal with the effects of the interview on participants and be ready to spot signs that the participant is becoming upset or angry. Often, the researchers’ training means that strong feelings of this kind can be acknowledged and contained, but there may be occasions when it is more sensible to end the discussion and leave.

Making guidelines stick

Ways of making guidelines stick will include awareness raising among both new and experienced staff.
Safety issues should feature in the training of all new research staff, and guidelines should be included in induction packs and staff handbooks. There is a need for continual reminders and reinforcement throughout a researcher’s career.

Supervisors and research managers may need to take staff through procedures with each new fieldwork period, while support staff responsible for setting up fieldwork arrangements should also be trained in the procedures.