Limitations and Weaknesses of the Study

5.8.1 Trainee Psychological Therapists as Participants

I gave careful consideration to my decision to use trainee psychological therapists. I wanted to acknowledge the client as the most important factor in therapeutic change (Bohart, 2000) and believe that this justified using trainees to recruit a group that may otherwise have been hard to reach.

Despite advertising to 57 courses (that covered trainings in Counselling Psychology, Integrative Psychotherapy, Person Centred Counselling, Humanistic, Transactional Analysis, Psychosynthesis, Gestalt, Psychoanalytic, Body Psychotherapy and Psychodrama) across 23 agencies that offer placements to trainee psychological therapists from a range of modalities, in Therapy Today, and on the UKCP, BACP and BPS websites all of the participants were studying on integrative courses. This unintentional bias in the sample raises the question of what the data may have looked like if some or all the participants had been trained in different modalities.

However, I am left wondering if it was coincidental that these trainees whose very being embodies integration were attracted to a modality that mirrored this.

Potentially related to this is the impact of self-selection, which is inevitable in a study where participants volunteer. Were these participants drawn to this study because they had reflected more – or less – on the impact of being mixed race? Were they still in the process of integrating themselves - whereas those who chose not to volunteer might have been at a more evolved stage of racial awareness? Without a

‘control’ group it is hard to answer any of these questions and therefore the impact this may have had on the data.

Also it could be assumed that trainees within the profession have a higher baseline of hope for various reasons. Having chosen to embark on training, these participants could be seen to have a more hopeful view about the value of psychological therapies. In addition, with hope being an accepted common factor in the outcome of psychological therapies, would the theoretical aspect of training have instilled a more hopeful view of human nature? In addition, these participants may have been more self-aware, specifically around race and hope, than clients who are not in

professional training - so my sample may not be truly representative of the whole of the South East Asian-White mixed race group. That said, self-awareness should not be assumed as a given of professional training and without having expanded the target group, this too remains an unknown. Also, the mental health issues experienced by these participants may not have been as extreme as some populations (Noh, Choe & Yang, 2008), which would affect their experience and levels of hope. These potential biases may have skewed the data as a non-trainee group may have been less hopeful or less coherent. However, on the other hand, one could say that those who choose to train as therapists may have had hopeless experiences in earlier life that have drawn them to heal themselves and others (Jung, 1951).

Whichever way the bias may have swung, this ‘state’ baseline of hope could have had an impact not only on the participants’ experiences in life, but also on their view of training and personal therapy. In addition, a degree of ‘trait’ hope may have been influenced by the stage of training as participants developed their psychological processes, stage of racial integration, reflective capacity to bring the unconscious processes into awareness and ability to hold tensions. That said, the participant who spoke the most abut being ‘hopeless’ was at a later stage of training so I believe that we cannot tell with this small sample what the exact influence and impact of these potential biases - but it is worth bearing in mind for future research in this and similar areas. To counteract this or to clarify the influence, one could incorporate an appropriate hope measure that highlights either or both of the participants’ state/trait levels of hope. The inclusion of a quantitative measure could, however, be seen as out of kilter with a qualitative methodological stance so such a change would need to be carefully considered and justified in the process.

On balance, the advantage of using this group for ethical reasons justifies the sample. The data shows that the subject matter was highly charged and dislodged some experiences and reflections that these participants were able to manage – both personally and with the support of their ongoing therapy and the holding environment of their training.

5.8.2 Researcher Bias and Participation

The aim of this study was to capture the participants’ experiences in their purest form, however, by taking the decision to be a participant myself, I had to work hard to set aside my own interpretative bias. One could argue that it was impossible and, to some extent, undesirable to ignore my responses and experiences, so in some respects having my own interview experience and generating my own data meant that I was as transparent as I could be.

My reflective journal and supervision also helped me a great deal in attending to my biases, processes, and writing blocks (Cameron, 1995; Etherington, 2004) especially at the earlier stages of data collection and analysis, which took place prior to my own interview being conducted.

It is challenging to be curious about what the impact might have been on the study had I not shared a similar racial background to the participants as I believe that such a piece of research could only be of interest to a researcher with a shared background. There is bound to have been an impact on the data collection and analysis as I may have interpreted data through my own personal experiences.

5.8.3 Cultural & Racial Limitations

Noh, Choe and Yang (2008) note the limited validity of single-culture studies and Cooper, Darmody and Dolan (2003) address this in their trialogue in which they share similarities and differences on hope from the Canadian, Irish and American cultures. So because I narrowed my research down to the UK and also the racial make-up of the participants, I may be open to criticism for purposely excluding those of other racial backgrounds. I hope, however, that my chosen research methodology and the reasons I have already given justify my decision to research the lived experience of South East Asian-White mixed race participants. I believe that even with a narrow population, much insight has been gained form this research, even if it is considered within this limitation. What this research may do is therefore encourage research into other racial groups, allowing for comparison to see how they feel about hope.

5.8.4 Regional Limitations

Despite the widespread adverts I posted out and email requests, I ended up with a sample of participants who all lived within the M25 and 3 of whom lived in Central London. Research has shown that those who live in more metropolitan areas may have different views on being mixed race (Song, 2010) and we could tentatively suggest that these participants may have been drawn to live in London because it is such a multicultural and multiracial city. That said, it is impossible to tell what impact it would have had on the data if the participants and therapists had been living in a rural environment where the demographic was more homogenous.

5.8.5 Other Potential Factors

Whilst I had remained open to finding differences between male and female experiences, all of my participants were female and in their late 20s to late 30s. Song (2010) draws attention to the fact that mixed race women are often sexualised more than mixed race men so this may have skewed the data – although only two participants raised this.

I was also aware that therapist factors may have come into play in the experience of hope in the therapy process – for example gender, theoretical approach and, of course, race. However, because I had selected a mixed race group of such minority status, I decided not to specify the race, gender or theoretical approach of the therapist. What gets missed in this piece, therefore, are any potential issues of matching/mismatching of client and therapist. The four participants all spoke of female therapists (sexual orientation not mentioned) and I was the only person who spoke about experiences with both a female and male therapist.

Finally, I started out with an awareness that there may also be differences in attitudes towards and experiences related to hope within the group that could not be accounted for by race – for example, socio-economic status and age (Farsimadan, Khan & Draghi-Lorenz, 2011). The mixed racial experience of the working class may well be different to those of the ever-growing middle class (Alibhai-Brown, 2007) and this too may well impact on their experience of hope.

Chapter 6: CONCLUSION

In this research, I hope that I have stayed on the right side of ‘hypersensitivity’

(Alibhai-Brown, 2007:p.156) regarding issues of difference as I acknowledge that many people, regardless of their race, sometimes feel different. One of my ambitions for this research was to highlight the need for a heightened awareness of the differences we all carry, especially those that are unseen – and I have no doubt that some of the findings herein could have been found with many participant groups who feel marginalised or invisible.