Transparency and Coherence

Transparency and coherence reflect the clarity of the data collection process and the cogency of the interpretive process in data analysis in the write-up of the study. To facilitate transparency of the data collection process, specific details of the journey are noted, including time length of each interview and amount/type of follow-up contact with participants (none in this case). A key aspect of IPA lies in presenting the process of analysis clearly to the reader (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009). In the findings chapters, sufficient verbatim quotations from participant interviews (grounding in examples) are presented to exemplify each theme/subtheme in the accounts and allow the reader to feel they have vicariously experienced the phenomenon and discern/follow the level of interpretation applied to the data. The peer debriefing exercises described also bolstered efforts to make sure that themes hang together logically and ambiguities or anomalies are addressed clearly (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009).

researcher herself as an entity with life experiences and assumptions; thus, it is important to reflect and disclose these factors to some extent and consider how one’s own lived experience may influence the product of the research inquiry. Here, I present three brief and personally reflexive paragraphs reflecting on my own birthmother story in a concerted effort toward transparency. As Fade (2004) notes, “The researcher is the primary analytical instrument. The researcher’s beliefs are not seen as biases to be eliminated but rather as being necessary for making sense of the experiences of other individuals” (p. 648).

In formulating this dissertation work, I pursued my interest in human information behavior and decision-making within the context of a personal crisis and initially considered many personal crisis scenarios that involve potential elements of social stigma or shame (e.g., home foreclosure, DUI arrest, job termination, mental health crisis, etc.). I wanted to select a context that was 1) somewhat unusual in that information pathways are likely to be unfamiliar to the average person; 2) some sort of decision is imminent within a concrete time frame (including passing on all options to avoid a decision and letting things simply play out); 3) the context involves significant and potentially life-long consequences, so that emotion may have substantial influence; and 4) the subject matter carries an element of social stigma such that barriers to information might impede access to information or prompt an individual to be somewhat clandestine in searching for information. These elements characterize my own experience with an unexpected pregnancy and decision to relinquish a child for adoption. As a young woman in the mid-1990s, I became emotionally overwhelmed when I learned I was pregnant; for me this was absolutely a personal crisis, and I didn’t know what to do. Raised in a close, caring,

conservative, and religious home, my parents were always a significant part of my life decisions, so I turned to them for support. After recovering from the initial shock and disappointment of my

pregnant-outside-of-wedlock situation, my parents encouraged me to consider placing the child for adoption with a married, Christian family. Initially I had turned to friends and mentally explored the potential path of raising a child on my own; ultimately, however, I felt I lacked the fortitude, financial means, and personal/social support to become a competent and successful single mother.

Although the decision was the most painful experience of my life, at that time I felt adoption was the best option for my child; it was my intent that she would be raised in a loving home with stability similar to my own childhood. In the intervening years, however, I struggled with grief and regret, specifically with things that I came to understand more fully later. For instance, I could not understand how the adoptive parents could simply decide to end all contact with me; I felt abandoned by the adoption agency when they would not intervene on this broken promise. I became bitter that I was not presented with information on options surrounding a choice to parent, that I was not informed of options regarding varying degrees of openness in adoption. But perhaps I was most frustrated with myself, that I had not pursued more information on my own during the decision-making process. I realized how reliant I had been on the

intentions, words, and good nature of other people; many of those turned out to be misleading. My own self-constructed, fantasy vision of a perfect family for this child ultimately had no basis in reality.

My underlying personal intentions in selecting the birthmother context as the dissertation focus revolve around my belief that information should be easily accessible to individuals making life decisions of significant import, unencumbered by filters or barriers of social stigma; tools, professionals, and best practices should make information navigable even by someone overwhelmed with stress or emotion. With that said, I was eager to listen and better understand

the accounts of other birthmothers and how they continue to make meaning of their experience with information, decision-making, and coping with child relinquishment. The idiographic nature of IPA lends itself to a balance between patterns of similarity across participant experiences (shared themes) and instances of disconfirming or unique experiences amongst participant accounts (dissimilar/ambiguous themes). The intent to present both similar and disparate results speaks to the compatibility with the selected method of data collection and analysis,

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, thereby lending substantial coherence and transparency to this work (Yardley, 2008).