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The Impact of Working with Disturbing Secondary Data: Reading Suicide Files in a Coroner's Office

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 20:29 authored by Ben FinchamBen Fincham, Jonathon Scourfield, Susanne Langer
The article discusses the effects on the researcher of reading disturbing secondary data (defined here as evidence gathered by someone other than the researcher). The case study is a qualitative sociological autopsy of suicide, and the secondary datawritten documents and photographsare all from case files in a British coroner's office. Following ethnographic detail about the research setting and research process, there is discussion of the diverse secondary data sources in these files, particularly in relation to the impact on the researcher. Some general observations are made about emotion in the research process and potential strategies for responding to emotion. The authors locate their responses to reading about suicides within the broader context of the social processing of death and distress, and also consider whether emotional reactions to data have any analytical purchase.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Qualitative Health Research

ISSN

1049-7323

Issue

6

Volume

18

Page range

853-862

Pages

10.0

Department affiliated with

  • Sociology and Criminology Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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