Gender, identity and experience: Researching marginalised groups

This article will examine the status of the researcher when conducting research with Gypsy families and Asian women. It will explore how the positioning of the researcher as an outsider and insider can affect the research relationship and can be a useful and privileged position from which to engage in the research process. Gender, identity and experience can create a shared empathy and a shared understanding between the respondent and the researcher in which trust and rapport can encourage respondents to open up and discuss their personal experiences. The article also examines the complexities and tensions associated with how the status and identity of the interviewer can affect the research relationship and how an appreciation of difference is fundamental to this process.