An outsider's experiences in conducting field research in an African-American community

Researchers agree that the conduct of field research is a challenging and enlightening experience. This article describes an African-American (AA) researcher's experiences in accessing and conducting field research in an AA community. These experiences were from a Grounded Theory (GT) qualitative research study to understand the social contexts and processes, and other interrelated factors such as beliefs in God or a higher being and role expectations on mammography-screening decision-making in older, urban AA women of various socioeconomic strata. The field experience of accessing and recruiting AA women into a GT study were partly influenced by two prior historical studies conducted by the Federal government that resulted in violation of human rights. These historical experiences greatly impacted the researcher's entrée into the AA community and success in conducting the GT study. The researcher realized the benefit of establishing professional relationship with key informants (church nurses) for the success of accessing and recruiting individuals into research studies. Of utmost importance, the researcher was viewed as an "outsider" and represented the separate, distinct world of the university. Particularly noteworthy was the fact that holding the same ethnicity of the AA community does not guarantee automatic initial or ongoing entrée into the community or recruitment of participants.