Interactions That Matter: Researching Critical Associations

Abstract

Against the backdrop of research that has tended to emphasise the positive aspects of non-familial relationships, particularly friendships, this paper considers the methodological challenges involved in generating data about what we term ‘critical associations’: relationships with friends and other associates that are critical in people's lives in both positive and negative ways. The paper focuses on three methods that were used in a multi-faceted qualitative study of critical associations in different research settings. These included an ‘Era Memory Workshop’ that was focussed on personal associations amongst lesbians and gay men, ‘Situated Interviews' that were concerned with non-familial relationships amongst people living in a rural ‘overspill’ housing estate and a Mass Observation Project directive that was framed in terms of the ‘ups and downs' of friendship. The paper considers the distinctive opportunities and challenges that each method presented for generating personal narratives of critical associations. These opportunities and challenges were linked to the research interactions that the methods promoted, their temporal dimensions, and their location within narrative environments. Multi-faceted research methodologies that use different research methods in different research environments present distinctive possibilities for exploring the complexity and multi-dimensionality of personal associations, and especially the critical nature of these.