|
part 3: Methods
Participants
Participants were persons of at least 18 years of age who had experienced an adoption reunion that continued beyond the initial face-to-face meeting. Theoretical sampling, as described by Mason (1996), was used to select 20 participants: ten adoptees and ten birthmothers, of whom only two were mother-child dyads. Seventeen females and three males were involved. Age range was 21–41 years for the adoptees and 42–55 for the birthmothers. Sixteen participants were involved in active reunion relationships at the time of the interview; two had had the other party cease contact, but were hoping to resume; one was about to resume a relationship after a ten-year period of no contact; and one had ceased contact for the present time. The duration of reunion relationships experienced ranged from nine months to ten years.
Participants were sought through an adoption support agency based in Perth, Western Australia, via both its discussion groups and its newsletter. However, participants were not limited to members of that organization.
Materials and Procedure
A semistructured interview schedule was used as a guide in an interview of approximately one hour's duration. The schedule included a demographic section, a lead question requesting an overview of the reunion relationship, and three other questions relating to expectations. The interview schedule also provided questions that had been specifically formulated to prompt discussion of the original four questions, should that be required.
After participants had been provided with written information about the study and signed a consent form, interviews were conducted at mutually convenient venues, usually the interviewee's home. The interview involved the participants telling their reunion stories, with the schedule available to the interviewer for prompting, if necessary. Events that were particularly meaningful for the participants were explored. Interviews were recorded on audiotape and transcribed verbatim. To control for interviewer effects, all interviews were conducted and transcribed by the first author (MKA; although all care was taken to remain unbiased, it is acknowledged that she is an adoptive mother who fully supports reunions).
Data Analysis
Theme analysis was undertaken using the method described by Smith (1995) . The first transcript was studied in detail, many times. Two sets of annotations were developed, each documented in the margins of the transcript, beside the associated text, paragraph by paragraph. The first set of annotations noted anything particularly interesting or significant that was disclosed: summaries, possible associations or connections, or initial interpretations. The second set identified themes emerging from the first set.
From these two sets of information, the emerging themes were clustered and linked, and major themes identified. A cyclical process was used, with themes altered and refined as analysis proceeded. This process was repeated with the next four transcripts. All the lists of themes were compared to produce a single master list, consolidated and refined from the five interviews. The subsequent transcripts were then analyzed, coding the master themes beside the text. Previously unidentified exemplars were also noted. The data for each theme were gathered together, and each theme was explored and examined to obtain a coherent, consistent concept.
|