Module 2: Trauma-Informed Qualitative Research Skills

In this module, we will build on the trauma-informed research foundations explored in Module 1 and begin applying them to the practical skills involved in qualitative data collection.

We will explore what qualitative research is trying to understand and how curiosity, listening and asking questions can help us explore participants’ experiences, perspectives, meanings and context. We will look at how to prepare for qualitative data collection and develop practical skills for conducting and facilitating qualitative interviews, including asking open and exploratory questions, listening actively, using appropriate probes and knowing when something might be useful to explore further.

We will consider how the trauma-informed principles introduced in Module 1 can be applied during qualitative data collection, including creating clarity and predictability, supporting meaningful choice, and recognising how power can operate within an interview.

Qualitative research can involve sensitive and personal topics. Within RESPOND, this includes research relating to care experience and reproductive health. We will explore how to approach sensitive topics without assuming that sensitive means unsafe, and consider how to respond appropriately if somebody becomes distressed or shares sensitive information.

We will also look at the responsibilities that sit around qualitative data collection, including consent, confidentiality and safeguarding, what sits within your role as a peer researcher, and when you may need to follow agreed procedures or seek support from the wider research team.

Throughout the module, we will continue to apply the reflexive skills developed in Module 1, noticing how our own experiences, expectations and assumptions might influence what we ask, what we follow up and how we respond during qualitative interviewing.

By the end of this module, you will have explored:

• understanding qualitative research and its purpose
• preparing for qualitative data collection
• applying trauma-informed principles to qualitative data collection
• conducting and facilitating qualitative interviews
• asking open and exploratory questions
• active listening, probing and following participants’ responses
• recognising and navigating power within qualitative data collection
• working with sensitive topics, including reproductive health
• responding appropriately to distress and sensitive disclosures
• understanding consent, confidentiality, safeguarding and researcher responsibilities
• applying reflexivity within qualitative interviewing

Throughout the module, you will have opportunities to practise these skills through fictional scenarios and activities based on situations you might realistically encounter within RESPOND. You are not expected to already know how to conduct qualitative data collection — this module is designed to help you begin developing and practising these skills.

As in Module 1, you are not required to disclose personal experiences in any of the activities.

I think the line “Throughout the module, we will continue to apply the reflexive skills developed in Module 1” is particularly useful because it explicitly tells them this isn’t new content. It establishes continuity without reteaching reflexivity.