Advancing Qualitative Methods

Abstract

It is a generally accepted wisdom that people with demen-tia are entitled to have their voices heard (Cantley, Wood-house, & Smith, 2005); thus, the views of people with dementia are increasingly sought by qualitative research-ers. Typically, researchers explore the lives of people with dementia using interviews (Allan, 2001; Barnett, 2000; Proctor, 2001) and/or observational methods (Briggs, Askham, Norman, & Redfern, 2003), most nota-bly dementia care mapping (e.g., Brooker, 2005). Although using these strategies extends our understand-ing of dementia, there remains a concern about the extent to which the expression of personal experience and par-ticipation is allowed (Sabat, 2003). Answering this con-cern are those who call for a multimethod approach for research with people with dementia (Nygard, 2006)