Amanda Barusch

Amanda Barusch - Narratives of Life

JGSW Editorials

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Is there room for the self in research?

(Citation: Barusch, A.S. (2009). Is there room for the self in research? Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 52(7), 651-652.)

Social work practitioners are well-versed in the effective use of self. Critical self-reflection is a key skill. Yet in research the self seems to get in the way. This sets up a peculiar dissonance – one that reinforces the pernicious gap between research and practice.

In a traditional, positivist paradigm the self is not seen as an asset or a tool, but as a source of error or bias. In pursuit of objectivity, we seek to minimize intrusion from the self through ritualized data collection procedures and rigorous criteria for hypothesis testing. We teach staff on our research projects to differentiate between clinical assessment and research interviews, reminding them that they are there to observe, but not to change the respondent’s situation.

This presents a difficult dilemma, especially when our interviewers are social work students. I experienced this during a pilot study of older adults coping with depression. Social work students that I hired as interviewers encountered people living in unbearable circumstances, some of them asking quite directly for help. Carefully drawn-out research plans collided head-on with our professional mandate to alleviate suffering. I could not advise my students to remember their research training, collect their data, and walk away “like a thief in the night.” (Kieger, 1991) Instead, we devised an approach that allowed first for completion of the standardized instruments, then for a direct conversation about what hurt and what resources might be available to help. I imagine other researchers have worked through similar processes.

The post-positivist or qualitative paradigm offers a different role for the self. Shedding claims of objectivity, qualitative researchers use the self as a tool for data collection and take our predilections into account in the interpretation of results. In this context questions of status, particularly as “insider” vs “outsider” deserve consideration (see Zinn, 1979).
Age is particularly relevant to gerontological research. As Betty Friedan (1994) observed, most people who collect data for studies of old age are outsiders with respect to this key attribute. This sets up an interesting dynamic that Amanda Grenier, of McGill University, explored in her 2007 article “Crossing age and generational boundaries.” Her discussion addressed the intergenerational encounters that characterize most research interviews; noting that older adults meeting 20-something interviewers may see them more as grandchildren than as professional researchers. She suggested that while this may lead respondents to censor their answers, “Working within and across such boundaries may peak the curiosity and intrigue of researcher and participant, and hopefully the desire to understand and communicate.” (p. 722).

Whether we use qualitative methods, quantitative methods, or some combination of both, social work researchers in aging are uniquely qualified – by virtue of our profession – to make effective use of our selves. This applies to the process of research, as well as the dissemination of findings. At a minimum, we have a special obligation to disclose
personal factors relevant to the interpretation of our results, making our selves available to readers and – perhaps – helping to bridge the practice-research divide.

References Used

Friedan, B (1994). The Fountain of Age. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Grenier, A. (2007). Crossing age and generational boundaries: Exploring intergenerational research encounters. Journal of Social Issues, 63(4), 713-727.

Kieger, S. (1991). Social science and the self: Personal essays on an art form. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Zinn, M. (1979). Field research in minority communities: Ethical, methodological, and political observations by an insider. Social Problems, 27, 209-219.

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Reflections on Age and Identity

(Citation: Barusch, A.S. (2009). Reflections on age and identity. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 52(4), 333-335.)

My father turns 85 this month and, when I ask how he is, the invariable response is “old.” This gives me pause. “How,” I ask, “does it feel to be old these days?”

Bernice Neugarten called age “an empty variable” (1977; 633) suggesting, along with Paul Baltes and others (1977) that chronological age has little explanatory or predictive value apart from the biological, psychological and social events that go with it. Culture seems to trump, defining the combination of markers that lead us to accept the “old” appellation (see Kaufman, 1981). Of course, G.H. Mead would remind us that individuals are not passive recipients of cultural dictums. Rather, we actively construct our identities, interpreting norms and events according to our inclinations, habits, and proclivities.

So why now, after 85 years, has my father embraced this “old” identity? He made it through retirement, cancer, loss of loved ones, and even his early 80s as a poster child for Dylan Thomas. He did “rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Some say continuity is key to successful adaptation in late life (Neugarten, 1968; Maddox, 1968; Atchley, 1989). Grab it where you can, despite life’s buffeting changes, and you will enjoy that sense of completeness to which so many aspire. Some people see continuity wherever they look. Of the man who has lost his life partner they say, “He grieves as he lived, privately.” Of the woman forced to move into a nursing home, “She is still a sweet little social butterfly.” All to persuade us that despite cataclysmic change some central part of human identity remains safe from deterioration. And when that something central yields to the “old” label? What then?

Realizing they are old, some people turn their rage against ageism and injustice. Maggie Kuhn (1991) comes to mind, but there are countless others -- feisty ones who battle on. In her 2003 book, Learning to be Old, Margaret Cruikshank prescribed conscious struggle against stereotypes and the judicious application of “emancipatory hedonism” to free ourselves from the limitations and demands our culture imposes on those identified as old. “Living well is the best revenge” -- if you can.

Others turn their rage and indignation against themselves. The suicide rate among older adults is a national tragedy. We hear a lot about youth suicide, but Americans over 65 are considerably more likely to end their own lives (Bharucha, 2008) Social workers who practice with the elderly are well aware of the high prevalence of depression in this population.

All of which is not to universalize the experience. Some people refuse the “old” appellation. Some consider themselves old without missing a step. Masters of generativity, integrity or wisdom, some become models of productive or successful aging. -- signposts of what we would choose for our futures.

But no one would choose my father’s latest diagnosis. Alzheimer’s strips away bits of his identity each day, leaving others in sharp relief. He may forget that he is a father, but at least for now, he knows he is old.

References Used:

Atchley, R. (1989). A continuity theory of normal aging, The Gerontologist, 29, 183-190.

Baltes, P.B. & S.L. Willis (1977). Toward Psychological Theories of Aging and Develoment. In J.E. Birren & K.W.Schaie (Eds.) Handbook of the Psychology of Aging. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. 128-154.

Bjaricja, A.J. (2008). Late-Life Suicide. in J.E. Ellison, H.Kyomen & S.K. Verma (Eds.) Mood Disorders in Later Life. Informa Health Care. 123-132.

Cruickshank, M. (2003). Learning to be Old. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Kaurman, S. (1981). cultural components of identity in old age: A case study. Ethos, 9(1), 51-87.

Kuhn, M. (1991). No Stone Unturned: The life and times of Maggie Kuhn. New York: Ballantine.

Maddox, G. (1968). Persistence of life style among the elderly: A longitudinal sutdy of patterns of social activity in relation to life satisfaction. In B. Neugarten (Ed.) Middle Age and Aging. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 181-184.

Mead, G.H. (1934). Mind, Self and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Neugarten, B. (1968). (Ed.) Middle Age and Aging. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Neugarten, B. (1977). Personality and Aging, in J.E. Birren and K.E. Schaie (Eds.) Handbook of the Psychology of Aging. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. 626-649.

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