Not for the faint of heart: Insider and outsider shadowing experiences within Canadian health care organizations

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to share two researcher's experience about the challenges associated with shadowing within the health care context.

Design/methodology/approach

Institutional ethnography and shadowing.

Findings

Shadowing is increasingly being used as a data collection method, however, before proceeding to use this approach in today's health care environment, the researcher must give thoughtful consideration to the context.

Originality/value

This paper provides a reflexive elaboration of the differences between the insider and outsider perspective when using the shadowing data collection method within health care organizations.

Citation

Urban, A.-M. and Quinlan, E. (2014), "Not for the faint of heart: Insider and outsider shadowing experiences within Canadian health care organizations", Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 47-65. https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-10-2012-1107