ABSTRACT
Throughout Part I, how emotion is conceptualised has been seen to impact on how emotional labour is understood. This has methodological significance, for emotion is not something that can easily be observed and understood. The methods of data collection and analysis used, therefore, attempt to identify emotion and emotional labour, as the emotions are experienced by, and the emotional labour is carried out by, qualified nursing staff as they occurred in the nursing context. Ward B, an acute vascular and general surgical ward in an English NHS Hospital Trust, forms the context in which this took place. The ward was chosen through expediency. I applied for staffing posts and accepted the first one offered. The nurses agreed to let me work with them and observe their daily routines, which I did for fourteen months; fifteen of them also consented to record audio diaries, and to be interviewed. This chapter explains the methodology and its rationale. It looks at what life was like on Ward B and introduces the nurses who worked there and how this has influenced and informed the research process. It explores how the nurses’ stories are retained, while there is also a theoretical analysis exploring the relationship between emotion and emotional labour.
