ABSTRACT
The PhDs reviewed earlier help to highlight some of the principal difficulties of gaining access to sensitive business environments and extracting appropriate scientific data from the field. Indeed, one of the reasons why so little research has been published on communication in construction teams may be related to the methodological challenges inherent in trying to gain permission to access and record interactions with dynamic and sensitive business environments (Emmitt and Gorse 2003). Gaining access to business settings is difficult and often exacerbated by the social scientist’s desire for rigour and use of a method capable of capturing the data in its richest (most real) form (Bryman 1988). Negotiation with senior members of organisations is necessary to reach agreement on the research method to be used, the amount and type of observation methods, the manner in which data is recorded and the dissemination strategy to be employed, before data collection can commence. Negotiation is dependent on the gatekeeper’s belief that helping the researcher is a good gesture, or the research has some benefit either to the company and/or benefits the wider scientific field. Gatekeepers also need to be convinced of the researcher’s integrity and of the value of the research before they decide to cooperate (Bell 1999). Once this has been granted the researcher is then often faced with the added difficulty of getting the approval from the individuals who are subject to the research.
