ABSTRACT
Although the volume of research on work-related violence is increasing, there is a paucity of studies on the ways in which professionals talk about the violence they have experienced. Existing research on violence generally assumes that the participants will ‘disclose’ any or all of the details about these events (Hollway and Jefferson 2000). Most researchers will be somewhat reluctant to take at face value accounts of sensitive topics that can be censored by the respondent. Researchers, either during the fieldwork or in the course of its analysis, will probe the perceptions, experiences and emotions underpinning the respondents’ account (Brannen 1988; Lee 1993). Just as researchers consider the content of interviews, so too do participants edit what they might include in or exclude from their accounts. The result may see respondents and researchers bartering for access to more or fewer details.
