Marlot Kuiper

117 On Ethnography ing “You see, this is the left coronary artery, this is where we are going to construct the bypasses, do you see that?” For two reasons, I decided to move along in this position. Firstly, because it did not raise ethical issues or hinder my research activities but rather gave me an ideal observers perspective, and secondly, because I found it incredibly interesting. Though I sometimes became slightly confused with my insider/outsider position and the responsibilities that came with it, I was always aware of the fact that I was a non-clinical, social sciences researcher trying to find her way in the surgery department. My role as researcher allowed me to not only see the ‘front stage’ of professional work, like formal policies or documents that are explicitly meant to establish a picture of professional practice, but also the ‘back stage’ processes that organisational actors usually conceal from public scrutiny (see also Van Hulst et al., 2017). Although I do feel that my presence as a researcher did not distract professionals from ‘just doing their work’, I am aware that my research focus and the questions I posed most probably intensified the conversations about the Surgical Safety Checklist and (ways to improve) patient safety. As a researcher I might therefore have caused that participants became more aware of their own ideas and practices, which might have instigated discussions about these ideas, for example during coffee breaks. These coffee breaks have been of crucial importance for my role as a researcher. Negotiating access is often described as an ongoing process (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995). That participants also watch and monitor the researcher is less frequently argued (Van Maanen, 1991). Therefore, if the participants do not like or trust the researcher, the research will be unsuccessful, regardless of any actions taken by the researcher. I was aware that forming alliances in the field would be beneficial. Luckily, as a person I have always been able to easily connect to other people and adapt myself to various circumstances. This is a skill that I consider crucial for conducting ethnographic research. The conversations that I had naturally were often about the content of my research, however in building relationships and create trust, I consider the conversations in the coffee room, for example sharing experiences with the ease of food services like ‘Hello Fresh’ of equal importance. While I constantly had the opportunity to establish and negotiate relationships with professionals in the setting, this was less the case with patients. Ethically, 4