Cryptic Coercion

摘要

Here on the eighteenth floor, I am waiting for a child participant in my interview study on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. A child can't come into an interview relaxed when the family has had to pass through multiple screening barriers (parking garage, front desk, departmental door) simply to reach me. The language on the form has been rigorously scrutinized for accessibility by the university's institutional review board, but she struggles with it. Implicit coercion often happens in the quiet spaces of relationship, as part of unspoken needs and expectations that participants and researchers have.