Limitations of the research methodology
This research relies on interviews, mainly with groups of older people but including some individual interviews, by two white female researchers. Where necessary, translators were present to overcome language barriers. However, it is possible that some of the same dynamics which hinder these older people’s take up of services influenced the interview interactions that took place. Significantly, for instance, few older people spoke of the religio¬cultural belief systems that were cited by several professionals working in the area as a barrier to take up of services, raising the question, had the interviews been conducted by people who shared their ethnic origin, would responses have differed? The triangulation of the older people’s responses with responses from professionals and volunteers working in the field locally and with other evidence from relevant studies over the past quarter century provides some mitigation against the potentially inhibiting affects of this dynamic. The research interviews with the professionals and volunteers who work in the field, who were all of white origin, were also conducted by a white male, again raising potential limitations in the scope and depth of data gathered.