Explain researcher concerns during the "getting in" phase of research

What will be an ideal response?

In order to gain access to a setting, the researcher needs to first consider who the subjects are and what the nature of the setting is. This will impact how the researcher gains access, and if the research role is announced or covert. Often the researcher must trade on social contacts to gain access to a population through referrals, or through a snowball method of obtaining subjects. Elite settings are very difficult to penetrate and may need to be studied covertly. The decision to study a group covertly or overtly can lay the conceptual and methodological foundation for the entire project. A researcher needs to consider which participant observation role to inhabit. A researcher needs to consider the possibility of reactivity, in which the researcher's simple presence can taint the research study. Researchers often combat this phenomenon by attempting to become invisible. A case can be made for covert research. However, announcing presence can have a positive effect as well. The focus of this book is getting in as an overt activity.