Managing interpretation ethics in the institutional setting: An illustrative case study of a therapist–case resident encounter involving acquired brain injury

This article addresses issues relating to the interpretation of data, including issues of transparency and ethics in collecting and representing qualitative data in the institutional setting, while maintaining the analyst's distinctive stance. Interpretation of empirical data in the institutional care home setting involving individuals with language and communication disorders has posed a dilemma for my “professional researcher self.” Conventionally, interactional approaches focus on the technicalities of impairments when approaching acquired brain injury (ABI) with a standard analytical procedure. This can challenge the analyst's interpretative repertoire, since studying ABI encounters involves a potential issue of accuracy of exploring the participant's perspective in naturally occurring encounters. In this article, I explore the analyst's role in interpreting spoken encounters between an occupational therapist and a resident with ABI in a care home setting, with the discussion focusing on “institutionalized communicational training.” Drawing upon a recently concluded study, I reflect on the nuances of taking a participant's perspective during the analytical procedure as enshrined within the tradition of ethnomethodological conversation analysis, scrutinizing its implications for interpretation ethics and researcher integrity.