Abstract
Nurses and midwives in Aotearoa/New Zealand are making a unique contribution to the development and application of various research approaches (methodologies) to nursing and midwifery practice. This is the first of a series of articles based on interviews with nursing and midwifery researchers, giving stories of their research journeys in relation to a particular methodology. The articles will give beginning researchers some real life examples of what it is like to carry out research. They are not in-depth explorations of the various methodologies. What we have attempted to capture is how real people actually use the various research methodologies we read about in textbooks and that frame the research which influences our practice. The stories are presented in interview format so that each interviewee’s unique style and approach can emerge. The first researcher in our series is Denise Dignam (RGON, BA, DipSocSci) who in her PhD research is using a grounded theory approach to investigate issues related to breastfeeding.  

Keywords
Research, methodologies, grounded theory   

Background
The word ‘research’ is now commonplace within the language of nursing and midwifery practice. Indeed nursing and midwifery are leading the allied health professions in Aotearoa/New Zealand in the promotion of a variety of approaches (methodologies and methods) to health research. In the late 1980s, for example, nursing research textbooks were the first to emphasise the importance of qualitative as well as quantitative research methods (eg, Brink & Wood, 1989; Polit & Hungler, 1987; Roberts & Burke, 1989). They are still among the best texts for giving health researchers a broad and comprehensive view of the research approaches that can be applied to clinical practice. Continued