You have started conducting interviews in a university with the hourly paid staff (such as porters, gardeners and caterers). The research objective is to establish the extent to which those employees feel a sense of ‘belonging’ to the university. You have negotiated access to your interviewees through the head of each of the appropriate departments. In each case you have been presented with a list of interviewees.

It soon becomes apparent to you that you are getting a rather rosier picture than you expected. The interviewees are all very positive about their jobs, their managers and the university. This makes you suspicious. Are all the hourly paid staff as positive as this? Are you being given only the employees who can be relied on to tell the ‘good news’? Have they been ‘got at’ by their manager?

There is a great risk that your results will not be valid. What can you do?