| 127 5 must have the capability to converse and share ideas with others, as well as the cognitive capacity to respond and discuss the photo stimulus. As such, we do not recommend these methods for use in people with more advanced dementia. Our study also had several limitations. Firstly, our study design was cross-sectional and exploratory, and we did not have a comparative group. So, while we can comment on the feasibility and utility of the techniques to support engagement from the researcher perspective, future research should endeavour to compare the results to those gained by use of an alternative standard interview or discussion guide questioning. Enabling research methods can be used in a variety of research contexts, including interviews, dyads, and focus groups (34, 58). In interviews, they can enhance recall and discussion of sensitive topics; in dyads, they can support communication and collaboration between the two participants; and in focus groups, they can help to stimulate discussion and generate a rich understanding of experiences and perspectives (34, 58). However, due to the relatively low numbers of participants and the wide variety of contexts in which data was collected we are not confidently able to comment on the value or drawbacks of these different contexts. We therefore recommend exploration of this in future research. We also faced many challenges associated with recruitment to our study due to it occurring during COVID-19 (59). This resulted in a mixed approach using both online, face-to-face, and telephone settings, and a combination of individual, dyadic, and small focus groups discussions. Unfortunately, our relatively small sample size did not allow for examination of whether utility of the techniques differed between these methods, and this should be explored in future research. That said, we did have a positive experience with online interviews, which have been associated with both benefits and challenges in other research with people with dementia (59). It has been reported than women are more likely to volunteer to participate in dementia research studies than men (60). In our study, although the majority of participants were women, we did also attract a high number of males. This may be due to some preference for online interviewing but perhaps also the use of projective techniques. However, further evidence is required to confirm this hypothesis.
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