I undertook a small project to investigate why so few Black and Minority Ethnic support workers for one National Health Service trust were applying or being selected for Assistant Practitioner training. The course had been in existence for 12 years at this time and was a unique opportunity for unqualified staff to gain a qualification and be promoted to an enhanced role and pay band. Other studies had considered the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic-qualified staff, but minimal work had examined opportunities for support staff in the National Health Service. Using a questionnaire survey to obtain quantitative data and focus groups to acquire qualitative data, the project revealed obstacles to progression. This case study discusses the experience of undertaking the project. It focuses on the challenges of accessing research participants when there are no obvious means of communication with the group. In particular, it highlights the difficulties in recruiting participants for focus groups. There is an acknowledgment that ambitions to engage a representative sample of the research population can be thwarted when the group is hard to access
